Reputation in Peril: Negativity Bias
Human minds, generally speaking, are wired for giving more attention towards that which isn’t positive. There’s a name for this type of thinking and processing habit.
Negativity bias, also known as the negativity effect, is when we “focus on and remember negative information better than positive or neutral information,” per Newristics.
Let’s pull over, stop and talk about this briefly, because it’s important to understand within our interactions, disputes, conflicts and crises — and how it plays into problems of reputation.
When negativity is happening based as a result of our own errors, of course people will give their strong attention to it, maybe too much. That could be deserved, except when it becomes excessive.
However, when false assumptions, accusations and allegations are made (gross errors or lies), the velocity in which that negativity spreads, the intensity of people’s focus and their unwavering, misdirected belief in the accuracy of their convictions about wrongdoing, becomes extremely dangerous, unjustly so, to a person or group.
The point, you ask?
Negativity bias can lead people to believe all sorts of untrue things about you, your acts and your character. Knowing that this is a real way that people mentally process can help you know when and how to respectfully, thoughtfully and skillfully respond to it and begin deconstructing the falsehoods or wild exaggerations.
This is vitally important. It has to be done in a manner that satisfies the emotional component of the bias and the facts and logic. It’s not just one task.
On a Related Note
Dan Harris was an anchor for the ABC News show, Nightline, and a co-anchor of the weekend edition of Good Morning America.
He had a conversation, shown on Instagram, with Sharon McMahon, the writer at
(and an author of the bestselling book, The Small and the Mighty) about how to avoid being confidently wrong."We have an overabundance of people on the internet who are confidently wrong," Harris grumbled. He then asked McMahon for her remedy.
"How can we avoid being one of those people?” Harris inquired.
McMahon had an answer and responded:
“Everyone can be wrong sometimes but the fastest way to start being right is to stop being wrong faster,” she said. “That means holding your views loosely and being willing to reexamine your views when presented with new and better information.
“You may not ultimately change your mind but being willing to is one of the most important ways that you can prevent yourself from being confidently wrong.
“Being willing to change your mind is a demonstration of your intellectual prowess. The smartest people in the room are almost always the people who have changed their mind, when they were wrong, faster.”
Most people will not be willing to reexamine their views, even if a deeper look at the situation and you reveals that their initial conclusions were off base or entirely incorrect. People’s pride usually matters more to them than learning, judging correctly and communicating that they were originally in error.
Thus, they are more comfortable not operating in “intellectual prowess” because they would rather keep private that they were confidently — overconfidently - wrong.
That’s the obstacle that’s steep to overcome. It’s usually not entirely impossible but it often proves incredibly challenging, frustrating or maddening.
This newsletter — Reputation Intelligence — is written by Michael Toebe, and is a product of Reputation Intelligence - Reputation Quality, a firm which helps individuals and organizations assure a greater peace of mind, provide stress relief through reliable decision analysis, consulting, advisory and communications.
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