ADAM (00:09)

Did you know that it is far easier to pay attention to negative information? It's baked right into the way our brain works, and it's called the negativity bias. This refers to our human tendency to give more weight and attention to negative information or experiences compared to the positive ones. This bias can show up in a lot of different ways and in the context of giving feedback.

This shows up as being more likely to provide criticism than praise, or being more likely to anticipate and prepare for negative situations and outcomes rather than positive ones. Now the negativity bias is what social scientists believe is a bias that came out of an evolutionary adaptation. It's a way of moving through the world that helped our ancestors survive and dangerous environments by being really aware hyper-vigilant to potential threats. The reward from focusing on a potential threat in a potentially dangerous circumstance outweighed being too relaxed in appreciating the good things when there are equal dangers.

In reality, though, most of us don't live in environments where we need to be hyper-vigilant. It can have a negative impact on our mental and our emotional well-being. We may become overly focused on negative information because of this, and therefore we're overlooking positive aspects of our lives and of our work. So in order to combat the inherent negativity bias that we have, we need the positivity ratio.

The positivity ratio is a concept that originated from the work of psychologist Barbara Fredrickson. She proposed that the balance between positive and negative emotions in our lives can have a significant impact on our well-being. Fredrickson suggested that we need a minimum ratio of positive to negative emotions in order to fully flourish as humans. Her original positivity ratio was 3 to 1, meaning that we needed to experience at least three positive emotions for every negative emotion in order to be in a place of thriving.

Further research suggested this ratio may vary depending on the individual and the situation, but the fact is we all have a ratio where we need more positive input than we do negative. It's important to note that the positivity ratio is not a hard and fast rule, but it's a guideline. It's there to promote our general well-being. Now, the goal is not to eliminate negative emotions entirely as they can serve important functions like helping us focus and sparking motivation in the right contexts.

Instead, the goal is to increase the frequency and intensity of the positive emotions in our lives. So how does all of this relate back to feedback? It means that in order to have healthy, thriving relationships at work, we should be sharing more positive feedback than negative feedback. And that's where recognition comes into play.