Positivity effect

For the psychological effect in older adults, see Socioemotional selectivity theory.

In psychology and cognitive science, the positivity effect is the ability to constructively analyze a situation where the desired results are not achieved; but still obtain positive feedback that assists our future progression. When a person is considering people they like (including themselves), the person tends to make situational attributions about their negative behaviors and dispositional attributions about their positive behaviors. The reverse may be true for people that the person dislikes. This may well be because of the dissonance between liking a person and seeing them behave negatively. Example: If a friend hits someone, one would tell them the other guy deserved it or that he had to defend himself.

In attribution

Main article: Selective perception

The positivity effect pertains to the tendency of people, when evaluating the causes of the behaviors of a person they like or prefer, to attribute the person's inherent disposition as the cause of their positive behaviors and the situations surrounding them as the cause of their negative behaviors. The positivity effect is the inverse of the negativity effect, which is found when people evaluate the causes of the behaviors of a person they dislike. Both effects are attributional biases.

In perception

On online social networks like Twitter, users prefer to share positive news, and are emotionally affected by positive news more than twice than by negative news.

See also

• List of biases in judgment and decision making
• List of memory biases
• Optimism bias
• Pollyanna principle
• Positivity offset
• Rosy retrospection
• Self-serving bias
• Wishful thinking

References

Dictionaries and encyclopedias

• Hoorens, Vera (2014). "Positivity Bias". Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research. Springer Netherlands. pp. 4938–4941. doi:10.1007/978-94-007-0753-5_2219. ISBN 978-94-007-0752-8. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Colman, Andrew M (2008). "Positivity Bias". A Dictionary of Psychology (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 0199534063. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

Papers

• Taylor, S.E.; Koivumaki, J.H. (1976). "The perception of self and others: Acquaintanceship, affect and actor-observer differences". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 33 (4): 403–408. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.33.4.403. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Winquist, Lynn A.; Mohr, Cynthia D.; Kenny, David A. (1998). "The Female Positivity Effect in the Perception of Others". Journal of Research in Personality. 32 (3): 370–388. doi:10.1006/jrpe.1998.2221. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Mezulis, A. H.; Abramson, L. Y.; Hyde, J. S.; Hankin, B. L. (2004). "Is there a universal positivity bias in attributions? A meta-analytic review of individual, developmental, and cultural differences in the self-serving attributional bias". Psychological Bulletin. 130 (5): 711–747. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.130.5.711. PMID 15367078. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)