I.EVOLUTION OF NEGATIVE BIAS:
Negative bias is an adaptive evolutionary. Thousands of years ago, our ancestors were exposed to immediate environmental threats that we no longer need to worry about – predators, for example – and being more attentive to these negative stimuli played a useful role in survival.
The negative bias is our tendency to register not only negative stimuli more readily but also to dwell on these events. Also known as positive-negative asymmetry, this negativity bias means that we feel the sting of a rebuke more powerfully than we feel the joy of praise.
#The Negative biases had a major problem in our overall personality growth and hinders the growth caused due to traumas and other lingering effects,these biases can have a profound effect, sabotage our feelings.
As Humans , we tend to
Remember Insults than praise
Remember traumatic experiences better than positive ones.
Think more about painful experiences than peaceful ones.
Focus on negative rather than positive ones.
II.Why do people have negative thoughts?
The more we are aware how your brain works and what is happening physically inside your body, the more you can deal with stressful situations.
If you are an introvert, you have to manage the negative thoughts, because you are over analyzing those thoughts and that's not your job.
Some studies have shown:
Cortisol is a chemical that tends to flow more freely and spurs negative thoughts.I have read thousands of book and articles, but there is a war between the wonderful pat-on-the-back of dopamine and the negative slap-on-the-wrist of cortisol. If there is a person who spreads rumors about you, you know that the person spread rumors and you must not let those rumors wired on it, and the rumors probably wont stick on it.
In office , it happens a lot of times , an accusatory email? A confrontation about a sales call? An accusation about being late every day? Instead of spiraling into negativity, think of a positive angle instead. When you are always late to work, maybe you can shift your thoughts on how it's not the end of the world, and that you have enjoyed visiting a calm place or meet someone to help you deal with anxiety before you start the day.
According to a 2009 research by Larsen, there is a lot of evidence that suggests humans tend to think about unpleasant occurrences more and reason about them more, and that negative emotions linger longer than good ones.
There are ample of opportunities, each time you see a negative thought after a positive one, focus on the bright side.
if you start to recognize the thoughts everyday, you will also be able to check your daily actions and give daily reminders to yourself.
Albert Ellis’ (1957) ABC technique is one useful framework you can apply here – once you become aware of your Behaviors or its Consequences (B and C in the model, respectively), then you can work backward to think about what led to them (A for Antecedents)
III. HOW TO OVERCOME BIAS?.
Negativity is very much concerned with how we direct our thoughts.If we direct our thoughts towards positive thinking
Mindfulness : Meditation,Breathing and more:
The good news is that we can overcome negative bias by mindfulness. The first step is that we become brain’s negativity bias and that the brain links different events and experiences together, like the 0’s and 1’s of a binary computer. The awareness helps us to determine if something we are experiencing is truly a threat to our safety or well being.
A 2011 study by authors Kiken and Shook, who found an increase in positive judgments and higher levels of optimism when participants practiced mindful breathing.
Mindfulness can help us to rewire and hold to it in a productive way.
We hold on to negative memories much longer and more strongly than positive ones, like what Dr. Hanson describes as Velcro.
Studies have shown that on a physical level, hyper-vigilance affects our adrenal and cortisol systems, resulting in sleep disturbances, fatigue, shortness of breath and numerous other physical issues.
Emotionally, we may experience anxiety, fear, confusion or anger. Cognitively, we may develop strong negative beliefs, such as “I don’t deserve love”, “I cannot trust others”, or “I am not safe.”
A highly effective way to rewire the brain to respond more to positive experiences is the “gratitude exercise”: Every night before you go to bed, write down five things you are grateful for that happened that day.
The gratitude exercise can then open our eyes and hearts to life, with all of its joys and sorrows, and fully appreciate who we are
2.Cognitive restructuring;
In cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), a patient and therapist work together to identify faulty thought patterns that are contributing to a problem and practice techniques to help reshape negative thought .
It can be tricky to recognize inaccuracies in your own thought patterns. For that reason, most professionals recommend that you work with a therapist when you begin cognitive restructuring.
Cognitive restructuring approaches, as their name implies, break down problematic concepts and reconstruct them in a more accurate and balanced manner.
3 great exercise for Overcoming Negative Bias
1. Finding Silver Lining: Its goal is to help you adapt your view of negative experiences or events by taking a more balanced and positive perspective on them, it helps us to build resilience and shift your focus, then find silver linings to it.
2. Savor the Present Moment which helps us to fully acknowledge, taste the moment and enjoy without judgment, rather than focusing on the negative , fully concentrate on the positive and develop a relationship addressing the positive negative asymmetry .
3.Moving from Cognitive Fusion to delusion:
An exercise that views thoughts as thoughts. If you see yourself ruminating on negative situations or events, it can sometimes be challenging to step back and see them for what they are.
Among other things, you’ll learn to label the process of thinking (e.g., “I am having the thought that I’m unintelligent”), re-framing those thoughts, and put some distance between you and negative events/situations.
BIAS IN RELATIONSHIPS:
It can lead us to wrong assumptions about our relationships and it can lead us to assume the worst we know about people and that can make relationships bitter.
We can also fall into the trap of letting our (unwarranted) attitudes impact our behaviors if we have a negative attitude.
As per the negative potency concept, the bias can lead us to interpret negative events as more important than positive ones and in that, we focus on someone’s slip-up, weakness and faults as highly salient compared to their positive behaviors, leading us to ruminate over them to the detriment of our relationships.
III.NEGATIVE BIAS IN WORKPLACE:
1. DECISION MAKING:
If we focus on the potential negative decisions ,research shows that we become more inclined to avoid risk (Kahneman & Tversky, 2013). In a rapidly changing, volatile, and often ambiguous competitive environment, this can impact competitive advantage significantly.
2. INTERACTION WITH OTHERS;
Effective collaboration, teamwork, and continued professional development all rely on our ability to get along with others and interact in a positive way to achieve shared goals.
IV. CONCLUSION:
Overcoming bias is a transformative process that requires patience , self-awareness and consistent practice. Practicing mindfulness, cognitive restructuring and finding the silver lining are powerful tools in shifting our mindset .With time, we can train our brains to embrace optimism, enhance emotional resilience, and cultivate a more fulfilling outlook on life. The journey to overcoming negative bias isn’t about eliminating challenges but about approaching them with a healthier, more empowering mindset.
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