Tipping the Scale: Overcoming Negativity Bias
Negativity Bias in a human being is actually a thing. Ponder that for a moment. A Bias towards negativity. An inclination to attend to something that is negative, as opposed to something that is positive. It’s fascinating to me. I can even see it in myself at times, at least to some extent. I can certainly find myself getting lost in negativity at times, kind of like jumping into a river of negativity that feeds off its own energy. But eventually I jump out of the river, and there is a knowingness that I just wasted some time doing something stupid.
So, what is behind this bias towards negativity? What is the source of this energy? Is it an innate condition based on the evolution of humanity? Is it an individual condition based on personal experiences? Is there a collective bias towards negativity in modern society? I think all three of these play a role, though I would argue that the ones that play the biggest role are those based on our personal experience (and the resulting habitual thinking and feeling), and those external to us in modern times (the endless external messaging we attend to), such as the news, social media, entertainment we consume. Also external to us are other people who are negative. When we attend to negativity, we get sucked into a lower level of consciousness, and thus experience life from that lower level.
And, what is the impact on us? What is the impact of this lower level of consciousness and its bias towards negativity? How does negativity bias influence our thoughts, feelings, and actions? This bias to focus more on negative aspects than on positive or neutral ones must have far-reaching effects, shaping our individual experiences and societal dynamics. We all know individuals (including ourselves) who have habits and tendencies towards the negative, particularly when triggered by circumstances ingrained in subconscious conditioning. They/we also tend to believe that the source, and blame of their triggering toward negativity is outside of them, which is not the truth.
The reality is this. We always have a choice. Unfortunately the tendency is to subconsciously choose negativity. What we experience is always driven by what we are thinking and feeling in the moment, and if you “look” hard enough, you will see it’s always your choice. The challenge is first to see this dilemma, and then to realize you have the power to choose what you attend to.
So, since it is always our choice, choosing to shift towards a more positive, or even a "loving bias," presents a pathway out of the shadow of negativity, tipping the scale of bias from negative to positive/loving.
First, let's explore the essence of negativity bias, from its evolutionary roots, its source machinery today, how it manifests in our daily lives, and the deliberate steps we can take toward nurturing a more positive, loving outlook.
Understanding Negativity Bias
Negativity bias is a psychological tendency to give more weight, attention, and focus to negative experiences over positive ones. Its habitual. It’s a learned and familiar thinking/feeling habits and cycles. It’s an addiction, enforced by neuronic and chemical wiring in the brain and body, installed by mostly unconscious repetition. The wiring is no different than the wiring installed by someone who is an experienced driver. When you first try to drive, you have to consciously think through every action and its order. It’s quite a clumsy undertaking. After a while, it’s automatic. Its beautiful. There is an amazing grace to it. The operation of the vehicle is powered by the subconscious.
So, you should now understand how powerful such subconscious tendencies are, and especially negative ones. Negative bias influences how we perceive the world, making us more likely to remember a harsh word than a compliment, or to focus on bad news over good. It also leads to feelings, behaviors, and actions rooted in that negativity, and develops a momentum towards more negativity. So it plays a significant role in how we experience life. It’s critical to develop an understanding of it so it can be properly dealt with. So take a moment to see it. Ponder it. Realize it in yourself.
The Evolutionary Backdrop
Our human evolution contains roots of negativity bias. Our ancestors' survival depended on their ability to quickly identify and react to potential threats, particularly physical threats. As a result, our brains and bodies have developed to prioritize negative information, considering it more important for our physical survival and well-being. While the types of threats we face have evolved, our brain's bias towards negativity remains.
Humanity has also evolved with respect to how we respond to these remnants of our earlier days. For example, many people are adept at responding to harsh, potentially violent interactions with other people. Initially, they may feel anxiety, fear, or grief, but can quickly tap into capabilities to respond, even respond in a positive way that diffuses the situation. This is a good thing, because it shows us how powerful we are to change habits, even those that have been ingrained in us for hundreds, maybe thousands of years.
Remember, it’s “evolution”, so we are always evolving. Humanity is evolving. Its obvious. So there is no reason to believe that humanity cannot tip the scale to a “positivity bias”. It’s not binary, it’s not an an/off thing. It’s like a balance scale. Some days we may be more tipped on the side of negativity. Other days more on the positive. We this in our own lives as we grow and mature and become more positive. We see these in our relationships with people which have improved overtime. This is encouraging. This is amazing, there is a lot of potential here, and its exciting for ourselves, and humanity.
But pulling out the roots from our ancestry is not the only work here. As we will see next, there are modern challenges we deal with every day that get in the way of tipping the scales into positivity.
Daily Encounters with Negativity Bias
Recognizing negativity bias in our everyday lives can be illuminating. We just need to make a conscious choice to look for it, and then to remove it from our attention. This is an area that requires awareness and focus. It’s important, because these daily encounters are what keeps our human evolution, and our own personal evolution towards positivity stuck in the mud, or worse, with the potential to decline towards more negativity. Here are specific examples of how negativity bias may manifest throughout a typical day. As you read these, please note this: I’m not claiming that these influences are all negative. There are positive and uplifting news stories, social media content, co-workers, music, movies and TV shows, and sports. The point I am making is that these platforms have lots of negativity, and we need to be aware of that so we can protect ourselves from it.
Morning News: Starting the day with news reports often means being confronted with a barrage of negative stories — a robbery here, a political disagreement there, aliens, wars, pandemics, and the end of the world. It never ends. Everyday and all day. Some people say that the News is negative because that is what people want to see. Maybe there is some truth there as there are people who are addicted to negativity. However, I call bullshit. There is something larger at play that I won’t get into right now. Suffice it to say that there are powers that be who may have, shall I say, an evil agenda, powered by their own negativity bias and low levels of consciousness. I mean, how else can we explain such a consistent onslaught of negativity at a world wide scale. It just doesn’t make sense. Nonetheless, for our purposes, the takeaway is that the News remains mostly negative, and it sets a tone of anxiety, fear, and pessimism for the day ahead. I haven’t watched the news in about 3 years, and I can’t say I missed much. I doubt you would either.
Social Media Scroll: At this rate, the human thumb will be the strongest body part in 100 years. I don’t think any other body part has seen such an increase in activity since the advent of the smartphone. Unfortunately, a quick glance through social media can expose us to negative stories, comments, comparisons with others' seemingly perfect lives (which can make our own experiences feel inadequate), and distressing news shared by friends, further reinforcing the bias. You would do well to put your phone out of reach, and sight. Don’t pick it up unless their is first a positive intent for its use.
Workplace: The workplace can be ripe with negativity. Of course, some workplaces are better than others. But most, if not all of them, will have pockets of culture and people who are swung to the side of negativity. Complaining about management, complaining about pay, the feeling of not being appreciated. The whole concept of work has been institutionalized as a place of suffering. Cases of “the Mondays”, “the grind”, shitty commutes. Constantly looking forward to the weekend. It’s not the way it should be, but unfortunately it is for most of humanity. We have to challenge this thinking and feeling, and replace it with something more positive.
Music: Talk about an industry that shapes the collective consciousness of the world. While there is no shortage of happy, uplifting songs, there certainly is no shortage of negative songs. The predominant themes in music spew of negativity. Inflation, jealousy, break ups, lust, inadequacy, anger, revenge, you name it. And forget about the rap/hip hop genre. It’s laughable when people make the claim that this genre of music doesn’t impact the societies where it is popular. Artists have killed each other based on songs about mostly fictional lives of being gangsters. The negativity bleeds into the neighborhoods of these artists and their inhabitants, resulting in turf wars. Beef. A culture of Beef. That is negativity gone wild, feeding on itself until achieving the most horrible of outcomes. Protect your ears.
Netflix / TV Show Binging: There is a ton of negative shows on TV. Think about the themes in these shows, they are similar to music: inflation, jealousy, hate, murder, drugs, easy money, lust, theft…….The seven deadly sins. And worse, we binge! We binge in a passive state, we repeat these negative themes over and over into our consciousness.
Professional Sports: This is an area that has seen a significant shift around how people experience it. For me, there was a time when I could watch sports and appreciate the determination, the team work, the belief, the passion, and the perseverance of individuals and teams to complete and win. It inspired me. It gave hope that anything can be accomplished by an individual, or a group of people with a common purpose. It felt good. Now, and primarily due to media messaging, it’s all about judgement and negativity. An industry of debate shows arguing over which teams will win, which players are pretenders, which players are overpaid, which players can never win a championship. A bunch of useless arguments, from people who really know nothing, that serve to rile up negative feelings and emotions in the people who watch them. Even worse, the insane emergence of sports gambling. Talk about completely destroying the beauty of sports. Instead of unifying with an individual or team on the themes of hard work, perseverance, and teamwork, we have reduced our interest in sports to easy money, to greed, to chance. We need to get back to the beauty of sport.
Tipping The Scale Towards Positivity
Acknowledging the pervasiveness of negativity bias is the first step toward mitigating its impact. Negativity bias is real, and it impacts us. It impacts society. It’s powerful, it self perpetuates in our consciousness and that of the world, and it will take intention, focus, effort, and time to break the habit. And that’s the point. It’s a beautiful point. In the face of all this negativity, there is something more powerful. It’s obvious that there is something more powerful. It’s why you don’t go kill someone after hearing a song about thug life. It’s why you don’t cheat on your wife after binge watching a show about promiscuous sex. The power is pure consciousness, its god, its our being made in his image, pure and pristine. It’s always there, and will always be there. Negativity bias is just a bunch of clouds covering up the perpetual sun. It’s that part of you that knows the stupidity of negativity. So connect with it, and from that connection, choose to live on the positive. Take a leap onto the positive/loving side of the scale and never look back.
Here are practical strategies for making that leap, for tipping the scale:
Gratitude: Attend NOT to the barrage of advertisements on TV, radio, and social medial. ATTEND TO yourself, and the fact that you are enough, and you have enough. You're beautiful, and the universe has rewarded you with endless gifts. Begin your day by listing 5 or 10 things you're thankful for. I love my home. The trees around my yard and the air that they provide. The sunlight, and the feeling of warmth on my face. My consciousness, my ability to see, smell, hear, feel, and taste. My eggs, the farmer who farmed them, and the chicken that laid them. My beautiful children, their happiness, and their health. It is insane how much we take for granted, all because we don’t attend to it. Worse, we attend to things that make us feel like we don’t have enough. This simple act of gratitude can recalibrate your focus towards the positive, providing a more uplifting start to your day. Do it regularly and you will change.
Curate Your TV, Social, and Music Consumption: Make a conscious effort to balance your intake of news and social media with positive content. Like I said above, there are good things in all of these platforms. Make the conscious choice to use them correctly, and avoid the negativity on these platforms as much as possible. Subscribe to uplifting news sites, follow inspirational accounts (mine?), and limit exposure to distressing information. Listing to uplifting songs with themes of love, friendship, community, power, god, and spirit. Basically, just choose love. Protect your consciousness, your mind, and your heart from all negativity. Allow not an inch of negativity. Instead, fill them with love.
Embrace Positive Affirmations: We all experience the minds self talk. It’s not all bad, but more often than not, it is bad. “I’m tired”, “I hate this job”, “I can’t do this”, “I hate that person”, “I shouldn’t have done that”. Also it’s very habitual. It’s ingrained in our neurons and the chemical makeup of the body. The great Lester Levenson said all internal negativity comes down to three wants: Wanting Approval, Wanting Control, or Wanting to be Safe. Counter negative self-talk with positive affirmations. Create new neural pathways and body chemicals that lift your spirits. “I am good enough”. “I have accomplished a lot in my career”. “I am an amazing parent”. “I am beautiful and attractive”. “I am loving and caring all the time.” Reminding yourself of your strengths and accomplishments can help shift your focus from criticism to self-compassion.
Cultivate Kindness in All Relationships and Interactions: I find this to be one the most powerful practices. It tips the scale for you individually, while also helping to shift the scale for humanity. I wrote about Daily Deposits into the Spirit of Humanity here. Perform acts of kindness daily. Whether it's paying a compliment, volunteering, or simply offering a smile, these acts of kindness can foster a sense of connection and positivity.
Connect with Nature: Regularly spend time outdoors. Nature's beauty and tranquility can help soothe the mind, reduce stress, and promote positive feelings. Ponder the relationship of nature to humanity, and to yourself. Ponder its silent, yet powerful love to all its inhabitants. Think about the beauty of Trees. Trees give us shade. They give us clear air to breathe. They are a home to squirrels. Children climb them. Their leaves fall and fertilize the ground for a new season. They judge nobody. They reject nobody. All are welcome, All are loved. We can learn a lot from nature. Ponder them. Learn from them.
Embracing a New Narrative
While negativity bias is woven into our individual and collective psychological fabric, recognizing its influence in our daily lives empowers us to challenge it. We cannot accept negativity bias as normal, because it is not normal. It is not who we really are. It’s just a shroud, a dense set of clouds distracting us from the Sun, the Light within ourselves. By actively choosing to focus on the positive, cultivate gratitude, and engage in acts of kindness, we can begin to counteract negativity bias and to tip the scales towards positivity, towards love, peace and bliss. This journey towards a more positive, loving bias is a gradual process, requiring patience, persistence, and a commitment to unwind old habits and to replace them with new ones. So take a step back for moment and see what side your scale is tipped towards, and make the conscious choice to fully tip to positivity, to love, to god, and to peace. To your true being.