Prime Positive Emotions

During times of rapid change, uncertainty and pressure, we need to be more creative, resourceful and open to new solutions than ever before. That’s why it’s important to be aware that we have a negativity bias and that this bias may not serve us in situations where an open and creative mindset is better.

In 1980, psychologist James Averill went through the English language dictionary and made a list of each word for an emotion. A total of 558 words were found. Averill developed a study around these words, asking participants to categorise each word as a positive or negative emotion.

The results: 62% of the words were negative and 38% were positive.

Similar experiments have been conducted—asking people, across all different countries, to write down as many emotion words as they could in five minutes. Consistently, negative emotions are more common than positive emotions.

We have more negative emotions to draw upon than positive emotions.

Similarly, other researchers have found that negative emotions are more attention-grabbing than positive emotions. For example, if I were to tell you one good thing and one bad thing about a complete stranger, you would be more likely to judge them negatively rather than neutrally.

Turns out, our brain is wired to place greater emphasis on the negative.

Is this finding good or bad? Does it serve humans to have more negative emotions to draw upon? Well, once again, there is an evolutionary purpose for more negative emotions.

Humans need to spot potential threats and act accordingly. We can appreciate the grace of a shark gliding through the water, but the appropriate response for anyone who values their life is to get out of the water and away from potential harm. The problem is that some negative emotions, when our immediate safety is not compromised, can unnecessarily narrow our focus and may cause us to miss important opportunities.

Luckily, recent research in positive psychology by Barbara Fredrickson has shown the exact opposite is true for positive emotions. Positive emotions, such as joy, gratitude, love, and awe, broaden our mindset, help us build on internal resources, and ultimately lead to better solutions.

Positive emotions are a powerful tool for creativity, broadening our skill sets and transforming ourselves and the environment around us. This is true for nearly every profession, with the exception of those who need to spot problems and flaws in thinking, such as lawyers. We need to be conscious when negative emotions may be shutting us down, unless you’re a lawyer.

Additionally, people who have plenty of positive emotions in their everyday lives tend to be happier, healthier, learn better, and get along well with others.

Given negative emotions are especially likely to take over during a challenging time like this, we need to work even harder to consistently prime positive emotions. Place photos of loved ones or pets where you see them consistently. Take a walk and make it a point to notice the beauty around you. Watch a documentary that awes you. Watch some comedy.

If you’re struggling for some inspiration, here are some of my go to photos of my little legend of a dog, Ralph.

It's impossible not to be flooded with positive emotion when I look at this little guy.

This article was adapted from content in my book. If you enjoyed, grab a copy of Tripowerment: The Why, the Will and the Way of Breakthrough Change.