Negativity Bias: It’s Not All About Evolution!
keywords:
Evaluative Learning / Evaluative Conditioning / Negativity Bias / Positivity Bias / evolution / Information Ecology
Negativity Bias: It’s Not All About Evolution!
Negativity bias refers to the phenomenon that negative information carries more psychological weight than positive information. For instance, the sting of losing $10 is felt more intensely than the joy of gaining $10, and we are quicker to spot a threatening face in a crowd than a friendly one. Surprisingly, however, this effect doesn't seem to show up in evaluative conditioning (which is the change in the liking of a neutral stimulus due to its joint presentation with a positive or negative stimulus)—even when all the typical conditions for it are met. So, why doesn't the bias show up here? We take a closer look at the data to find out. / more