Negativity effect
From Free net encyclopedia
The negativity effect is an attributional bias that occurs when subjects are asked what they think caused actions of other people whom they dislike. Under these conditions, the positivity effect is reversed and people rate the positive behavior of those they dislike to the situation and their negative behavior to something in their inherent disposition.
The negativity effect is sometimes called the ultimate attribution error because of its clear role in racial prejudice. (See fundamental attribution error.)
Research has also found that people assign more weight to negative information in descriptions of others. In addition, the degree to which people favor negative information in their attention and memory seems to decrease with age, with older adults showing less of a negativity effect and more of a positivity effect with age.
See also
trait ascription bias, list of cognitive biases.
References
- Baumeister, R. R., Bratslavsky, E., Fickenauer, C., & Vohs, K. D. (2001). Bad is stronger than good. Review of General Psychology, 5, 323-370.
- Mather, M., & Carstensen, L. L. (2005). Aging and motivated cognition: The positivity effect in attention and memory. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 9, 496-502. PDF
- Regan, D. T., Straus, E. & Fazio, R. (1974). Liking and the attribution process. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 10, 385-397.
- Vonk, R. (1993). The negativity effect in trait ratings and in open-ended descriptions of persons. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 19, 269-278.