I noticed that people usually focus on negative things and pay attention to them a lot. more than positive things. Why does that happen?
The brain gives more attention to negative experiences over positive ones because negative events pose a chance of DANGER. By default, the brain alerts itself to potential threats in the environment, and... THEN awareness of positive aspects suddenly takes a lot more deliberate effort.
What's wrong must be fixed, what's faulty has to be dealt with appropriately. You can enjoy the good that life has to offer, but there's not much constructive progress in ignoring problems and praising what's already great. People do enjoy the positive things in life a lot, but it's more productive when someone proposes a plan to fix something, rather than when someone acclaims what we take for granted as a good thing.
Because it's easier to remember and easier for us to blame others and make ourselves look better, I suppose.
I can't really answer, mainly cause I am a positive person. Most of you have seen that through my posts.. However I can give you a perspective of why I am prefer being positive. I have been through a lot in my 29 years and I always have been taught to not look back and not look at what was, but what is.. Not what I can't.. But what I can.. I was raised with parents who never told me I couldn't do anything I wanted to set my mind to.. So I am a naturally positive person, everyone I meet always tells me I have a positive attitude on life.. I think for myself it was easier to be positive and choose to be happy rather then be negative and unhappy. I used to watch 7th heaven and there was a common theme throughout the 11 seasons.. You can choose your feelings.. Choose to be happy instead of sad.. Choose to be accepting rather then un-accepting.. So I guess I decided to be positive.. Although I have made the choice to remain positive, I do still have my low and down days, however I try not to have those when I can and as little as I can, because it's not a good feeling to focus on the bad and negative things.
See, I try not to be negative, but I can't help it. I'm positively negative. *crickets* I digress. We are wired to focus on the negative, that's an indisputable fact. But I try not to stay too negative. I don't like big, showy, positively charged scenarios, like weddings, parades, and birthdays. I find them overwhelming and they make me anxious. For me, it's little positive experiences that always make me happiest, so I think about them. Meeting a new cat, or when people surprise me with little things - whether they're physical things or unusual statements, or when things are in perfect order, or else when they form a perfect pattern... I wouldn't say I'm a happy person, but I'm far from miserable.
Research psychologists Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman came up with "Prospect Theory" to explain the phenomenon of focusing on negative things (Kahneman won the Nobel prize for this, unfortunately Tversky died before the award was granted): In order to understand what they did, answer the following questions (choose either A or B for both choices 5a and 5b): 5a. Choose between getting $900 for sure or a 90 percent chance of getting $1,000. A. Getting $900 B. 90 percent chance of getting $1,000 5b. Choose between losing $900 for sure or a 90 percent chance of losing $1,000. A. Losing $900 B. 90 percent chance of losing $1,000 * * * * * Now let's have some fun and bring coming out into this equation: so many of us face the choice of coming out or not. Too often we focus on what can be lost: reputation, friendships, etc. so, often, staying in the closet becomes that sure bet of $900 in Question 5a... The way the question is framed is so important, this is why it is so important, when making momentous decisions to see clearly that our bias of loss-avoidance can keep us closeted way longer than we need to be.
I think it's because, we feel "better" after we point out the flaws of others, and in comparison we "look" like better people
B C they think it makes them look better . And apparently they don't have the 3 components ID , ego & super ego working together properly (or a decent mirror ).
This sums it up for me as well. I choose to be positive and focus on the positive things in life. I also believe people who are positive experience more positivity and thus create a positive feedback loop for themselves. Negativity in turn attracts more negativity. It's also easier on my mental health and much better for my self-esteem to focus on the positive aspects of my life.
Because they're sources of stress in our lives, and that stress can be eliminated by thinking about how to solve the problem.
Well, there's the Pessimistic and the Optimistic. I think experience shapes you're mind, on how you perceive things.
I try to be positive but my brain constantly works against me. I think we just work that way because it was somehow good for our survival to think negatively so that we are better prepared for the worst. Idk really. In any case just try your best to avoid the negative. I bet you can train yourself to think positively!
