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• Archive: Photos by Jasmine HsuWhy are we devastated by a word of criticism even when it’s mixed with lavish praise?
• Because our brains are wired to focus on the bad.
• In their new book, The Power of Bad: How the Negativity Effect Rules Us and How We Can Rule It, acclaimed science writer John Tierney and pioneering research psychologist Roy F. Baumeister explore the implications of this preference for the bad, called the negativity effect.
• It explains things great and small: why countries blunder into disastrous wars, why couples divorce, why people flub job interviews, how schools fail students, why football coaches stupidly punt on fourth down.
• The negativity effect is exploited continually by journalists, politicians, activists, and other “merchants of bad,” leading to what the authors call the greatest problem in public life: the “Crisis Crisis,” the never-ending series of hyped threats that needlessly alarm people and produce policies that benefit politicians, bureaucrats, and special interests while hurting everyone else.But there is some good news: once we recognize our negativity bias, the rational brain can overcome the power of bad when it’s harmful and employ that power when it’s beneficial.