Bad news travels fast. But we often look to the future with optimism, reaching to carelessness. Where do such oddities of our brain come from, how to maintain common sense and take care of your COVID-safety?
Murphy’s Law states: «Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.» In fact, this is what we call the «law of a sandwich» or meanness. Life experience tells us that bad things can happen, with a certain degree of probability.
Evolution has taught us for millennia that vigilance cannot be overdone. From the point of view of the survival of the species, it is obvious that it is better to once again raise the alarm, even if you mistook the bush for a predator, than to be careless and miss the real danger.
Today we are not surrounded by toothy tigers and cannibal neighbors. The world as a whole is much safer than the environment in which our common behavioral patterns were formed. However, genetics change much more slowly than culture and economics. Therefore, the human brain is still characterized by what experts call «negative bias».
According to psychologist Rick Hanson, “The mind is like Velcro for negative experiences and Teflon for positive ones.” In order to cope with the negative bias, psychotherapists and spiritual practitioners recommend consciously paying attention to the positive aspects of life. This is helpful advice. However, in an effort to “curb” the old habits of focusing on the bad, it is important not to forget another property of the human brain.
The fact is that our short-term attention is skewed towards the negative. But long-term memory is just shifted in the opposite direction. In support of this, clinical psychologist Professor Noam Spanser invites his interlocutors to quickly write down the names of five products and five people. He is sure that both lists will include only what the person likes.
This is partly due to the «Polyanna Principle». This is the name of the tendency to remember pleasant things more accurately than unpleasant ones, and to use more “positive” words in a conversation. The heroine of the children’s book, Polianna, knew how to find reasons to enjoy every day of her life, even the most difficult one.
«Positive bias» can manifest itself in many different ways. For example, studies have shown that most people consider themselves happy rather than unhappy. To the question «How are you?» we tend to talk about more positive events.
Partly because we will consciously choose good news sooner, partly because the negative attitude wears off over time. That is, momentarily we focus on the negative, but the farther away from it, the more we remember the positive. When thinking about the future, people also tend to be optimistic.
A negative bias can turn our lives into a swamp. A positive lead to self-deception
Scientists have long noted another interesting feature of a person: we tend to consider the success and pleasant outcome of any business as our merits. But there is always another explanation for failure — a bad day, the malice of others, an accident. Both negative and positive biases can bring us both good and bad.
The first — «protection» — helps to protect oneself from danger. And the second — «attack» — allows you to meet new things, expand areas of knowledge. Reasonable optimistic expectations can inspire us and positively influence the outcome of our actions. This is called the «Rosenthal Effect» or «Pygmalion» after an American psychologist and a figure in Greek mythology.
But at the same time, a negative bias can turn our life into a swamp. A positive lead to self-deception, since the denial of risk and the possibility of failure is in itself risky and can lead to failure.
It is this dark side of our positive bias, according to Noam Spanser, that can do a disservice during a pandemic. Referring to other scientists, he suggests that difficult times lie ahead.
“As people return to work and communication, the number of sick and dead will inevitably increase in the absence of a vaccine or effective drugs. At the same time, people will not be ready to return to quarantine precisely because the novelty of fear has already worn off due to isolation fatigue.”
The economic factor also has a significant impact.
Many people find it difficult to imagine this projected future scenario. However, excessive optimism will not allow them to prepare and take precautions seriously.
It’s high time, Professor Spanser believes, to take into account the peculiarities of our thinking and realize their consequences for modeling a more objective possible picture of the future, and, if possible, take care of protection against infection.
About the author: Noam Spanser is a clinical psychologist.