The Brain’s Negative Tendencies

When our brains are left unchecked, they tend to skew to the negative. 

First, there is the negativity bias.

Human brains are more likely to notice, remember, think about, and respond more strongly to negative events.

Think about the last performance review you had. Can you quote verbatim the negative comments you got?

I bet you can.

What about all of the positive ones? I bet you can’t. Or I bet they aren’t the ones that come to mind when you think about yourself.

There is literally more neural processing that happens in your brain in response to negative stimuli.

Then, enter confirmation bias.

The brain likes to create shortcuts like cognitive biases to filter the massive amount of information we get daily to help us make decisions. 

Confirmation bias is a type of cognitive bias where your brain actively seeks out information that confirms your current beliefs and selectively filters out contradictory evidence.

This can be really helpful, of course, except when it isn’t.

Like when you get that one negative comment.

You react strongly to it.

Ruminate on it.

Beat yourself up.

Decide it means you are terrible at your job.

THEN YOUR BRAIN ACTIVELY LOOKS FOR EVIDENCE TO CONFIRM THAT BELIEF.

And ignores evidence to the contrary.

See what I mean? Unhelpful.

But that’s just your brain unchecked. You can check it with your prefrontal cortex. You can train it to act differently.

You can choose not to believe every negative thing your brain tells you. 

And regardless of whether it is true, you don’t have to focus on it. Or help your brain build the evidence to support it.

You can actively challenge your thoughts.

You can change the ones that aren’t serving you. Or ditch them all together.

You can learn how to use your brain for you instead of against you.

It all starts with being aware of what your brain is doing.

Watching your thoughts.

Seeing how they show up in your life.

That awareness alone can create some beautiful shifts.

A ❤️ note to you: If you’d like to think and feel better more often, let’s chat. And I’m not talking about toxic positivity. I’m just talking about turning down the dial on some of your negative thoughts and feelings, so your day-to-day experience is better. So you are moving in a direction that serves you. Send me an email or sign up for a call at jenndealcoaching.as.me/consult.