What is the Positivity effect?
The Positivity effect is the tendency to perceive things as more positive than negative. It means that people tend to focus on what’s good rather than bad, highlighting the positive at the expense of the negative.
Why this bias is dangerous?
Because sometimes we can miss bad stuff which isn’t good for us or anything else. Or it can be used manipulatively by lying about something being only positive, just to persuade us into doing something.
Why do people use this bias?
Mostly because they hope that if they say or write only nice words it will improve their life circumstances, especially when talking about themselves. Sometimes they also want other people to have a better view of them so they create a biased impression. Like they might write only good things about themselves on a dating website.
How do people use this bias?
Generally, by avoiding/omitting any potentially negative elements in their account of something. They might also exaggerate the positive aspects of an event, person or thing.
How can we create this bias?
To create this bias, you should be careful in your self-talk (e.g., avoid saying « I’m stupid » when you make mistakes or « I’ve never done anything right. ») and pay more attention to the good things that happen to you rather than the bad ones. Also, try not labelling negative emotions as ‘bad’ because it feels like it is with us for our entire lives. So by labelling it as ‘bad’, we’re giving off that image that we don’t want people to see how negative we are inside which can lead into problems with other future relationships in life.
How can we avoid this bias?
Most people use this bias unintentionally, so one way to avoid it is to be aware that we are doing it. In addition to being prepared for the presence of unwanted thoughts, you should also make a conscious effort not to actively dismiss them. If you realize you have been suppressing a negative thought by trying not to think about it, try not labelling it as ‘bad’ or ‘negative’ and/or replacing your mental representation of a negative thing with its opposite (for example thinking about something positive instead).
Positivity effect examples:
- Blog posts on dating sites saying only nice things about themselves.
- People writing good things about their own family members on social media but bad things about others or social issues.
- Political speech video about how great of a country/politician is.
- Doctors wanting to diagnose their patients with negative conditions instead of positive conditions even though sometimes it might be better to have the positive one. It’s because there’s a chance for something bad to happen so they want to protect themselves from any harm as much as possible. In medicine, you sometimes hear « first do no harm » as an oath, right? So this bias system goes against what doctors stand for and that why it can create problems when diagnosing patients.
Which profession use this bias?
Doctors, lawyers, politicians, media producers or people with pessimistic worldviews (e.g., depressed people) tend to use the negativity effect more often because they always think about bad things happening to them and want to make plans to prevent these bad things from happening. Other professions might avoid thinking about the negative consequences of their actions because they know it will affect their performance. For example, athletes that focus on avoiding mistakes or not losing rather than doing well in a game (e.g., American football players who don’t want to fumble).
Conclusion:
The Positivity effect is when people take in and remember information more easily if it’s positive instead of negative because we’re generally drawn to the positive side than the negative side. This bias can affect our media consumption and also make us make bad judgements in our daily lives.
Secrets de Marketeurs 