Negativity Bias
Our brains have a built in negativity bias - here I explore why that is and what we can do about it
7/8/20261 min read
Our human brains have a negativity bias; it's been key for our survival for thousands of years. We are very good at scanning for threats, noticing them and reacting quickly to keep ourselves and those around us safe. It also means that we encode those negative experiences quickly and deeply into the brain; in order to avoid that potentially dangerous situation in future. Allowing us to react quicker and more instinctively is something similar happens again.
The challenge is in the world today many of us aren't reacting to those life and death situations, but instead the same processes in our brain are kicked off by the news, social media, someone cutting us up in traffic etc. Each time we react from this instinctive, negative place we re-enforce that negativity bias so it becomes a more well practiced default.
The good news is we can change this! Neuroplasticity is the ability to gradually re-wire and change which parts of our brain react more strongly or are more dominant. One way to do this with the negativity bias is to practice noticing and then focussing on the positives. Mindfulness helps to create a pause, in that pause we can notice more about what's going on in each moment and with that information we can spot the positives. Yes the traffic may be bad, and the view of the sunny sky is also beautiful. When we are on the roads we can notice the person who let's us out of a junction or gives us space too.
One thing to know is that whilst negative experiences are encoded very quickly into our brains for survival, positive ones take longer to be recorded as stringly in our brains. Research has shown that you need to really dwell on and take in a positive experience for around 15 seconds for it to stick as deeply. So that can be a great practice to do throughout each day if you can, as it really can change your brain and how you see the world!