"This tendency is called the "negativity bias," or the propensity to focus on problems, annoyances, and injustices in our lives rather than focusing on being grateful for the events or people in our lives that are working and we feel good about. Evolutionary psychologists believe we developed this negativity bias for our survival-our brains developed a system that gives more weight to negative information, thus prioritizing threats such as predators and natural disasters."
"To be clear, when I use the word gratitude, I'm not talking about simply being thankful. I'm talking about it as a cognitive-emotional process (involves both thinking and feeling) that can be either momentary (state gratitude) and/or long-term (trait gratitude). This means gratitude is not simply an emotion -it comes from appraisal: recognizing positive aspects of life as gifts rather than thinking of them as an entitlement or not noticing them at all."
Humans have a strong negativity bias that causes focus on problems, annoyances, and injustices, a survival adaptation that prioritizes threats. Gratitude functions as a cognitive-emotional appraisal process that can be a momentary state or a long-term trait and involves recognizing positive aspects of life as gifts rather than entitlements or unnoticed. Feeling grateful increases optimism, social satisfaction, sleep quality, exercise, and reduces envy, depression, and physical complaints. Gratitude practices can be incorporated into daily life through experimentation and routine to harness measurable benefits for psychological, emotional, and physical well-being.
Read at Psychology Today
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