Our Negative Bias

Did you know that data released from The New York Times, The Guardian, and The Washington Post revealed that the majority of people check their news on their phone first thing in the morning?

Did you know research has found that just three minutes of negative news in the morning (versus more uplifting content) can ruin your mood for the rest of the day?

Did you know statistically that political smear campaigns outpoll positive ones? 

Why is it that we love bad news?

The scientific answer is, negativity makes a bigger impact on your brain. Ohio State psychologist John T. Cacioppo revealed our brain’s ‘negative bias’ … that our brains are simply built with a greater sensitivity to unpleasant news. 

In my opinion, this reality was best exposed to me when I read this blog last year by Jenny Rapson … She revealed a startling statistic about famous Christian author and speaker Lysa TerKeurst. In 2017, when Lysa announced she would be getting a divorce, it was shared over 122,000 times on Facebook (over 50% of the people on her Facebook page at the time). However, one year later when she announced the incredible miracle about her marriage mending, it was shared 355 times (at this time her Facebook page had grown to over 1 million followers). THAT IS CRAZY! Read those numbers again … Rapson goes on to say, “The fact that the news of the TerKeurst’s reconciliation did not spread like wildfire says to me that as a Christian community, we’re not as good at the ‘rejoice with those who rejoice’ part of the command.” 

If we want to bring real change to our world, it starts with dealing with our love for negativity. If science reveals our brains negative bias, it means we have to be real conscious about our thought life and begin to train ourselves to think differently. The reason many of us won’t change is because it will require lots of time and lots of work. However, if we ever expect to be thankful and positive thinking people outside of the month of November, something has to change.