Negativity Bias
The Negativity Bias is the phenomena by which humans give more psychological weight to a bad experience than a good experience. Some researchers assert that negative emotions have an impact close to 3 times stronger than positive emotions. Our brains are built with a greater sensitivity to unpleasant events or negative emotions. The negativity bias is completely automatic and served a strong evolutionary purpose, as being highly attuned to danger in the environment allowed humans to survive natural threats.
Negative emotions & experiences are 'stickier'
Basically, the negative emotions are ‘stickier’ than the positive and tend to hang around longer and have a stronger impact on us. Neuropsychologist Rick Hanson describes our brains as being like ‘Velcro’ for negative experiences and ‘Teflon’ for positive experiences. We tend to think about negative experiences longer than the positive ones which is why they tend to hang around longer. Interestingly, when our minds wander, they tend to wander to the things that are not going right or the negative events that have happened, rather than the positive.
It is helpful to understand the Negativity Bias so we can understand why we often think of the negative when we allow our minds to wander. When we have this understanding, we can ‘unhook’ from these unnecessary thoughts, giving more psychological distance to them. Just knowing that this is what the brain loves to do, can bring about a sense of curiosity of our mind and let go of judging ourselves for mind wandering or thinking negatively.
Mindfulness helps balance the bias
Being Mindful can help balance the negativity bias so it doesn’t have so much weight. Being intentionally mindful of our situations allows us time to stop and pause before we react to a situation. This allows us to have some control over how we react to situations rather than being swept up in a primitive response to stimuli in our environment.
Savouring
When we are mindful, we can also choose to savour the current situation, which helps to relish those positive moments in our life. When we experience a positive emotion or experience, we can practice savouring it by giving it our full attention and noticing all the experience. We tend to gloss over the good experiences and move quickly on to the next thing, but when we slow experiences down and intentionally immerse ourselves in the positive experience, we are more likely to remember it and also experience more enjoyment in the moment.