No matter how well it goes, most people rub themselves up on the one thing that goes wrong. With the "Bing theory" we can explain this phenomenon – and lay the foundation for overcoming it!
Do you know that? You actually wake up in a good mood, everything is as usual, but then a little thing goes wrong – for example you get negative feedback for something, you just miss the train or at the bakery there is only the pretzel with a lot of salt – and your mood is right in the basement. Typically human! Even if 397 things go well a day, it's often this one thing that didn't go perfectly, the one mistake, the embarrassing statement that made us – BING! – particularly striking and will be remembered. One wonders: why is that? Why is such a "bing moment" enough to throw us out of a completely quiet and trouble-free train??
"Bing Theory" explains our attention to negatives
According to scientists, this property is a Leftover from the past, when humans weren't at the top of the food chain. Our brain is programmed to perceive dangers and risks more than positives. After all, the one who sees the saber-tooth tiger first has the greatest chance of getting away without being eaten. So if you perceive a Bing as a human being and react to it in good time, you used to have an evolutionary advantage.
There is also something else: we get used to things that always run according to the same pattern or similar, we take them for granted. For example, we usually don't notice that we are healthy and able to walk at all. That is why negatives catch our eye (BING!), While much more, which is incredibly positive, is mercilessly lost in our everyday perception. After all, we've all set up our lives so that countless good things happen every day – but only a few bad ones! (apart from a few unfortunate phases …)
What is the use of the Bing reflex today?
Fortunately, we no longer have to run away from saber-toothed tigers and have hardly any other dangerous situations in everyday life. As a result, we unfortunately all too often target our originally beneficial Bing reflex against us: Made a mistake? Zack, useless! A kilo more on the scales? God, I've gotten fat! But in the context of our luxury life with heated apartments and vitamin B12 tablets, we can still do a bit Use energy to counteract this in a targeted and conscious manner – Because a strong focus on negatives no longer makes us happy and successful.
But what can we do to counter such a deeply ingrained quality that has long proven to be an advantage and strength? Very easily: Awareness, mindfulness and training. We now know why we tend to hang negatives higher than positives, and the next time our mood changes from sunshine to freezing rain, we may wonder if the Bing effect is behind it. We can easily train to be more attentive to the positive things in our lives. For example, by adhering to three simple everyday rules every day that make us happier, or by practicing healthy self-doubt.
And then next we can maybe think about whether it really makes sense that we still attach so much importance to the principle "Survival of the fittest" today …
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