When it comes good vs bad, we are not saying that negative experiences are “better” or that evil wins over good (good does often prevail!). But a lot of research has found that humans are more quick notice and focus on “bad” or difficult experiences (e.g., negative thoughts, memories, emotions, behavior, physiology) than positive ones.
Roy Baumeister and other researchers suspect that the tendency to focus more on the negative is partially due to evolutionary reasons. In particular, the ability to anticipate and react to negative or threatening events aids our ability to respond to them quickly. This improves our potential for survival and reproductive success.
Like everything, nothing is perfect. While aiding survival, the tendency to focus on the negative can lead to human error. We may interpret a situation as occurring for a negative reason, when multiple reasons exist. For example, “My client canceled because they don’t like our therapy sessions.”
The tendency to focus on negative information is especially the case for those who experience psychological difficulties (e.g., depression, anxiety disorders, PTSD, etc). This tendency may be why cognitive-behavioral therapies have shown such effectiveness. Or perhaps why Gottman and Levenson’s “magic ratio” strategy of using 5 positive statements for every 1 negative statement has been so helpful for clients in relationship contexts.
Most all of us focus on the bad vs the good relatively automatically. One reason that many clients come to see us is that this tendency has come to greatly impact their lives. Helping clients learn to make good or “neutral” much stronger in their experience can be a fruitful area of therapy.
