Written by UC Davis News and Media Relations Intern Leigh Houck
Why are people often only fleetingly happy about positive events, but persistently upset about negative events like setbacks? Alison Ledgerwood, behavioral scientist, professor of psychology and chancellor’s fellow at UC Davis, has conducted extensive research to understand this.
Her TEDx UC Davis talk, “Getting stuck in the negatives (and how to get unstuck),” discussed her work. She and her colleague, Amber Boydstun, associate professor of political science, conducted simple experiments that found people naturally focus more on the negative, focusing on the glass being half empty instead of half full.
Ledgerwood conducted an experiment to see how people switch from “half empty” to “half full.” She found that it takes longer to move from focusing on the negative to focusing on the positive than vice-versa. People have to mentally exert themselves to focus on the positive. Unfortunately, it takes much less time to slide from focusing on the positive to getting mired in the negative.
People seem to be biologically hard-wired toward becoming stuck on the negative. It really is more difficult to focus on the good — especially after focusing on the bad. However, with practice, this seemingly innate predilection towards the negative can be overcome, Ledgerwood said.
Be grateful, and focus on the good
- Journal for just three minutes a day on how gratitude can improve mood and health
- Rehearse and share positive news with others
- Be aware that “bad tends to stick” — and then purposefully focus on breaking that cycle.
So how do you bounce back after a setback? You change your thinking. While an “attitude of gratitude” might sound trite, real science vouches for its value.
To learn more, watch Ledgerwood's TEDx talk here
or visit here.
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More information on Ledgerwood's work is here.
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