<p>There is a tendency for humans to be more sensitive to negative emotion rather than positive — something very positive will generally have less of an impact on a person's behaviour and cognition than something equally emotional but negative. For example, losing 5 dollars is more emotionally taxing than gaining 5 dollars is emotionally stimulating. This is known as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negativity_bias" rel="nofollow noreferrer">negative bias</a>.</p>
<p>I am trying to understand why we have evolved with such a trait — could it attributed to our evolutionary success as a species, or rather because, since there is more unknown than known (our perceptions reveal to us a fraction of the world), that the natural default position to be is more negatively-titled?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-02-07T20:44:03.047Z
Opportunities for gain will usually have another chance if one is missed. But a single wrong move can mean game over.
Michael
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-02-08T12:39:20.703Z
@Michael the problem comes when you meet the opportunity to avoid a wrong move
Ooker
<cognitive-psychology>
Why are we more averse to negativity?
Henry
# Why are we more averse to negativity?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2022-02-07)

There is a tendency for humans to be more sensitive to negative emotion rather than positive — something very positive will generally have less of an impact on a person's behaviour and cognition than something equally emotional but negative. For example, losing 5 dollars is more emotionally taxing than gaining 5 dollars is emotionally stimulating. This is known as [negative bias](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negativity_bias).

I am trying to understand why we have evolved with such a trait — could it attributed to our evolutionary success as a species, or rather because, since there is more unknown than known (our perceptions reveal to us a fraction of the world), that the natural default position to be is more negatively-titled?

**Tags:** cognitive-psychology

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Opportunities for gain will usually have another chance if one is missed. But a single wrong move can mean game over.  
> **username_2**: @username_1 the problem comes when you meet the opportunity to avoid a wrong move  

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## 0 answers

