Why is the news always so depressing?

The 

Negativity Bias

, explained.
Bias

What is the Negativity Bias?

The negativity bias is a cognitive bias that results in adverse events having a more significant impact on our psychological state than positive events. Negativity bias occurs even when adverse events and positive events are of the same magnitude, meaning we feel negative events more intensely.1

An illustration showing a stick figure surrounded by a large pile labeled "Good" and a single item labeled "Bad." The figure says, "Why is life so unfair?" The text "Negativity Bias" is displayed at the top.

Where this bias occurs

Negativity bias is a well-studied and long-understood concept. Negativity bias causes amplified emotional responses to negative events compared to positive events of equal magnitude. Negativity bias is linked to loss aversion, a cognitive bias that describes why the pain of losing is psychologically twice as powerful as the pleasure of gaining.2

Much of today’s political discourse occurs online and while this may expose us to greater perspectives, it also leaves the door open for misunderstanding. We often criticize “the other side” and assume ill-intent when we read political posts that don’t align with our values. And while sometimes there is hostility imbedded certain content, it isn’t always the case. Because of our predisposition to focus on and scrutinize the negative, posts that express anger or hostility grab our attention and inform our perceptions. By nature, we extrapolate and then use these negative impressions to cast future judgment. 

Related Biases

Sources

  1. Kanouse, D. E., & Hanson, L. (1972). Negativity in evaluations. In E. E. Jones, D. E. Kanouse, S. Valins, H. H. Kelley, R. E. Nisbett, & B. Weiner (Eds.), Attribution: Perceiving the causes of behavior. Morristown, NJ: General Learning Press. 
  2. Loss aversion - Biases & Heuristics. (2020, February 17). Retrieved from https://thedecisionlab.com/biases/loss-aversion/
  3. What Is The Negativity Bias and How Can it be Overcome? (2019, December 30). Retrieved from https://positivepsychology.com/3-steps-negativity-bias/
  4. Kahneman, D., & Tversky, A. (1977). Prospect Theory. An Analysis of Decision Making Under Risk. ECONOMETRICA. doi:10.21236/ada045771
  5. Vallance, D. (2020, January). Don't fear the lion: How to overcome negativity bias. Retrieved from https://blog.dropbox.com/topics/work-culture/don-t-fear-the-lion--how-to-overcome-negativity-bias#:~:text=It's easy to read Kodak's,ignored the burgeoning digital market.
  6. Rozin, Paul; Royzman, Edward B. (2001). "Negativity bias, negativity dominance, and contagion". Personality and Social Psychology Review. 5 (4): 296–320. doi:10.1207/S15327957PSPR0504_2.
  7. Taylor, Shelley E. (1991). "Asymmetrical effects of positive and negative events: The mobilization-minimization hypothesis" (PDF). Psychological Bulletin. 110 (1): 67–85. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.110.1.67. PMID 1891519. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-10-06. Retrieved 2014-11-19.
  8. Peeters, Guido (1971). "The positive-negative asymmetry: On cognitive consistency and positivity bias". European Journal of Social Psychology. 1 (4): 455–474. doi:10.1002/ejsp.2420010405.
  9. Goldsmith K, Ravi D. Negativity bias and task motivation: Testing the effectiveness of positively versus negatively framed incentives. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied. 2013;19(4):358-366. doi:10.1037/a0034415
  10. Mcleod, S. (2019). Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Retrieved from https://www.simplypsychology.org/cognitive-therapy.html#:~:text=A major aid in cognitive,Activating Event or objective situation
  11. Kiken, L. G., & Shook, N. J. (2011). Looking Up: Mindfulness Increases Positive Judgments and Reduces Negativity Bias. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 2(4), 425-431. doi:10.1177/1948550610396585
  12. Bryant, F. B., & Veroff, J. (2017). Savoring: A New Model of Positive Experience. 53-85. doi:10.4324/9781315088426-3
  13. Vaish, A., Grossmann, T., & Woodward, A. (2008). Not all emotions are created equal: The negativity bias in social-emotional development. Psychological Bulletin, 134(3), 383-403. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.134.3.383
  14. Ito, T. A., Smith, K., Larsen, J., & Cacioppo, J. T. (2002). Negative Information Weighs More Heavily on the Brain: The Negativity Bias in Evaluative Categorizations. Foundations in Social Neuroscience. doi:10.7551/mitpress/3077.003.0041
  15. Soroka, S., Fournier, P., & Nir, L. (2019). Cross-national evidence of a negativity bias in psychophysiological reactions to news. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(38), 18888-18892. doi:10.1073/pnas.1908369116
  16. Kätsyri, J., Kinnunen, T., Kusumoto, K., Oittinen, P., & Ravaja, N. (2016). Negativity bias in media multitasking: The effects of negative social media messages on attention to television news broadcasts. PLOS ONE, 11(5). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0153712 
  17. Müller-Pinzler, L., Czekalla, N., Mayer, A. V., Stolz, D. S., Gazzola, V., Keysers, C., Paulus, F. M., & Krach, S. (2019). Negativity-bias in forming beliefs about own abilities. Scientific Reports, 9(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-50821-w 
  18. Ito, T. A., Larsen, J. T., Smith, N. K., & Cacioppo, J. T. (1998). Negative information weighs more heavily on the brain: the negativity bias in evaluative categorizations. Journal of personality and social psychology, 75(4), 887–900. https://doi.org/10.1037//0022-3514.75.4.887 
  19. Cacioppo, J. T., & Berntson, G. G. (1999). The affect system: Architecture and operating characteristics. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 8(5), 133–137. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8721.00031
  20. Soroka, S., Fournier, P., & Nir, L. (2019). Cross-national evidence of a negativity bias in psychophysiological reactions to news. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 116(38), 18888–18892. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1908369116
  21. Fournier, P., Soroka, S., & Nir, L. (2020). Negativity Biases and Political Ideology: A Comparative Test across 17 Countries. American Political Science Review, 114(3), 775–791. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055420000131 
  22. Neta, M., & Brock, R. L. (2021). Social connectedness and negative affect uniquely explain individual differences in response to emotional ambiguity. Scientific Reports, 11(3870). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-80471-2

About the Authors

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Dan Pilat

Dan is a Co-Founder and Managing Director at The Decision Lab. He is a bestselling author of Intention - a book he wrote with Wiley on the mindful application of behavioral science in organizations. Dan has a background in organizational decision making, with a BComm in Decision & Information Systems from McGill University. He has worked on enterprise-level behavioral architecture at TD Securities and BMO Capital Markets, where he advised management on the implementation of systems processing billions of dollars per week. Driven by an appetite for the latest in technology, Dan created a course on business intelligence and lectured at McGill University, and has applied behavioral science to topics such as augmented and virtual reality.

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Dr. Sekoul Krastev

Sekoul is a Co-Founder and Managing Director at The Decision Lab. He is a bestselling author of Intention - a book he wrote with Wiley on the mindful application of behavioral science in organizations. A decision scientist with a PhD in Decision Neuroscience from McGill University, Sekoul's work has been featured in peer-reviewed journals and has been presented at conferences around the world. Sekoul previously advised management on innovation and engagement strategy at The Boston Consulting Group as well as on online media strategy at Google. He has a deep interest in the applications of behavioral science to new technology and has published on these topics in places such as the Huffington Post and Strategy & Business.

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Kira Warje

Kira holds a degree in Psychology with an extended minor in Anthropology. Fascinated by all things human, she has written extensively on cognition and mental health, often leveraging insights about the human mind to craft actionable marketing content for brands. She loves talking about human quirks and motivations, driven by the belief that behavioural science can help us all lead healthier, happier, and more sustainable lives. Occasionally, Kira dabbles in web development and enjoys learning about the synergy between psychology and UX design.

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