EDUC10057 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Negativity Bias, Paradigm Shift, Solution-Focused Brief Therapy
13 Jun 2018
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Lecture 1: Negativity bias & paradigm shift
Threshold concept: akin to a portal, opening up a new and previously inaccessible way of thinking about something;
transformed way of understanding, interpreting or viewing something
Negativity bias: negative is stronger than positive; we pay more attention to the negative than the positive
Why do we focus on what is going wrong rather than right?
Negative emotions first line of defense against external threats (historical etiology theory)
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Negative bias : psychological phenomenon; inherited through natural selection produces behaviour that preserves our
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genes
Responses to problems and threats = faster, stronger, harder to inhibit than strengths and opportunities
Negative bias affects:
●relationships (negative comments outweigh positive, create more damage)
●money (pain of losing is greater than pleasure of winning)
Evidence:
●reacting to events, emotions, memory, forming impressions, eg. how long it takes to return to normal emotions after
positive or negative events? Takes longer after negative events.
●language: we have more words for negative events/descriptions in the english language than we do positive words
●we remember negative events or emotions more vividly
Bias perception narrowed view behavioural impact
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E.g. media reports world is hateful inability to take in new data overwhelmed/depleted
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Disciplines: negative fields: science and medicine, positive fields: humanities, arts
Avoiding negativity bias: pay attention to and notice the positive
Paradigm shift:
●Traditional psychology: recognize problem remedy solution therefore absence of illness = wellbeing; managing
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negative states; depression, anxiety, insecurity, addiction, violence
●Positive psychology: absence of illness + positive qualities = wellbeing; solution focused, building on strengths,
flourishing, promoting positive states, hope, optimism, empathy, gratitude
Eliminate suffering identify and nurture talent help people live more productive and fulfilled lives
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Aim of positive psychology: catalyze a change in psychology from a preoccupation with repairing things to also building the
best qualities in life. eg. campaigns to stop smoking with nasty images turned more effective when promoting positive
effects of stopping smoking; shift to young, healthy people who have quit smoking
Research is now focusing on the positives of the wellbeing spectrum
Hedonism: pleasure attainment and pain avoidance; immediate pleasure, in the moment; hedonic wellbeing: single minded
pursuit of sensual pleasure temporary constant struggle to sustain create no lasting growth/change
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Eudaimonic wellbeing: being true to one’s inner self; life based on cultivation of virtue or character completeness that
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constitutes true and enduring joy
Wellbeing: construct = an explanatory variable which is not directly observable; positive emotion, engagement, meaning,
positive relationships and accomplishments = dimensions of a life well lived
Document Summary
Threshold concept: akin to a portal, opening up a new and previously inaccessible way of thinking about something; transformed way of understanding, interpreting or viewing something. Negativity bias: negative is stronger than positive; we pay more attention to the negative than the positive. Negative bias : psychological phenomenon; inherited through natural selection genes. Responses to problems and threats = faster, stronger, harder to inhibit than strengths and opportunities. Rst line of defense against external threats (cid:840)historical etiology theory(cid:841) produces behaviour that preserves our. Relationships (cid:840)negative comments outweigh positive, create more damage(cid:841) Money (cid:840)pain of losing is greater than pleasure of winning(cid:841) Language: we have more words for negative events/descriptions in the english language than we do positive words. We remember negative events or emotions more vividly perception narrowed view behavioural impact. Disciplines: negative elds: science and medicine, positive elds: humanities, arts. Avoiding negativity bias: pay attention to and notice the positive. Paradigm shift: inability to take in new data overwhelmed/depleted.
