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Negativity Bias
What Is Negativity Bias?
The Quick Answer
In Critical Thinking, negativity bias is rating negatives more than positives.Here's a short example to illustrate negativity bias:
Imagine receiving a performance review at work. The review consists of both positive feedback about your accomplishments and areas for improvement. Despite receiving several positive comments, you find yourself dwelling more on the constructive criticism and negative feedback. These negative aspects may overshadow the positive aspects of the review, leading to feelings of disappointment or frustration.
Negativity bias can also be observed in various aspects of daily life. For instance, in the media, negative news tends to grab more attention and generate stronger emotional reactions compared to positive news. Similarly, in social interactions, one critical comment or negative encounter may have a more lasting impact on our mood than several positive interactions.This bias has evolutionary roots, as it helped our ancestors survive in dangerous and challenging environments by being hypersensitive to potential threats or risks. However, in modern society, this bias can sometimes lead to a distorted perception of reality, heightened stress levels, and a tendency to overlook positive aspects of situations or experiences.
Being aware of negativity bias can help individuals consciously counterbalance it by actively seeking out positive experiences, practising gratitude, and re-framing negative events or thoughts in a more positive light.

Easy Definition of Negativity Bias
Don't think bad things are disastrous. If you don't keep them in perspective, you're showing negativity bias.
Academic Definition of Negativity Bias
Negativity bias is giving more weight to negative experiences or information than to positive ones.
An Example of Negativity Bias
Good plus bad equals bad

So, using the same example, you would feel bad and not neutral even if the events were reversed; i.e., someone gave you an ice-cream and you lost your underground ticket.
Interestingly, studies show that negativity bias reduces as people get older. The reasons for this are unknown, but I suspect it's linked to these ideas:
"Worrying works! 90% of the things I worry about never happen."
"If you want to test your memory, try to recall what you were worrying about a year ago."
Put simply, people realise over time that they've been giving too much emphasis to negative events. Also, being more self-aware, older people tend to accept criticism more readily.
"If you want to test your memory, try to recall what you were worrying about a year ago."
A Practical Application of Negativity Bias
Curb those negative comments

This idea is linked to negativity bias. If you throw in one overtly negative point about your target, it is likely to have far more impact than you intended, and his defences might firm up. It is often said that negative comments are seven times more powerful than positive ones. Whether that's accurate or not, it does offer a warning to be careful about how often you make negative comments and how you word them.
In summary, be mindful of the extra "hidden" power that negative comments wield.
Summary of Negativity Bias
If you think someone has been overly influenced by something simply because it was negative, tell them they are suffering from negativity bias.Critical Thinking Test
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