Dwell on the Positive

Have you ever wondered why newspapers are so full of bad news? Or why people often spend so much more time fretting about what’s wrong in their lives instead of appreciating what’s going right? Why do painful experiences take up so much real estate in our memory? And why are they so much easier to recall than pleasurable ones? Why do we often feel that it is our negative experiences that define us rather than our positive ones? Scientists have coined the term “negativity bias” to describe this phenomenon of how human consciousness relates to the world. Essentially, our negativity bias ensures that experiences of a more negative nature have a greater effect on our psychological state and consequent behavior than neutral or positive ones, even when they are of equal intensity. According to neuroscientists, our brains have developed specialized circuits that register negative experiences immediately in emotional memory so that we can learn from them. On the other hand, most positive experiences flow through the brain like water through a sieve; we experience them, enjoy them, and quickly forget them. Accordingly, we use much more brain space to scan and process negative experiences than positive ones, because negative stimuli, if not registered and responded to appropriately, can be fatal. Out of necessity, we have become masters of fixating on the negative aspects of our lives and environments. This is only natural. This negativity bias is what allows us to remain vigilant in our efforts to register and respond to any potential dangers and imminent threats to our well-being—ideally, before it is too late. The problem is that this negativity bias has a side effect. Since we are always on high alert for potential dangers, the positive aspects of our lives tend to get less attention. When we receive […]

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