Negativity Bias

What is negativity bias?

Negativity bias refers to patterns in which negative information has greater influence than comparable positive information. The relevant comparison must be defined for the task, such as attention, evaluation or memory.

Rozin and Royzman (2001) distinguish several patterns, including the strength of negative events and the disproportionate effect of a negative element in a mixed evaluation. These are related observations, not proof that negative information always dominates every judgment.

An example of negativity bias

Imagine evaluating someone after hearing equally credible favorable and unfavorable information about the same quality. If the unfavorable information changes your judgment more, that could illustrate negativity bias. A negative fact that is more relevant or reliable would not, by itself, show a bias.

Evolutionary explanations are proposed accounts, not a demonstrated origin for every effect. A balanced assessment checks favorable and unfavorable evidence against the same relevant criteria.