Baumeister, R. F., & Leary, M. R. (2017). The need to belong: Desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation. Interpersonal development, 57-89.
One interesting note about this paper is that, in an effort to gather examples from many different research areas, these researchers sent an email to SPSP members asking for examples. This seems to be an effective method, because this paper is quite expansive.
Summary
In almost all spheres of life, bad events have a stronger impact than good events. This is sometimes referred to as the negativity bias. A negativity bias could be an evolutionary adaptation. The consequences of ignoring a dangerous/bad (“there is a bear”) possibility can result in death, while the consequences of ignoring a safe/good possibility (“there are wild strawberries”) rarely does so. The effects of good events fade quicker than do the effects of bad events, ostensibly to motivate continued effort. Bad outcomes can result in a snowball effect (slipping and breaking your leg might prevent you from then going to work, so you might have less money), whereas good outcomes don’t necessarily snowball (see Wells, Hobfoll and Lavin 1999).
Bad moods are more durable than are good moods. Bad sensory stimuli produce stronger reactions than good ones. In relationships, bad interactions are stronger than good ones (Gottman 1992 said that relationships need at least a 5:1 ratio of positive interactions to bad interactions to succeed). Humans think longer about bad events than good events, which leads us in turn to better understand bad events than good events (not failing is easier than succeeding). There are more words for bad emotions than good emotions in the English language. We remember bad emotional events more so than good ones. People exert more energy to escape a bad mood than to induce a good one. In learning, punishment results in quicker learning than does reward. Loss aversion is stronger than the drive to gain a similar amount (todo: link prospect theory). Stereotypes are almost universally negative.
Application
It is easier to build a bad reputation than a good one, and, once formed, it is easier to ruin a good reputation than a bad one. Frequently people focus on excellence, but perhaps the secret to success is instead focusing on never being bad. Bad feedback is more motivational than good feedback. Feedback is most memorable if it is a “small amount of bad feedback embedded in the generally good feedback.”
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