The positivity effect
How you can 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, her positive attitude infects you and you feel better. Because positivity can transfer. But we can also cause 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 strengthens positive thoughts and emotions. A joyful cycle begins. The positivity effect is intended to enable people to expand their horizons of thought and thus recognize more possibilities for their own lives. Researchers have found that this effect often increases with age. Many older people therefore focus their cognitive skills more on positive stimuli than on negative ones.
How we learn to look at the positive
In our everyday lives we are often exposed to negative events that the brain clings to. It could be the news; a person who cut us in traffic or the moment we got a stain on our white blouse at lunch. We perceive many things as bad or annoying – and it stays with us for the rest of the day or even for a long time. Out of anger or shame, for example. However, we overlook other stimuli that can arise at the same time. For example, exchanging ideas with friends about world events; the favorite songs we have in the Singing along in the car or having a nice conversation with colleagues at the dinner table.
Why do we allow the positive to be partially overshadowed by banalities? Many of us have become accustomed to thinking negatively rather than positively. There are little things that can help: like keeping a diary in which you only write down the positive experiences of the day – or things you are grateful for. Or: instead of watching the news, decide to read the news – because for some people that is already less difficult to process than the drastic moving images that we are exposed to in a short space of time. It helps other people to seek social contact more often – and simply write to someone, ask about their day and report back yourself; or taking the time to think about 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 in the evening instead of a crime thriller.
Invite positivity to you
Positivity thrives on beautiful experiences. You can experience this alone or with friends or family. Perhaps a painting class or a dance group will bring more positivity into your life because you will find like-minded people with whom you can exchange ideas about your hobby. Or you need more evenings together with your loved ones where you can talk and reminisce. Some people around you may support the positivity effect, others may bring you down. You can also take this into account and speak to a person about it if all they do is complain – and you are the person who constantly gets it. And if you don’t have anyone to meet or talk to at the moment, this sentence can be a first step: “There is another way of looking at it.” If you see something negatively, try to stop your brain from thinking about it – and find new ways of looking at it.
Sources used: psychologytoday.com, frontiersin.org, gepris.dfg.de