Negativity Bias
Negativity Effect
The notion that, even when of equal intensity, things of a more negative nature (e.g. unpleasant thoughts, emotions, or social interactions; harmful/traumatic events) have a greater effect on one's psychological state and processes than neutral or positive things.
Origin
Psychologist Roy F. Baumeister and colleagues Ellen Bratslavsky, Catrin Finkenauer, and Kathleen D. Vohs provided the canonical formulation in their 2001 review article "Bad Is Stronger than Good," which surveyed evidence across emotion, learning, child development, memory, and stereotypes. They demonstrated that wherever you look in psychology, bad emotions, bad parents, and bad feedback have more impact than good ones, and bad information is processed more thoroughly. The evolutionary explanation posits that paying attention to threats—things that could kill you—was more adaptive than attending to positive stimuli. The paper surpassed 10,000 citations, establishing negativity bias as a foundational psychological principle.