The Negativity Bias
Which do you want to hear first: the good news or the bad?
It really doesn’t matter, because you are going to focus on the bad news anyway.
Over and over, psychologists find that the human mind reacts to bad things more quickly, strongly, and persistently than to equivalent good things. (Jonathan Haidt, The Happiness Hypothesis, 29)
That is the negativity bias at work. But just because it is more natural to jump to the negative thoughts and emotions, doesn’t mean that is what you should do.
When you don’t hear back from someone as quickly as you expected, do you think negative thoughts or do you give them the benefit of the doubt? Are you more focused on not failing than you are on risking and trying to grow? Are you right now trying to justify any of your negative behaviors rather than taking the hard step of facing them?
