Hello you fine blasters of Green!

(Hmm. That doesn’t sound right).

Today, we’re talking about one of the most important and dangerous human impulses to understand:

The NEGATIVITY BIAS.

I believe Negativity Bias is:

a) universal

b) a powerful communication tool, and:

c) behind most of the fracturing of our society, hatred, war, and trolling online, and therefore a force worth fighting against.

Let’s dive in:

What is the Negativity Bias?

Verywellmind.com - which has a beautiful website so must be legit - has a great explanation of negativity bias:

“It is the “bad things” that grab our attention, stick to our memories, and influence the decisions that we make.”

The reason being:

When humans were hunter-gatherers, it was more important to run away from danger than to run toward food or other good things for survival (like sex).

Because, if a lion is eating you, you can’t be eating anything else.

So nowadays, we tend to FOCUS on the bad and IGNORE the good.

Think of any feedback you’ve ever received:

I would bet everything I own (not a lot to be fair) that you were MOST affected by the 1-2 negative comments than by the 50 positive ones.

You’re only human, after all.

How can you use Negativity Bias to communicate better?

Quick but relevant story:

I had a student in my “Leadership Presence & Communication” course whose emails were being ignored at work.

So I had her cut out all the “fluff” from the emails (long pleasantries, reminders of obvious or irrelevant shit, and weak language) and:

START with the PROBLEM.

The emails went from something like this:

To something more like this:

Having the PROBLEM in the SUBJECT LINE and FIRST LINE of the email, stated urgently and clearly, made all the difference.

She told me people started responding AND sending the surveys!

“Start with the problem” works for:

• presentations

• emails

• social media posts

• or anything that needs to HOOK the audience’s attention

Try it out in your next meeting or presentation!

Why we need to be careful with the negativity bias

If you’ve turned on the news in the last decade, you know that we’re more polarized as a society than ever.

Political issues are getting more and more divisive, with increasing numbers of people viewing the other “side” as more “close-minded and immoral.”

I think a huge part of this rift is because of the Negativity Bias:

• The news media amplifies negative stories (“If it bleeds, it leads”)

• Social media algorithms promote content that makes people “rage-engage” (we’ve all been there!)

• We see negative stories of “the other side” acting badly and use our confirmation bias to deepen our belief that they’re immoral, and stay within our echo chambers

• This creates a sense that not only is everything terrible, but “those people” are to blame

Obviously, this is a HUGE problem.

Not the least of which is because it’s degrading communication (my whole thing) on a global level.

So, when communicating with the world, in-person or online:

RESIST THE URGE to be TOO NEGATIVE.

Here’s my tips for doing this:

• If you create content, DON’T use hooks like this.

• If you’re sending an email, START with the problem (like above), but don’t make the person shit their pants!

• And if you’re talking about your fellow human beings, resist the urge to judge, label, and rip them to shreds, because people are listening to you.

The more you do it, the more they think it’s ok.

And sometimes, sure, it’s fun to talk shit.

But we are all hardwired for negativity, and as conscious communicators, I think we need to push back against it wherever we can.

THAT’S MUTHERFUCKING IT for this week!

Love you all, please REPLY “FUCK YOU” if you didn’t like this email (insults turn me on) and NICE if you also feel like there’s too much negativity these days.

Greenblast… out 🚀