Negativity bias
“I’m not a pessimist. I’m a realist.” Sound familiar?
Maybe you’ve said it yourself. For a lot of us optimism doesn’t seem like the real world. Believing in positivity seems like a foolish endeavor. We have a phrase for this- “putting on rose colored glasses”. Reality, afterall, is gritty and often painful. It’s not all unicorns and rainbows.
While this idea is well endorsed it is simply not true. The real world is dynamic and complex. The real world is made up of positive, neutral, and negative experiences. However, there is a reason why realism is tied to negativity.
Negative experiences count more to our brains.
Our brain scans for negative information so we can react to it accordingly then store it for future reference to keep us safe. This “negativity bias” is a survival mechanism which worked well for our ancestors. It helped them survive harsh conditions. Experiencing joy isn’t what kept them physically safe, paying attention to the wild boar encroaching upon their settlement did.
In modern society we have outgrown this tool. Today this adaptation, rather than keeping us safe creates a traffic jam stopping positive experiences from restructuring our neural pathways. The kind of pathways which fosters our inner resiliency.
In the present world resiliency is what aids our survival.