Positivity effect

The positivity effect is the ability to constructively analyze a situation where the desired results are not achieved, but still obtain positive feedback that assists one's future progression.

The findings of a study show that the optimism bias in future-oriented thinking fulfils a self-improvement purpose while also suggesting this bias probably reflects a common underpinning motivational process across various future-thinking domains, either episodic or semantic.^[1]

In attribution

The positivity effect as an attribution phenomenon relates to the habits and characteristics of people when evaluating the causes of their behaviors. To positively attribute is to be open to attributing a person’s inherent disposition as the cause of their positive behaviors, and the situations surrounding them as the potential cause of their negative behaviors.

In perception

Two studies by Emilio Ferrara have shown that, on online social networks like Twitter and Instagram, users prefer to share positive news, and are emotionally affected by positive news more than twice as much as they are by negative news.^[2][3]

According to the research recorded by Dan Zarella, the more positive a person is on social media, the more followers they will get because "users become less engaged when content on their feed becomes more negative" (Lee 1). So, when someone posts a lot of positive things, it makes people want to be a part of their social media presence. People on social media seek out positivity.^[4]

See also

• List of biases in judgment and decision making
• List of memory biases
• Optimism bias
• Pollyanna principle
• Positivity offset
• Rosy retrospection
• Self-serving bias
• Toxic positivity
• Wishful thinking

Notes

References

Dictionaries and encyclopedias

• Hoorens, Vera (2014). "Positivity Bias". Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research. Springer Netherlands. pp. 4938–4941. doi:10.1007/978-94-007-0753-5_2219. ISBN 978-94-007-0752-8. 
• Colman, Andrew M (2008). A Dictionary of Psychology (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0199534067. http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100339430. 

Papers

• Taylor, S.E.; Koivumaki, J.H. (1976). "The perception of self and others: Acquaintanceship, affect and actor-observer differences". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 33 (4): 403–408. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.33.4.403. PMID 1271218. 
• Winquist, Lynn A.; Mohr, Cynthia D.; Kenny, David A. (1998). "The Female Positivity Effect in the Perception of Others". Journal of Research in Personality 32 (3): 370–388. doi:10.1006/jrpe.1998.2221. 
• Mezulis, A. H.; Abramson, L. Y.; Hyde, J. S.; Hankin, B. L. (2004). "Is there a universal positivity bias in attributions? A meta-analytic review of individual, developmental, and cultural differences in the self-serving attributional bias". Psychological Bulletin 130 (5): 711–747. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.130.5.711. PMID 15367078. 

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