Is Toxic Polarization Caused by Our Addiction to Negativity?

This is a guest post from Travis Monteleone, who writes about political polarization on his Substack. We thought his ideas were interesting and worth considering. 

It’s often said that toxic polarization is a complex phenomenon with many psychological and systemic factors involved. Then again, maybe it’s much simpler than we think. 

I believe toxic polarization is largely the effect of negativity bias. What is negativity bias? It’s a subconscious tendency that all of us have to pay more attention to negative things than to positive or neutral things. We can think of this bias as an addiction to negativity — not because we like negative things but because we’re drawn to the negative. 

And this bias of ours makes sense. After all, we’re physical beings who can be hurt by our environment and by other people, so being wired to pay attention to threatening and scary things can play an important role in helping keep us safe. But it can also make us overly pessimistic about the world around us. 

Negativity bias applied to other people

This bias also affects how we view other people. Imagine seeing 100 stories about a specific group of people. 60 stories are neutral, 30 stories are positive, and 10 are negative. We might expect our perception of this other group to be fairly neutral because most stories are neutral. At the very least, we’d be able to see a lot of nuance about the members of that group. 

The problem is that we’re anything but rational. Due to negativity bias, the 10 negative stories are more likely to grab our attention, engage our thought processes, and form longer-lasting memories. There’s a good chance our overall view of that group will be quite negative. 

This is why there are so many negative stereotypes about various groups. The negative stories stand out to us; they make the most powerful impression.

This same dynamic applies to how we view political issues. Imagine reading 10 resources about a specific immigration policy. Even if most observations about that policy were positive or neutral, we’ll tend to focus on the negative aspects of that policy. We might end up thinking it’s a “bad policy” even if the positives far outweigh the negatives.  

In the same way, our views on many topics are much more pessimistic than is warranted. (For example, did you know we tend to think other people are much less happy than they actually are?)

To be clear, this is not to say that bad and harmful things aren’t happening. There are real events and behaviors that, for good reason, can make us concerned, scared, passionate, and angry. But negativity bias can make us dramatically overstate pessimistic framings about the world and the people around us. 

Negativity in the media

The news media gets much criticism for focusing on negative stories — especially stories associated with our divides. What accounts for that focus? 

For one thing, people who work in the media, like everyone, can have their own biases — and that includes political biases and a bias towards the negative.  

But the biggest factor is that there are strong incentives to create negative content. Negativity gets the most attention. People working in the media are often simply acting in their best interest to meet consumer demand. Negativity bias results in a larger demand for negative narratives, and those negative narratives in turn drive more polarization.

A simple story can help spread the word

A major challenge is that many of the stories told about polarization are about its complexity. This apparent complexity can prevent people from feeling like they understand the problem. Even worse, it can unintentionally make them think there’s no way we can solve such a complex problem. 

It can help to have a simple story about polarization. A simple story can help us talk to people about the problem — and empower each other to work on it.

How can we use this idea to help lower the political temperature? 

Talk to others about this idea

Ronald Reagan once said, “All great change in America begins at the dinner table.” We can all be part of the effort to shift our political culture. A single conversation may not seem like much, but great change can occur when millions of these conversations happen across the country. If the chance comes up to talk about our toxic division, jump in. It may not seem like a big deal, but the best place to start is with the people who trust you in the place they feel most at ease. 

Talk about negativity bias when you see it

So many issues and events around us today are hyper-charged by negativity bias. As you become more familiar with this idea, you’ll learn to recognize stats, articles, and talking points contributing to unreasonably negative views. We can shift our culture by being willing to speak up when we think someone is interpreting something overly negatively. 

And we can do this in respectful ways that can reduce anger. For example, you might say something like, “I agree with some of your views, but I think on that issue you’re taking an extremely pessimistic view of things. Is it possible your negativity bias is warping your perception here?” 

These attempts can help us foster more analytical and fact-based conversations that lower the temperature for anyone taking part in them or just witnessing them. 

The majority of Americans say they want to reduce the toxicity of our divides. Most people just don’t know where to start. Understanding and discussing negativity bias is a simple and effective starting point for these conversations. I believe that the solution to toxic polarization lies with the American people and truly starts with us. 

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