Week 5 - positive and negative valence

Question 1

positive valence leads us to

Answer 1

approach

Question 2

negative valence leads to

Answer 2

avoidance

Question 3

negativity bias

Answer 3

negative events are more powerful and differentiated

Question 4

positivity/Pollyanna effect

Answer 4

we tend to use positive words more frequent and tend to focus more on the positive, we look for it in our lives

Question 5

negativity bias and biology

Answer 5

 Negative experiences (right hemisphere of the brain)
• Short-term to long-term memory: remember faster and better
• Memory narrowing
 Positive experiences (left hemisphere of the brain)
• Short-term to long-term memory takes more time
• Memory broadening

Question 6

why do we have the negativity bias? (3)

Answer 6

 Bad is stronger than good
• Negative is more powerful than positive
• Negative attracts more attention than positive
 Explanation: evolutionary
• Bad is stronger than good, because bad calls for change, and this leads to evolutionary improvement (Baumeister et al., 2001)
 Consequences of not attending to a negative event are worse

Question 7

negativity bias and attention

Answer 7

 Automaticity tendency to devote more attention to unpleasant information than to pleasant information
 Important to pay attention to negative things to avoid danger for example
 Attention is drawn to negative information

Question 8

negative contrast effect

Answer 8

 The greater the magnitude of reward, the faster a rat will run to get the reward
 If the reward is reduced, rats run slower
• Even slower than rats that started with a smaller reward
 The rats have a greater sensitivity to loss than to gain

Question 9

negative bias and personal relationships

Answer 9

 How do you make a relationship last?
• To maintain relationships good interactions should outnumber bad interactions by 5:1
 Negative experiences are more crucial for the sustainability of a relationship

Question 10

positive-negative asymmetry

Answer 10

negative words and characteristics are more powerful / weigh more heavily
negative emotions are more distinct

Question 11

in case of gain we are risk

Answer 11

averse

Question 12

in case of loss we are risk

Answer 12

seeking

Question 13

prospect theory: loss aversion

Answer 13

 More distress from negative events than happiness from the positive equivalent
 Negative is more distinct

Question 14

Pollyanna effect (7)

Answer 14

o “It is a belief, that people are more likely to perceive and remember positive things about other people or things than negative ones” (Boucher & Osgood, 1969)
 Positive events are much more common
 Positive words are much more common than negative words
o Accentuate the positive
 Think positive -> creativity, productivity, performance
 Positive psychology
o Positivity in English
 Positive words strongly outnumber negative words
 In our stories and writings we tend toward prosocial communication
 See slides
o Positive words dominate on the internet
 Positive emotions predominate on the internet
 Positive emotions increase communication and strengthen social links
o Positivity in verbal expressions is default: prosocial, forward-thinking
o Positivity is learned: social factors make positivity the most desirable
o Positivity is the social norm
 Politeness (saving face)
 Euphemisms, political correctness
 Avoiding taboo words

Question 15

Pollyanna effect and negativity bias: two sides of the same coin?

Answer 15

 Positivity = norm
• Positive events are more common
 Negativity deviates strongly = adaption, change
• Negative events are more differentiated

Question 16

Rozin, Berman & Rozyman (2010)

Answer 16

• Are the following things reflected in language?
  o Positive events are more common
  o Negative potency
  o Negative differentiation

Question 17

results Rozin, Berman & Rozyman (2010)

Answer 17

o Part 1: positive words
 Positive words are unmarked and are used more often with reversed than negative words
 Reversed polarity positive words more frequently have a negative valence than reversed polarity negative words have a positive valence
 Positive words are often used for the entire category
 In set expressions, the positive word often comes first
 In all languages positive dominates negative
o Part 2: negative words
 More words to describe negative events than positive events

Question 18

discussion Rozin, Berman & Rozyman (2010)

Answer 18

o Confirmation of hypotheses
o Positive bias for adjectives: frequency of occurrence and privileging positive adjectives in syntactic and semantic frames
o Negative bias for adjectives: lexicalisation of certain nouns identifying negative situations
o Linguistic efficiency
 Positive words more frequent because positive events are more frequent
 Negative events less frequent but more significant

Question 19

limitations Rozin, Berman & Rozyman (2010)

Answer 19

o	Random selection of adjectives
o	Random selection of nouns
o	Complex research questions
o	Cumbersome operationalisation 
o	Based on English
o	Only one participant per language

Question 20

four positive biases in English

Answer 20

o Positive words are unmarked and are used more often with reversed polarity than negative words
 Marked = not default, distinctive feature
 Negated = negative form
 For example: happy/unhappy instead of sad/unsad
o Negated positive adjectives tend to have a negative valence, whereas negated negative adjectives tend to be neutral in valence
 For example: unhappy is negative, while unsad is neutral
o Positive words are often used for the entire positive-negative dimension
 Positive words define dimensions
o In set expressions, the positive word often comes first
 For example: good and bad

Question 21

one negative bias in English

Answer 21

o Negative bias: more different words to describe negative events
 Some negative states are lexicalized but corresponding positive opposites are not
 For example: there is no opposite of murderer

Question 22

evolutionary explanation

Answer 22

positive is the norm, negative events are rare

o We need to be prepared to adapt and change

Question 23

positive asymmetry (4)

Answer 23

 Positive words are unmarked and are used more often with reversed polarity than negative words
 Reversed polarity positive words more frequently have a negative valence than reversed polarity negative words have a positive valence
 Positive words are often used for the entire category
 In set expressions, the positive word often comes first

Question 24

negative asymmetry

Answer 24

more words to describe negative events than positive events