Why Negative Experiences Feel So Sticky
Dealing with our innate negativity.
Humans have a knack for survival. Over the years we’ve dealt with ice ages, saber-toothed tigers, starvation, and diseases. Despite all of these maladies and problems, we’re still here. Our brain has wired itself to be a problem-solving device. Obviously, positive things don’t need fixing, so it searches out the negative.
I’m sure you’ve experienced this plenty of times in your own life. You receive a number of compliments on something you did for work, but then Bob in accounting throws you a curveball. He tells you that you’re way off base. Despite the countless compliments you received before, now you can’t help but doubt yourself.
- Am I way off base?
- Is my idea terrible?
- Should I take it back to the drawing board?
“A person who ignores the possibility of a positive outcome may later experience significant regret at having missed an opportunity for pleasure or advancement, but nothing directly terrible is likely to result. In contrast, a person who ignores danger (the possibility of a bad outcome) even once may end up maimed or dead. Survival requires urgent attention to possible bad outcomes, but it is less urgent with regard to good ones. Hence, it would be adaptive to be psychologically…
