View source for Negativity bias

{{Educational assignment}}
{{Short description|Tendency to give more importance to negative experiences}}
{{Redir-dist|Negativity effect|Negative affect}}
The '''negativity bias''',<ref name="Kanouse & Hanson 1972">Kanouse, D. E., & Hanson, L. (1972). Negativity in evaluations. In E. E. Jones, D. E. Kanouse, S. Valins, H. H. Kelley, R. E. Nisbett, & B. Weiner (Eds.), ''Attribution: Perceiving the causes of behavior.'' Morristown, NJ: General Learning Press.</ref> also known as the '''negativity effect''', is a [[cognitive bias]] that, even when positive or neutral things of equal intensity occur, things of a more negative nature (e.g. unpleasant thoughts, emotions, or social interactions; harmful/traumatic events) have a greater effect on one's psychological state and processes than neutral or positive things.<ref name="Baumeister et al. 2001">{{cite journal |title=Bad is stronger than good |journal=Review of General Psychology |year=2001 |last1=Baumeister |first1=Roy F. |author-link=Roy Baumeister |last2=Finkenauer |first2=Catrin |last3=Vohs |first3=Kathleen D. |volume=5 |issue=4 |pages=323–370 |doi=10.1037/1089-2680.5.4.323 |s2cid=13154992 |url=http://assets.csom.umn.edu/assets/71516.pdf |access-date=2014-11-19 }}</ref><ref name="Lewicka et al. 1992">{{cite journal |title=Positive-negative asymmetry or "When the heart needs a reason" |journal=European Journal of Social Psychology |year=1992 |last1=Lewicka |first1=Maria |last2=Czapinski |first2=Janusz |author-link2=Janusz Czapiński |last3=Peeters |first3=Guido |volume=22 |issue=5 |pages=425–434 |doi=10.1002/ejsp.2420220502 |url=https://lirias.kuleuven.be/handle/123456789/126429 |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name="Rozin & Royzman 2001">{{cite journal |title=Negativity bias, negativity dominance, and contagion |journal=Personality and Social Psychology Review |year=2001 |last1=Rozin |first1=Paul |author-link=Paul Rozin |last2=Royzman |first2=Edward B. |volume=5 |issue=4 |pages=296–320 |doi=10.1207/S15327957PSPR0504_2 |s2cid=4987502 }}</ref>  In other words, something very positive will generally have less of an impact on a person's behavior and cognition than something equally emotional but negative.  The negativity bias has been investigated within many different domains, including the [[impression formation|formation of impressions]] and general evaluations; attention, learning, and memory; and [[decision-making]] and risk considerations.

==Explanations==
[[Paul Rozin]] and Edward Royzman proposed four elements of the negativity bias in order to explain its manifestation: negative potency, steeper negative gradients, negativity dominance, and negative differentiation.<ref name = "Rozin & Royzman 2001" />

'''Negative potency''' refers to the notion that, while possibly of equal magnitude or emotionality, negative and positive items/events/etc. are not equally salient.  Rozin and Royzman note that this characteristic of the negativity bias is only empirically demonstrable in situations with inherent measurability, such as comparing how positively or negatively a change in temperature is interpreted.

With respect to positive and negative gradients, it seems that negative events are thought to be perceived as increasingly more negative than positive events are increasingly positive the closer one gets (spatially or temporally) to the [[affect (psychology)|affective]] event itself.  In other words, there is a '''steeper negative gradient''' than positive gradient.  For example, the negative experience of an impending dental surgery is perceived as increasingly more negative the closer one gets to the date of surgery than the positive experience of an impending party is perceived as increasingly more positive the closer one gets to the date of celebration  (assuming for the sake of this example that these events are equally positive and negative).  Rozin and Royzman argue that this characteristic is distinct from that of negative potency because there appears to be evidence of steeper negative slopes relative to positive slopes even when potency itself is low.

'''Negativity dominance''' describes the tendency for the combination of positive and negative items/events/etc. to skew towards an overall more negative interpretation than would be suggested by the summation of the individual positive and negative components.  Phrasing in more [[Gestalt psychology|Gestalt]]-friendly terms, the whole is more negative than the sum of its parts.

'''Negative differentiation''' is consistent with evidence suggesting that the conceptualization of negativity is more elaborate and complex than that of positivity.  For instance, research indicates that negative vocabulary is more richly descriptive of the affective experience than that of positive vocabulary.<ref name="Peeters 1971">{{cite journal |title=The positive-negative asymmetry: On cognitive consistency and positivity bias |journal=European Journal of Social Psychology |year=1971 |last=Peeters |first=Guido |volume=1 |issue=4 |pages=455–474 |doi=10.1002/ejsp.2420010405 |url=https://lirias.kuleuven.be/handle/123456789/176069 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>  Furthermore, there appear to be more terms employed to indicate negative emotions than positive emotions.<ref>Averill, J. R., (1980). On the paucity of positive emotions. In K. R. Blankstein, P. Pliner, & J. Polivy (Eds.), ''Advances in the study of communication and affect, Vol. 6'' (p. 745). New York: Plenum.</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=The affective tone of psychology |journal=Journal of General Psychology |year=1966 |last=Carlson |first=Earl R. |volume=75 |issue=1 |pages=65–78 |doi=10.1080/00221309.1966.9710350 |pmid=5965375 }}</ref> The notion of negative differentiation is consistent with the [[Mobilization-Minimization Hypothesis|mobilization-minimization hypothesis]],<ref name="Taylor, S. E. 1991">{{cite journal |title=Asymmetrical effects of positive and negative events: The mobilization-minimization hypothesis |journal=Psychological Bulletin |year=1991 |last=Taylor |first=Shelley E. |author-link=Shelley E. Taylor |volume=110 |issue=1 |pages=67–85 |url=http://taylorlab.psych.ucla.edu/1991_Asymmetrical%20Effects_Positive_Negative%20Events_Mobilization-Minimization%20Hypothesis.pdf |access-date=2014-11-19 |doi=10.1037/0033-2909.110.1.67 |pmid=1891519 |s2cid=16401359 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131006051227/http://taylorlab.psych.ucla.edu/1991_Asymmetrical%20Effects_Positive_Negative%20Events_Mobilization-Minimization%20Hypothesis.pdf |archive-date=2013-10-06 }}</ref> which posits that negative events, as a consequence of this complexity, require a greater mobilization of cognitive resources to deal with the affective experience and a greater effort to minimize the consequences.

==Evidence==

===Social judgments and impression formation===
Most of the early evidence suggesting a negativity bias stems from research on social judgments and impression formation, in which it became clear that negative information was typically more heavily weighted when participants were tasked with forming comprehensive evaluations and impressions of other target individuals.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Linguistic bases of social perception. |journal=Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin |year=1997 |last1=Berry |first1=Diane S. |last2=Hiller |first2=Wendy S. |last3=Mueller |first3=Jennifer S. |last4=Pennebaker |first4=James W. |author-link4=James W. Pennebaker |volume=23 |issue=5 |pages=526–537 |doi=10.1177/0146167297235008 |s2cid=18973021 |url=http://www.communicationcache.com/uploads/1/0/8/8/10887248/linguistic_bases_of_social_perception.pdf |access-date=2014-11-19 }}</ref><ref name = "Fiske 1980">{{cite journal |title=Attention and weight in person perception: The impact of negative and extreme behavior. |journal=Journal of Personality and Social Psychology |year=1980 |last=Fiske |first=Susan T. |author-link=Susan Fiske |volume=38 |issue=6 |pages=889–906 |doi=10.1037/0022-3514.38.6.889 }}</ref>  Generally speaking, when people are presented with a range of trait information about a target individual, the traits are neither "averaged" nor "summed" to reach a final impression.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Forming impressions of personality |journal=Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology |year=1946 |last=Asch |first=Solomon E. |author-link=Solomon Asch |volume=41 |issue=3 |pages=258–290 |doi=10.1037/h0055756 |pmid=20995551 |citeseerx=10.1.1.463.2813 }}</ref> When these traits differ in terms of their positivity and negativity, negative traits disproportionately impact the final impression.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Averaging versus adding as a stimulus-combination rule in impression formation |journal=Journal of Experimental Psychology |year=1965 |last=Anderson |first=Norman H. |author-link=Norman H. Anderson (psychologist) |volume=70 |issue=4 |pages=394–400 |doi=10.1037/h0022280 |pmid=5826027 |url=http://www.indiana.edu/~clcl/Q550_WWW/Anderson_Model/Anderson1965.pdf |access-date=2014-11-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170829024045/http://www.indiana.edu/~clcl/Q550_WWW/Anderson_Model/Anderson1965.pdf |archive-date=2017-08-29 }}</ref><ref>Feldman, S. (1966). Motivational aspects of attitudinal elements and their place in cognitive interaction. In S. Feldman (Ed.), ''Cognitive consistency: Motivational antecedents and behavioral consequences'' (pp. 75–108). New York: Academic Press.{{ISBN?}}</ref><ref name="Hamilton & Zanna 1972">{{cite journal |title=Differential weighting of favorable and unfavorable attributes in impressions of personality. |journal=Journal of Experimental Research in Personality |year=1972 |last1=Hamilton |first1=David L. |last2=Zanna |first2=Mark P. |volume=6 |issue=2–3 |pages=204–212 |url=http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/1974-00983-001 |access-date=2014-11-19 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=Effect of valence on relative weighting in impression formation |journal=Journal of Personality and Social Psychology |year=1974 |last=Hodges |first=Bert H. |volume=30 |issue=3 |pages=378–381 |doi=10.1037/h0036890 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=Informational factors underlying inferences about hypothetical persons |journal=Journal of Personality and Social Psychology |year=1976 |last1=Wyer |first1=Robert S. |author-link=Robert S. Wyer |last2=Hinkle |first2=Ronald L. |volume=34 |issue=3 |pages=481–495 |doi=10.1037/0022-3514.34.3.481 }}</ref>  This is specifically in line with the notion of negativity dominance<ref name = "Rozin & Royzman 2001" /> (see "Explanations" above).

As an example, a famous study by [[Leon Festinger]] and colleagues investigated critical factors in predicting friendship formation; the researchers concluded that whether or not people became friends was most strongly predicted by their proximity to one another.<ref>Festinger, L., Schacter, S., & Back, K. (1950). ''Social pressures in informal groups: A study of a housing community.'' Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press.{{page?|date=July 2022}}{{ISBN?}}</ref>  Ebbesen, Kjos, and Konecni, however, demonstrated that proximity itself does not predict friendship formation; rather, proximity serves to amplify the information that is relevant to the decision of either forming or not forming a friendship.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Spatial ecology: Its effects on the choice of friends and enemies |journal=Journal of Experimental Social Psychology |year=1976 |last1=Ebbesen |first1=Ebbe B. |last2=Kjos |first2=Glenn L. |last3=Konecni |first3=Vladimir J. |volume=12 |issue=6 |pages=505–518 |doi=10.1016/0022-1031(76)90030-5 |url=http://konecni.ucsd.edu/pdf/1976%20JESP%20Spatial%20Ecology.pdf |access-date=2014-11-19 }}</ref>  Negative information is just as amplified as positive information by proximity.  As negative information tends to outweigh positive information, proximity may predict a failure to form friendships even more so than successful friendship formation.<ref name = "Baumeister et al. 2001" />

One explanation that has been put forth as to why such a negativity bias is demonstrated in social judgments is that people may generally consider negative information to be more diagnostic of an individual's character than positive information, that it is more useful than positive information in forming an overall impression.<ref name = "Hamilton & Huffman 1971">{{cite journal |title=Generality of impression formation processes for evaluative and nonevaluative judgments |journal=Journal of Personality and Social Psychology |year=1971 |last1=Hamilton |first1=David L. |last2=Huffman |first2=Leroy J. |volume=20 |issue=2 |pages=200–207 |doi=10.1037/h0031698}}</ref>  This is supported by indications of higher confidence in the accuracy of one's formed impression when it was formed more on the basis of negative traits than positive traits.<ref name = "Baumeister et al. 2001" /><ref name="Hamilton & Zanna 1972"/>  People consider negative information to be more important to impression formation and, when it is available to them, they are subsequently more confident.

An oft-cited paradox,<ref>{{cite journal |title=Negativity and positivity effects in person perception and inference: Ability versus morality. |journal=European Journal of Social Psychology |year=1992 |last1=Martijn |first1=Carolien |last2=Spears |first2=Russell |last3=van der Pligt |first3=Joop |last4=Jakobs |first4=Esther |volume=22 |issue=5 |pages=453–463 |doi=10.1002/ejsp.2420220504 |url=http://joopvanderpligt.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/martijn-ejsp-1992.pdf }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=Caught in the act: When impressions based on highly diagnostic behaviors are resistant to contradiction. |journal=European Journal of Social Psychology |year=1992 |last1=Skowronski |first1=John J. |last2=Carlston |first2=Donal E. |volume=22 |issue=5 |pages=435–452 |doi=10.1002/ejsp.2420220503 }}</ref> a dishonest person can sometimes act honestly while still being considered to be predominantly dishonest; on the other hand, an honest person who sometimes does dishonest things will likely be reclassified as a dishonest person.  It is expected that a dishonest person will occasionally be honest, but this honesty will not counteract the prior demonstrations of dishonesty. Honesty is considered more easily tarnished by acts of dishonesty. Honesty itself would then be not diagnostic of an honest nature, only the absence of dishonesty.

The presumption that negative information has greater diagnostic accuracy is also evident in voting patterns.  Voting behaviors have been shown to be more affected or motivated by negative information than positive: people tend to be more motivated to vote against a candidate because of negative information than they are to vote for a candidate because of positive information.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Negativity effects in impression formation: A test in the political arena |journal=Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin |year=1991 |last=Klein |first=Jill G. |volume=17 |issue=4 |pages=412–418 |doi=10.1177/0146167291174009 |hdl=2027.42/69102 |s2cid=145465008 |url=https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/69102/2/10.1177_0146167291174009.pdf |hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref name = "Klein 1998">{{cite journal |title=Negativity in intradimensional judgments of presidential candidates |journal=Advances in Consumer Research |year=1998 |last=Klein |first=Jill G. |volume=25 |pages=574–577 |url=http://www.acrwebsite.org/search/view-conference-proceedings.aspx?Id=8213 |access-date=2014-11-20 }}</ref>  As noted by researcher Jill Klein, "character weaknesses were more important than strengths in determining...the ultimate vote".<ref name = "Klein 1998" />

This diagnostic preference for negative traits over positive traits is thought to be a consequence of behavioral expectations: there is a general expectation that, owing to social requirements and regulations, people will generally behave positively and exhibit positive traits. Contrastingly, negative behaviors/traits are more unexpected and, thus, more salient when they are exhibited.<ref name = "Kanouse & Hanson 1972" /><ref name = "Baumeister et al. 2001" /><ref name = "Fiske 1980" /><ref name = "Hamilton & Huffman 1971" /><ref name = "Boucher & Osgood">{{cite journal |title=The Pollyanna hypothesis |journal=Journal of Verbal Learning & Verbal Behavior |year=1969 |last1=Boucher |first1=Jerry |last2=Osgood |first2=Charles E. |author-link2=Charles E. Osgood |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=1–8 |doi=10.1016/S0022-5371(69)80002-2 }}</ref> The relatively greater salience of negative events or information means they ultimately play a greater role in the judgment process.

====Attribution of Intentions====
Studies reported in a paper in the ''Journal of Experimental Psychology: General'' by Carey Morewedge (2009) found that people exhibit a '''''negativity bias''''' '''''in attribution of external agency''''', such that they are more likely to attribute negative outcomes to the intentions of another person than similar neutral and positive outcomes.<ref>{{Cite journal|title = Negativity bias in attribution of external agency|journal = Journal of Experimental Psychology: General|pages = 535–545|volume = 138|issue = 4|doi = 10.1037/a0016796|first = Carey K.|last = Morewedge|year = 2009|pmid=19883135|citeseerx = 10.1.1.212.2333}}</ref> In laboratory experiments, Morewedge found that participants were more likely to believe that a partner had influenced the outcome of a gamble in when the participants lost money than won money, even when the probability of winning and losing money was held even. This bias is not limited to adults. Children also appear to be more likely to attribute negative events to intentional causes than similarly positive events.<ref>{{Cite journal|title = Agency Attribution in Infancy: Evidence for a Negativity Bias|journal = PLOS ONE|date = 2014-05-06|pmc = 4011708|pmid = 24801144|pages = e96112|volume = 9|issue = 5|doi = 10.1371/journal.pone.0096112|first1 = J. Kiley|last1 = Hamlin|first2 = Andrew S.|last2 = Baron|bibcode = 2014PLoSO...996112H|doi-access = free}}</ref>

===Cognition===
As addressed by negative differentiation,<ref name = "Rozin & Royzman 2001" /> negative information seems to require greater information processing resources and activity than does positive information; people tend to think and reason more about negative events than positive events.<ref name="Taylor, S. E. 1991"/><ref>{{cite journal |title=Thinking about thinking: Causal, evaluative and finalistic cognitions about social situations |journal=European Journal of Social Psychology |year=1985 |last=Abele |first=Andrea |volume=15 |issue=3 |pages=315–332 |doi=10.1002/ejsp.2420150306 }}</ref> Neurological differences also point to greater processing of negative information: participants exhibit greater event-related potentials when reading about, or viewing photographs of, people performing negative acts that were incongruent with their traits than when reading about incongruent positive acts.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Temporal course of emotional negativity bias: An ERP study |journal=Neuroscience Letters |year=2006 |last1=Huanga |first1=Yu-Xia |last2=Luoa |first2=Yue-Jia |volume=398 |issue=1–2 |pages=91–96 |doi=10.1016/j.neulet.2005.12.074 |pmid=16446031 |s2cid=543655 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=Electrophysiological evidence of implicit and explicit categorization processes |journal=Journal of Experimental Social Psychology |year=2000 |last1=Ito |first1=Tiffany A. |last2=Cacioppo |first2=John T. |author-link2=John Cacioppo |volume=36 |issue=6 |pages=660–676 |doi=10.1006/jesp.2000.1430 |citeseerx=10.1.1.335.2027 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=Negative information weighs more heavily on the brain: The negativity bias in evaluative categorizations |journal=Journal of Personality and Social Psychology |year=1998 |last1=Ito |first1=Tiffany A. |last2=Larsen |first2=Jeff T. |last3=Smith |first3=N. Kyle |last4=Cacioppo |first4=John T. |author-link4=John Cacioppo |volume=75 |issue=4 |pages=887–900 |url=http://www.wisebrain.org/media/Papers/NegativeBiasInEaluativeCategories.pdf |access-date=2014-11-20 |doi=10.1037/0022-3514.75.4.887|pmid=9825526 |citeseerx=10.1.1.316.2348 }}</ref> This additional processing leads to differences between positive and negative information in attention, learning, and memory.

====Attention====
A number of studies have suggested that negativity is essentially an attention magnet. For example, when tasked with forming an impression of presented target individuals, participants spent longer looking at negative photographs than they did looking at positive photographs.<ref name = "Fiske 1980" /> Similarly, participants registered more eye blinks when studying negative words than positive words<ref name = "Ohira et al., 1998">{{cite journal |title=Effects of stimulus valence on recognition memory and endogenous eyeblinks: Further evidence for positive-negative asymmetry |journal=Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin |year=1998 |last1=Ohira |first1=Hideki |last2=Winton |first2=Ward M. |last3=Oyama |first3=Makiko |volume=24 |issue=9 |pages=986–993 |doi=10.1177/0146167298249006 |s2cid=146598768 }}</ref> (blinking rate has been positively linked to cognitive activity<ref>{{cite journal |title=Eye movements and blinks: Their relationship to higher cognitive processes |journal=International Journal of Psychophysiology |year=1989 |last1=Fogarty |first1=Christine |last2=Stern |first2=John A. |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=35–42 |doi=10.1016/0167-8760(89)90017-2 |pmid=2584081}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=Eyeblink activity in a word-naming task as a function of semantic priming and cognitive load |journal=Perceptual and Motor Skills |year=1996 |last=Ohira |first=Hideki |volume=82 |issue=3 Pt 1 |pages=835–842 |doi=10.2466/pms.1996.82.3.835 |pmid=8774018 |s2cid=40077963 }}</ref>). Also, people were found to show greater orienting responses following negative than positive outcomes, including larger increases in pupil diameter, heart rate, and peripheral arterial tone <ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hochman |first1=G. |last2=Yechiam |first2=E. |year=2011 |title=Loss aversion in the eye and in the heart: The Autonomic Nervous System's responses to losses |journal=Journal of Behavioral Decision Making |volume=24 |issue=2 |pages=140–156 |doi=10.1002/bdm.692|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Yechiam |first1=E. |last2=Telpaz |first2=A. |last3=Hochman |first3=G. |year=2014 |title= The complaint bias in subjective evaluations of incentives.|journal=Decision |volume=1|issue=2 |pages=147–160 |doi=10.1037/dec0000008}}</ref>

Importantly, this preferential attendance to negative information is evident even when the affective nature of the stimuli is irrelevant to the task itself. The automatic vigilance hypothesis has been investigated using a modified [[Stroop effect|Stroop task]].<ref name="Pratto & John 1991">{{cite journal |title=Automatic vigilance: The attention-grabbing power of negative social information |journal=Journal of Personality and Social Psychology |year=1991 |last1=Pratto |first1=Felicia |last2=Oliver |first2=John P. |volume=61 |issue=3 |pages=380–391 |doi=10.1037/0022-3514.61.3.380|pmid=1941510 }}</ref>  Participants were presented with a series of positive and negative personality traits in several different colors; as each trait appeared on the screen, participants were to name the color as quickly as possible.  Even though the positive and negative elements of the words were immaterial to the color-naming task, participants were slower to name the color of negative traits than they were positive traits.  This difference in response latencies indicates that greater attention was devoted to processing the trait itself when it was negative.

Aside from studies of eye blinks and color naming, Baumeister and colleagues noted in their review of bad events versus good events <ref name = "Baumeister et al. 2001" /> that there is also easily accessible, real-world evidence for this attentional bias: bad news sells more papers and the bulk of successful novels are full of negative events and turmoil. When taken in conjunction with the laboratory-based experiments, there is strong support for the notion that negative information generally has a stronger pull on attention than does positive information.

====Learning and memory====
Learning and memory are direct consequences of attentional processing: the more attention is directed or devoted toward something, the more likely it is that it will be later learned and remembered.  Research concerning the effects of punishment and reward on learning suggests that punishment for incorrect responses is more effective in enhancing learning than are rewards for correct responses—learning occurs more quickly following bad events than good events.<ref name = "Costantini & Hoving 1973">{{cite journal |title=The effectiveness of reward and punishment contingencies on response inhibition |journal=Journal of Experimental Child Psychology |year=1973 |last1=Costantini |first1=Arthur F. |last2=Hoving |first2=Kenneth L. |volume=16 |issue=3 |pages=484–494 |doi=10.1016/0022-0965(73)90009-X }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=Children's discrimination learning as a function of reward and punishment |journal=Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology |year=1961 |last1=Penney |first1=Ronald K. |last2=Lupton |first2=A. A. |volume=54 |issue=4 |pages=449–451 |doi=10.1037/h0045445 |pmid=13734128 }}</ref>

Drs. Pratto and John addressed the effects of [[Affect (psychology)|affective]] information on incidental memory as well as attention using their modified Stroop paradigm (see section concerning "Attention").  Not only were participants slower to name the colors of negative traits, they also exhibited better incidental memory for the presented negative traits than they did for the positive traits, regardless of the proportion of negative to positive traits in the stimuli set.<ref name = "Pratto & John 1991" />

Intentional memory is also impacted by the stimuli's negative or positive quality.  When studying both positive and negative behaviors, participants tend to recall more negative behaviors during a later memory test than they do positive behaviors, even after controlling for serial position effects.<ref>{{cite journal |title=The independence of evaluative and item information: Impression and recall order effects in behavior-based impression formation |journal=Journal of Personality and Social Psychology |year=1979 |last1=Dreben |first1=Elizabeth K. |last2=Fiske |first2=Susan T. |author-link2=Susan Fiske |last3=Hastie |first3=Reid |volume=37 |issue=10 |pages=1758–1768 |doi=10.1037/0022-3514.37.10.1758}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=Social judgment and social memory: The role of cue diagnosticity in negativity, positivity, and extremity biases |journal=Journal of Personality and Social Psychology |year=1987 |last1=Skowronski |first1=John J. |last2=Carlston |first2=Donal E. |volume=52 |issue=4 |pages=689–699 |doi=10.1037/0022-3514.52.4.689 }}</ref> There is also evidence that people exhibit better [[recognition memory]] and source memory for negative information.<ref name = "Ohira et al., 1998" /><ref>{{cite journal |title=The role of conscious recollection in recognition of affective material: Evidence for positive-negative asymmetry |journal= The Journal of General Psychology |year=1996 |last1=Robinson-Riegler |first1=Gregory L. |last2=Winton |first2=Ward M. |volume=123 |issue=2 |pages=93–104 |doi=10.1080/00221309.1996.9921263 }}</ref>

When asked to recall a recent emotional event, people tend to report negative events more often than they report positive events,<ref>{{cite journal |title=Socially shared emotional experiences vs. emotional experiences kept secret: Differential characteristics and consequences |journal=Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology |year=1998 |last1=Finkenauer |first1=Catrin |last2=Rimé |first2=Bernard |volume=17 |issue=3 |pages=295–318 |doi=10.1521/jscp.1998.17.3.295 }}</ref> and this is thought to be because these negative memories are more salient than are the positive memories.  People also tend to underestimate how frequently they experience positive affect, in that they more often forget the positively emotional experiences than they forget negatively emotional experiences.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Memory accuracy in the recall of emotions |journal=Journal of Personality and Social Psychology |year=1990 |last1=Thomas |first1=David L. |last2=Diener |first2=Ed |author-link2=Ed Diener |volume=59 |issue=2 |pages=291–297 |doi=10.1037/0022-3514.59.2.291 }}</ref>

===Decision-making===
Studies of the negativity bias have also been related to research within the domain of [[decision-making]], specifically as it relates to [[risk aversion (psychology)|risk aversion]] or [[loss aversion]].  When presented with a situation in which a person stands to either gain something or lose something depending on the outcome, potential costs were argued to be more heavily considered than potential gains.<ref name = KT1979>{{cite journal |last1=Kahneman |first1=D. |last2=Tversky |first2=A. |year=1979 |title=Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision under Risk |journal=[[Econometrica]] |volume=47 |issue=2 |pages=263–291 |jstor=1914185 |doi=10.2307/1914185 |citeseerx=10.1.1.407.1910 }}</ref><ref name = "Kanouse & Hanson 1972" /><ref name = "Costantini & Hoving 1973" /><ref>{{cite journal |title=When it rains, it pours: The greater impact of resource loss compared to gain on psychological distress |journal=Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin |year=1999 |last1=Wells |first1=Jennifer D. |last2=Hobfoll |first2=Stevan E. |last3=Lavin |first3=Justin |volume=25 |issue=9 |pages=1172–1182 |doi=10.1177/01461672992512010 |s2cid=146254044 }}</ref> The greater consideration of losses (i.e. negative outcomes) is in line with the principle of negative potency as proposed by Rozin and Royzman.<ref name = "Rozin & Royzman 2001" /> This issue of negativity and loss aversion as it relates to decision-making is most notably addressed by Drs. [[Daniel Kahneman|Daniel Kahneman's]] and [[Amos Tversky|Amos Tversky's]] [[prospect theory]].

However, it is worth noting that Rozin and Royzman were never able to find loss aversion in decision making.<ref name = "Rozin & Royzman 2001" /> They wrote, "in particular, strict gain and loss of money does not reliably demonstrate loss aversion". This is consistent with the findings of a recent review of more than 40 studies of loss aversion focusing on decision problems with equal sized gains and losses.<ref name = YechiamHochman>{{cite journal|last1=Yechiam |first1=E. |last2=Hochman|first2=G. |year=2013 |title=Losses as modulators of attention: Review and analysis of the unique effects of losses over gains |journal=Psychological Bulletin|volume=139 |issue=2 |pages=497–518 |doi=10.1037/a0029383 |pmid=22823738 }}</ref> In their review, Yechiam and Hochman (2013) did find a positive effect of losses on performance, autonomic arousal, and response time in decision tasks, which they suggested is due to the effect of losses on attention. This was labeled by them as loss attention.<ref name = YechiamHochman/>

====Politics====
Research points to a correlation between political affiliation and negativity bias,<ref>Hibbing, J. R., Smith, K. B. and Alford, J. R. (2014) “Differences in negativity bias underlie variations in political ideology,” Behavioral and Brain Sciences. Cambridge University Press, 37(3), pp. 297–307. {{doi|10.1017/S0140525X13001192}}.</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Tritt |first1=Shona M. |last2=Peterson |first2=Jordan B. |last3=Page-Gould |first3=Elizabeth |last4=Inzlicht |first4=Michael |date=2016 |title=Ideological reactivity: Political conservatism and brain responsivity to emotional and neutral stimuli |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/304662727 |journal=Emotion |volume=16 |issue=8 |pages=1172–1185 |doi=10.1037/emo0000150|pmid=27359221}}</ref> where conservatives are more sensitive to negative stimuli and therefore tend to lean towards right-leaning ideology which considers threat reduction and social-order to be its main focus.<ref>Schwartz, S. H. (2014) “Negativity bias and basic values,” Behavioral and Brain Sciences. Cambridge University Press, 37(3), pp. 328–329. {{doi|10.1017/S0140525X13002720}}.</ref>
Individuals with lower negativity bias tend to lean towards liberal political policies such as pluralism and are accepting of diverse social groups which by proxy could threaten social structure and cause greater risk of unrest.<ref>Caprara, G. V., Schwartz, S., Capanna, C., Vecchione, M. and Barbaranelli, C. (2006), Personality and Politics: Values, Traits, and Political Choice. Political Psychology, 27: 1–28. {{doi|10.1111/j.1467-9221.2006.00447.x}}</ref>

==Lifespan development==

===Infancy===
While the majority of investigations into the negativity bias have primarily focused on adults, particularly undergraduate students, a limited number of studies involving infants have also indicated the presence of negativity biases.

Infants are thought to interpret ambiguous situations on the basis of how others around them react. When an adult (e.g. experimenter, mother) displays reactions of happiness, fear, or neutrality towards target toys, infants tend to approach the toy associated with the negative reaction significantly less than the neutral and positive toys.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Emotion regulation via maternal touch |journal=Infancy |year=2001 |last1=Hertenstein |first1=Matthew J. |last2=Campos |first2=Joseph J. |volume=2 |issue=4 |pages=549–566 |doi=10.1207/S15327078IN0204_09 |pmid=33451193 |citeseerx=10.1.1.484.3642 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=The infant as onlooker: Learning from emotional reactions observed in a television scenario |journal=[[Child Development (journal)|Child Development]] |year=2003 |last1=Mumme |first1=Donna L. |last2=Fernald |first2=Anne |author-link2=Anne Fernald |volume=74 |issue=1 |pages=221–237 |url=http://www-psych.stanford.edu/~babylab/pdfs/Mumme%26Fernald.CD.2003.pdf |access-date=2014-11-20 |doi=10.1111/1467-8624.00532|pmid=12625447 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161008175133/http://www-psych.stanford.edu/~babylab/pdfs/Mumme%26Fernald.CD.2003.pdf |archive-date=2016-10-08 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=Infants' responses to facial and vocal emotional signals in a social referencing paradigm |journal=Child Development |year=1996 |last1=Mumme |first1=Donna L. |last2=Fernald |first2=Anne |author-link2=Anne Fernald |last3=Herrera |first3=Carla |volume=67 |issue=6 |pages=3219–3237 |doi=10.2307/1131775 |pmid=9071778 |url=http://www-psych.stanford.edu/~babylab/pdfs/Mumme%20Fernald%20Herrera%201996.pdf |access-date=2014-11-20 |jstor=1131775 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160808122508/http://www-psych.stanford.edu/~babylab/pdfs/Mumme%20Fernald%20Herrera%201996.pdf |archive-date=2016-08-08 }}</ref><ref name="Vaish et al">{{cite journal |title=Not all emotions are created equal: The negativity bias in social-emotional development |journal=Psychological Bulletin |year=2008 |last1=Vaish |first1=Amrisha |last2=Grossmann |first2=Tobias |last3=Woodward |first3=Amanda |author-link3=Amanda Woodward |volume=134 |issue=3 |pages=383–403 |doi=10.1037/0033-2909.134.3.383 |pmid=18444702 |pmc=3652533}}</ref> Furthermore, there was greater evidence of neural activity when the infants were shown pictures of the "negative" toy than when shown the "positive" and "neutral" toys.<ref>{{cite journal |title=12-month-old infants allocate increased neural resources to stimuli associated with negative adult emotion |journal=Developmental Psychology |year=2007 |last1=Carver |first1=Leslie J. |last2=Vaccaro |first2=Brenda G. |volume=43 |issue=1 |pages=54–69 |doi=10.1037/0012-1649.43.1.54 |pmid=17201508 |pmc=3593093}}</ref>  Although recent work with 3-month-olds suggests a negativity bias in social evaluations, as well,<ref>{{cite journal |title=3-month-olds show a negativity bias in their social evaluations |journal=Developmental Science |last1=Hamlin |first1=J. Kiley |last2=Wynn |first2=Karen |author-link2=Karen Wynn |last3=Bloom |first3=Paul |author-link3=Paul Bloom (psychologist) |volume=13 |issue=6 |pages=923–929 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-7687.2010.00951.x |pmid=20977563 |pmc=2966030|year=2010 }}</ref> there is also work suggesting a potential positivity bias in attention to emotional expressions in infants younger than 7 months.<ref>{{cite journal |title=The perception of facial expressions in newborns |journal=European Journal of Developmental Psychology |year=2007 |last1=Farroni |first1=Teresa |last2=Menon |first2=Enrica |last3=Rigato |first3=Silvia |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=2–13 |doi=10.1080/17405620601046832 |pmid=20228970 |pmc=2836746}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=The 5-month-old's ability to discriminate facial expressions of emotion |journal=Infant Behavior and Development |year=1985 |last1=Schwartz |first1=Gail M. |last2=Izard |first2=Carroll E. |author-link2=Carroll Izard |last3=Ansul |first3=Susan E. |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=65–77 |doi=10.1016/S0163-6383(85)80017-5 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=Infant visual fixation on motion pictures of human faces |journal=Journal of Experimental Child Psychology |year=1968 |last1=Wilcox |first1=Barbara M. |last2=Clayton |first2=Frances L. |volume=6 |issue=1 |pages=22–32 |doi=10.1016/0022-0965(68)90068-4 |pmid=5642131 }}</ref>  A review of the literature conducted by Drs. Amrisha Vaish, Tobias Grossman, and Amanda Woodward suggests the negativity bias may emerge during the second half of an infant's first year, although the authors also note that research on the negativity bias and affective information has been woefully neglected within the developmental literature.<ref name = "Vaish et al" />

===Aging and older adults===
Some research indicates that older adults may display, at least in certain situations, a [[Pollyanna principle|positivity bias]] or [[positivity effect]].<ref>{{cite journal |title=Sending memorable messages to the old: Age differences in preferences and memory for advertisements |journal=Journal of Personality and Social Psychology |year=2003 |last1=Fung |first1=Helene H. |last2=Carstensen |first2=Laura L. |volume=85 |issue=1 |pages=163–178 |doi=10.1037/0022-3514.85.1.163 |pmid=12872892 |url=http://50plus.kro.nl/data/media/db_download/27_d5ecf7.pdf |access-date=2014-11-20 |citeseerx=10.1.1.596.7692 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160804012921/http://50plus.kro.nl/data/media/db_download/27_d5ecf7.pdf |archive-date=2016-08-04 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=Aging and motivated cognition: The positivity effect in attention and memory |journal=Trends in Cognitive Sciences |year=2005 |last1=Mather |first1=Mara |author-link=Mara Mather |last2=Carstensen |first2=Laura L. |volume=9 |issue=10 |pages=496–502 |doi=10.1016/j.tics.2005.08.005 |url=https://gero.usc.edu/labs/matherlab/files/2019/03/MatherCarstensen2005.pdf |pmid=16154382|s2cid=17433910 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191204151024/https://gero.usc.edu/labs/matherlab/files/2019/03/MatherCarstensen2005.pdf |archive-date=2019-12-04 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=The negativity bias is eliminated in older adults: Age-related reduction in event-related brain potentials associated with evaluative categorization |journal=Psychology and Aging |year=2006 |last1=Wood |first1=Stacey |last2=Kisley |first2=Michael A. |volume=21 |issue=4 |pages=815–820 |doi=10.1037/0882-7974.21.4.815 |pmid=17201501 |url=http://www.uccs.edu/Documents/humanneurophysiologylab/05%20Wood%20and%20Kisley%202006.pdf |access-date=2014-11-20 |archive-date=2014-11-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129025724/http://www.uccs.edu/Documents/humanneurophysiologylab/05%20Wood%20and%20Kisley%202006.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>  Proposed by Dr. Laura Carstensen and colleagues, the [[socioemotional selectivity theory]] outlines a shift in goals and emotion regulation tendencies with advancing age, resulting in a preference for positive information over negative information.  Aside from the evidence in favor of a positivity bias, though, there have still been many documented cases of older adults displaying a negativity bias.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Younger, middle-aged, and older adults' memories for the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election |journal=Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition |year=2012 |last1=Holland |first1=Alisha C. |last2=Kensinger |first2=Elizabeth A. |volume=1 |issue=3 |pages=163–170 |doi=10.1016/j.jarmac.2012.06.001 |pmid=23264932 |pmc=3524976}}</ref><ref>Naveh-Benjamin, M., & Ohta, N. (Eds.) (2012). ''Memory and aging: Current issues and future directions''. Philadelphia, PA: Psychology Press.{{ISBN?}}{{Page?|date=July 2022}}</ref>

==See also==
* {{annotated link|Fading affect bias}}
* {{annotated link|List of biases in judgment and decision making}}
* {{annotated link|Mean world syndrome}}
* {{annotated link|Pollyanna principle|Pollyanna hypothesis}}
* {{annotated link|Positivity effect}}
* {{annotated link|Positivity offset}}
* {{annotated link|Prospect theory}}
* Automatic vigilance hypothesis<ref name = "Pratto & John 1991" /><ref>{{cite journal |title=Affective stimulus value and cognitive complexity |journal=Journal of Personality and Social Psychology |year=1967 |last1=Irwin |first1=Marc |last2=Tripodi |first2=Tony |last3=Bieri |first3=James |author-link3=James Bieri |volume=5 |issue=4 |pages=444–448 |doi=10.1037/h0024406 |pmid=6051770 }}</ref>
* Leniency effect<ref>Bruner, J. S., & Tagiuri, R. (1954). Person perception. In G. Lindsey (Ed.), ''Handbook of social psychology'' (Vol. 2, pp. 634–654). Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.</ref>
* Positive–negative asymmetry<ref name = "Lewicka et al. 1992" /><ref name = "Peeters 1971" />

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite journal|doi=10.1027/0269-8803/a000027|title=Early Negativity Bias Occurring Prior to Experiencing of Emotion|journal=Journal of Psychophysiology|volume=25|pages=9–17|year=2011|last1=Dong|first1=Guangheng|last2=Zhou|first2=Hui|last3=Zhao|first3=Xuan|last4=Lu|first4=Qilin}}
* {{cite journal|doi=10.1007/s11238-009-9168-9|title=A note on negativity bias and framing response asymmetry|journal=Theory and Decision|volume=71|issue=2|pages=235–250 |year=2011|last1=Sonsino|first1=Doron|citeseerx=10.1.1.523.5455|s2cid=42689544}}

==External links==
* [http://www.acrwebsite.org/search/view-conference-proceedings.aspx?Id=6335 ''Theory and Research''] Information on theoretical aspect of negativity bias.
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E09077HRurg ''Negativity Bias – description''] Video.

{{Biases}}
{{Media and human factors}}

[[Category:Cognitive biases]]