Positively Negative

Why we are so highly attuned to see what’s WRONG, and so slow to see what’s RIGHT

By Cameron John Robbins

Why is it so easy to be negative? Many preach the benefits of always looking on the bright side of life. Many people try to, and everyone seems to love what we see when that works. So, why is it so difficult for us to stay in that mindset?

My suspicion is that it’s deeply hardwired into our neurology. It’s not exactly that we have a morbid evolutionary bias toward the negative. It may be much simpler than that.

Life is full of an overwhelming volume of data. There are so many sights, sounds, smells and sensations that if we had to pay attention to all of it at once, it would literally paralyze us. To combat this analysis paralysis, our brains have developed highly sensitive, efficient and lightning-fast filtering tools. These unconscious filters detect everything, but they are only calibrated to allow important things to enter our consciousness.

So, how do these filters decide what is important? The criteria are actually very simple. The first question these unconscious filters ask is What is safe to ignore? That question alone dismisses the vast majority of the minutia that constantly swirls around us, relegating it to the category of the unimportant.

When these unconscious filters detect something which might not be safe to ignore, something that might be important, that thing is passed on to a more conscious level for further analysis. It is then evaluated for how much of a threat it represents.

Does this thing indicate that I’m in danger? If so, how much and what kind of danger am I in? And What is the proper response to this danger? What kind of reaction will best ensure my continued survival?

That analysis happens so fast that when you’ve been startled, you either jumped or ran out of the way, or adopted a fighting posture before you were consciously aware of the specific nature of what startled you. You moved faster than thought.

It's probably safe to say that any threat to our survival will be seen as a negative. Even a low-level threat is something we should pay close attention to and do something about. Even things which disturb our sense of wellbeing will be viewed on some level as an existential threat. That is why we are so unconsciously attuned to notice the negative.

This is also why it takes an act of conscious will to identify the positive. When everything is as we think it should be, which would be a positive state of things, there’s nothing to notice. Our unconscious filters dismiss it all because they cannot find any threats. It’s only when something out of place emerges that the alarms in our head go off and start paying attention. It could be something as simple as a pencil pointing the wrong way on a desk. But it will trip the unconscious Threat Evaluation subroutine all the same.

That’s not right! I didn’t leave it like that! Why and how did that happen?

We had to evolve this way. Never mind the loud snapping of a twig to indicate danger close by, as has been used so many times in movies. Our unconscious Threat Detection system notices amazingly subtle clues. If you don’t believe me, go camping with someone who’s never been, and watch them look around nervously at the sound of every rustling leaf.

Was that a bear!?

Nope. It was a squirrel.

The subtlest differences between leaves and berries could mean the difference between nourishing food and poison. Is that the shadow of a fallen leaf, or the pattern on a deadly snake? Even the crispness or softness of the edges of a pawprint would indicate how recently a predator had passed that way, thus how close they might be to you right now. Other details in the tracks could indicate whether that predator was hungry and stalking, or lazily walking with a full belly. Very subtle but important distinctions to know, if you want to avoid being lunch for a nearby lion or tiger.

This is why getting and staying positive is so blasted difficult. We’re just not programed to do that automatically. Seeing the positive or counting our blessings will always take an act of conscious will. Of course, we can develop that into a habit. And we should. As such, it will begin to resemble something which happens unconsciously. It’s certainly worth doing, but it will always need conscious maintenance to keep that habit alive.

So, look on the bright side, stop and smell the roses, count your blessings and rejoice in what you find. Your highly evolved primitive brain is already looking out for the negative. It’s got you covered and doesn’t need any help.