The positivity effect
How to change your life for the better with little effort
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Imagine: you’re in a terrible mood, you “have to” go to a friend’s house in the evening and you don’t feel like it at all. But as soon as you arrive, you are infected by their positive nature and you feel better. Because positivity can be carried over. But we can also produce them without outside help.
The positivity effect is a psychological phenomenon. Accordingly, positive emotions and thoughts should lead to a strengthened self-image and more self-confidence. This in turn influences how we behave and again strengthens the positive thoughts and emotions. A happy cycle begins. The positivity effect is intended to enable people to broaden their horizons of thought and thus recognize more possibilities for their own lives. Researchers have found that this effect often increases with age. According to this, many older people focus their cognitive skills more on positive stimuli than on negative ones.
How we learn to look at the positive
In our everyday life, we are often exposed to negative events that the brain latches on to. This can be the news; a person who cut us in traffic or the moment we got a stain on our white blouse at lunch. There are many things that we perceive as bad or annoying – and we don’t let go of them for the rest of the day or even longer. Out of anger or shame, for example. In doing so, however, we overlook other stimuli that can arise at the same time. For example, the exchange with friends about world events; the favorite songs we sang along in the car or the nice conversation with colleagues at the dining table.
Why do we allow the positive to be partially overshadowed by the banal? Many of us have gotten used to thinking negatively rather than positively. There are little things that can help: like a journal in which you only write the positive experiences of the day – or things for which you are grateful. Or: Make it your goal to read the news instead of watching the news – because for some that is already less difficult to process than the drastic moving images that we are exposed to in a short time. It helps other people to seek social contact more often – and simply write to a person, ask about the day and report yourself; or taking the time to reflect on beautiful experiences from the past: travel, moments with friends, with a partner, personal successes. We rarely take the time to trigger positive feelings. Sometimes it’s even enough if you watch a comedy instead of a crime thriller in the evening.
Invite positivity to you
Positivity thrives on beautiful experiences. You can experience this for yourself or with friends or family. Perhaps taking a painting class or a dance group will bring more positivity into your life by finding like-minded people to share your hobby with. Or you need more evenings together with your loved ones, where you can talk and reminisce. Some people around you can support the positivity effect, others may drag you down. You can also take this into account and address a person if they only complain – and you’re the person who gets it all the time. And if you don’t have anyone to meet or talk to at the moment, this sentence can be a first impetus: “There is another way of looking at it.” If you see something negatively, try to interrupt your brain with those thoughts – and find new perspectives.
Sources used: psychologytoday.com, frontiersin.org, gepris.dfg.de