The Negative Bias

We have been taught to believe that negative equals realistic and positive equals unrealistic. 

– Susan Jeffers

The bias toward the negative is all over the place. The media… friends… coworkers… even family… are more likely to talk about and spread the bad news rather than the good news.

Young children are allowed to dream, to be positive, and to use their imaginations when thinking about what they want from their lives. It doesn’t take too long for the adults around them to begin telling them to “be realistic”, to not have such big dreams, and that what they want is not possible for them.

It’s not all their fault. Each generation is taught by the generation before it, and there are stories of tragedy and heartache all around them to support those beliefs. The negative bias becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. It becomes the “truth” of how the world is.

There are some people out there, though, who seem to have an innate bias toward the positive. Even though they can be influenced over to the “dark side”, it’s always temporary and they regain their positive bias. Bad things happen to them, too, but they recover faster. I’ve been lucky to have someone like that in my life. I’ve learned a lot from watching them. The positive bias can be learned.

What do you think? Do you have a negative bias or a positive bias? Do the people around you reinforce your bias or are they examples of the opposite? Leave a comment!

Until next time, remember… We are all magnificent.