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Negativity bias: how it's affecting your job

As we reflect on the rapid changes in our work environment and the growing influence of emerging technologies, it’s crucial to understand how negativity bias can hold us back. Whether it’s responding to feedback, making decisions, or managing workplace relationships, this bias can skew our judgment and impact our career growth.

Amelia Davis

14 November 2024

6 minute read

At Luminary, we had the privilege of attending the SXSW conference in Sydney for the second consecutive year, where speakers from all sectors gathered to discuss a wide variety of topics ranging from technology to human potential. Amidst the excitement surrounding everything, one term kept coming up in conversations across the panels and discussions: negativity bias.

This psychological phenomenon is the tendency to focus more on negative experiences or potential threats than on positive outcomes. This stuck with me, as it got me thinking about how this bias is deeply ingrained in the way we perceive both our personal lives and the professional challenges we face.

As we reflect on the rapid changes in our work environment and the growing influence of emerging technologies, it’s crucial to understand how negativity bias can hold us back. Whether it’s responding to feedback, making decisions, or managing workplace relationships, this bias can skew our judgment and impact our career growth. In this post, we’ll explore how negativity bias shows up in the workplace, its effects on decision-making and communication, and strategies to overcome it so we can unlock our full potential.

What is negativity bias?

Negativity bias refers to the psychological tendency to give more weight to negative experiences, emotions, or events than positive ones. This inclination is believed to be an evolutionary mechanism. Throughout history, negative experiences, such as threats to our survival, had a greater impact on human behaviour, which explains why our minds are wired to focus on the negative.

However, there’s more complexity to this bias. On one hand, negativity attracts us, whether that be through media, gossip, or even casual conversations. On the other hand, our survival instincts lead us to avoid negativity, which can cause us to skew our perceptions toward the positive and struggle to cope when faced with negative situations, especially when they involve us personally. This imbalance can affect our work lives in ways we may not realise.

man stressed at computer

Negativity bias in the workplace

The impact of negativity bias on our careers and professional environments is significant. Here’s how it manifests.

Decision making

When making decisions, negativity bias can cause us to overemphasise the potential for negative outcomes. This fear of failure often leads to overly cautious choices. While being risk-averse can sometimes be wise, it can also stifle innovation and growth. Workers may shy away from proposing new ideas or taking on challenging projects, limiting both their professional development and the progress of the organisation.

By focusing too much on avoiding mistakes, individuals may miss opportunities to take calculated risks that could lead to significant career advancements. Encouraging a culture that values both caution and innovation can help mitigate this effect.

Communication

When people are more focused on the negative, their feedback can come across as overly critical, even if their intentions are constructive. This can lead to misunderstandings, strained relationships, and a negative work environment.

For example, during a project review, someone with a strong negativity bias might highlight minor errors or setbacks, overshadowing the overall progress. This focus on the negative can demoralise team members, stifle creativity, and increase anxiety. When negative feedback is delivered harshly, it also damages relationships and can make it harder for colleagues to seek help, receive feedback, or build trust.

Additionally, negativity bias can manifest in toxic behaviours like excessive complaining, gossiping, or spreading rumours, which further contribute to a negative work culture. To combat this, it’s essential to create a positive work environment by practising active listening, focusing on solutions, and fostering empathy. This will help teams build stronger, more productive relationships.

Peer reviews

As the year winds down, many of us engage in peer reviews, reflecting on our own performance and providing feedback to colleagues. This process can be stressful, especially because of our inherent tendency to focus on negative feedback. In fact, we often feel uncomfortable delivering negative feedback to others because we don’t want them to experience the same discomfort we might feel when receiving it.

It’s common for individuals to be their own harshest critics, overlooking their successes and fixating on their shortcomings. Peer reviews, while designed to help us grow, often emphasise this bias. I spoke with a few colleagues about their own experiences, and one shared, “I still remember negative feedback I received over a decade ago, but I can’t even recall the positive things said about me last year”. This is a perfect example of how negativity bias can prevent us from fully appreciating our strengths and achievements.

It's essential to break this cycle and shift our mindset. We need to learn to embrace feedback – both positive and negative – as opportunities for growth rather than as personal attacks. This is where the idea of 'learning from your failures' becomes especially powerful.

brain with loads of tangles

Strategies to overcome negativity bias

While negativity bias can serve us in certain situations, it often limits our growth. Here are some strategies for overcoming this bias and fostering a healthier, more balanced approach to both work and life.

Structured decision-making

Implement decision-making frameworks that require a balanced evaluation of both positive and negative outcomes. Similarly, structured communication and feedback processes can help ensure that feedback is balanced, constructive, and focused on both strengths and areas for improvement.

Effective communication

To avoid the negative effects of negativity bias in communication, we should strive to provide feedback in a balanced and constructive way. By maintaining a positive, solution-oriented tone, we can foster better collaboration and reduce the risk of misunderstandings.

Balanced peer reviews

Peer reviews are an opportunity for growth, and they should focus not just on areas for improvement, but also on strengths and achievements. Encouraging balanced feedback in peer reviews helps individuals see their progress and motivates them to continue developing.

Promoting a growth mindset

Encouraging a growth mindset – where challenges are seen as opportunities to learn and improve – can help employees feel more comfortable taking risks and trying new things. This mindset helps shift the focus from avoiding mistakes to embracing learning, fostering innovation, and building resilience.

The path to positive change

Reflecting on our time at SXSW and the insights we gained, it became clear just how much our mental frameworks shape our professional success. While negativity bias has evolutionary benefits by helping us stay alert to threats, it’s also a force that can limit our ability to fully embrace growth, both personally and professionally. At the conference, many of the discussions around technology and personal growth highlighted how crucial it is to shift our mindset from fear and caution to optimism and opportunity.

By addressing negativity bias head-on, we can create an environment that supports both innovation and collaboration. From decision-making to communication and feedback, our natural inclination to focus on the negative can often hold us back. But with awareness and intentional action, we can develop a more balanced approach that embraces learning, constructive criticism, and growth.

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