By Katherine Kam
Your co-worker surprised you with a chocolate chip cookie, but a teammate took a dig at your report. As the day goes on, you’re more likely to dwell on the criticism than the act of kindness.
Negative events feel more psychologically intense than positive ones, thanks to a cognitive tendency called the negativity bias. That’s true even when events are of equal weight.
“Very simply, bad is stronger than good. We respond more strongly to things that could hurt or harm us than to things that could benefit us,” said Catherine Norris, an associate professor of psychology and neuroscience at Swarthmore College.
Negativity bias is important to human functioning since it helps protect us from harm. But in some individuals, negativity bias can be correlated with stress, depression and anxiety. There are ways to manage negativity bias, experts said, so that it can benefit us.
Negativity bias evolved over time
Scientists theorize that the negativity bias evolved as a “survival-based mechanism,” Norris said. “Survival is really the top goal of any individual.”
“If you’re walking to get water and you encounter a tiger, it’s a great idea to stay focused on the tiger” and not on the pretty sunset, said Alison Ledgerwood, a professor of psychology at the University of California at Davis.
That focus “generalizes to any negative information, even when it’s not tiger-level danger,” she said.
Nowadays, most of us don’t worry about being eaten by wild animals but still face threats that can feel overwhelming, researchers said.
“Many people have lost their jobs, and people can’t access health care that they need,” Ledgerwood said. “I would put those kinds of things more at the level of tigers. … These are really negative things that need our attention.”
Our brains respond more strongly to negative stimuli
Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a type of brain scan, and other methods, researchers have found that negative images elicit a stronger brain response in subjects than positive ones, Norris said in a 2021 review paper.
What’s more, negative impressions can last a lot longer. People tend to become desensitized when they see an image repeatedly, Norris said. However, with negative images, “the brain stands up and takes notice. It really starts to pay more attention when the same negative stimulus is repeated” over time, she said.
Studies have shown that such negative reactions can remain stable for up to a year.
Some people have more negativity bias.
Norris said that in her research, she has seen a wide variety in the range of negativity bias from person to person. Since the bias may be an evolutionary adaptation, natural selection and variations would lead to differences, she said.
Research shows that, on average, women tend to have a stronger negativity bias, as shown by their more intense reactions to images of mutilations, dead bodies and other highly unpleasant subject matter. In contrast, “males exhibit a smaller negativity bias, possibly encouraging more risk-taking behaviors,” Norris wrote in her review paper.
Your co-worker surprised you with a chocolate chip cookie, but a teammate took a dig at your report. As the day goes on, you’re more likely to dwell on the criticism than the act of kindness.
Negative events feel more psychologically intense than positive ones, thanks to a cognitive tendency called the negativity bias. That’s true even when events are of equal weight.
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“Very simply, bad is stronger than good. We respond more strongly to things that could hurt or harm us than to things that could benefit us,” said Catherine Norris, an associate professor of psychology and neuroscience at Swarthmore College.
Negativity bias is important to human functioning since it helps protect us from harm. But in some individuals, negativity bias can be correlated with stress, depression and anxiety. There are ways to manage negativity bias, experts said, so that it can benefit us.
Negativity bias evolved over time
Scientists theorize that the negativity bias evolved as a “survival-based mechanism,” Norris said. “Survival is really the top goal of any individual.”
“If you’re walking to get water and you encounter a tiger, it’s a great idea to stay focused on the tiger” and not on the pretty sunset, said Alison Ledgerwood, a professor of psychology at the University of California at Davis.
That focus “generalizes to any negative information, even when it’s not tiger-level danger,” she said.
Nowadays, most of us don’t worry about being eaten by wild animals but still face threats that can feel overwhelming, researchers said.
“Many people have lost their jobs, and people can’t access health care that they need,” Ledgerwood said. “I would put those kinds of things more at the level of tigers. … These are really negative things that need our attention.”
Our brains respond more strongly to negative stimuli
Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a type of brain scan, and other methods, researchers have found that negative images elicit a stronger brain response in subjects than positive ones, Norris said in a 2021 review paper.
What’s more, negative impressions can last a lot longer. People tend to become desensitized when they see an image repeatedly, Norris said. However, with negative images, “the brain stands up and takes notice. It really starts to pay more attention when the same negative stimulus is repeated” over time, she said.
Studies have shown that such negative reactions can remain stable for up to a year.
Some people have more negativity bias
Norris said that in her research, she has seen a wide variety in the range of negativity bias from person to person. Since the bias may be an evolutionary adaptation, natural selection and variations would lead to differences, she said.
Research shows that, on average, women tend to have a stronger negativity bias, as shown by their more intense reactions to images of mutilations, dead bodies and other highly unpleasant subject matter. In contrast, “males exhibit a smaller negativity bias, possibly encouraging more risk-taking behaviors,” Norris wrote in her review paper.
[SOURCE: https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2025/05/06/negativity-bias-positivity-strategies/]
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