The Negativity Effect

When we create Gestalts, we don’t treat all information that we learn about people as equally important. Instead, we place emphasis on the negative information we learn about others, a pattern known as the negativity effect. Across cultures, people perceive negative information as more informative about someone’s “true” character than positive information (Kellermann, 1989). Though you may be wondering whether the negativity effect contradicts Pollyanna effects, it actually derives from them. People tend to believe that positive events, information, and personal characteristics are more commonplace than negative events, information, and characteristics. So when we learn something negative about another person, we see it as “unusual.” Consequently, that information becomes more salient, and we judge it as more truly representative of a person’s character than positive information (Kellermann, 1989).

Sometimes the negativity effect leads us to accurate perceptions of people. One of the women who rejected Ted Bundy’s request for assistance reported that she had seen him “stalking” other women before he approached her. This information led her to form a negative Gestalt before he even talked with her—an impression that saved her life. But just as often, the negativity effect leads us away from accurate perception. Accurate perception is rooted in carefully and critically assessing everything we learn about people, then flexibly adapting our impressions to match these data. When we weight negative information more heavily than positive, we perceive only a small part of people, aspects that may or may not represent who they are and how they normally communicate.

Self-Reflection

Think of someone for whom you have a negative Gestalt. How did the negativity effect shape your impression? Now call to mind personal flaws or embarrassing events from your past. If someone learned of this information and formed a negative Gestalt of you, would his or her impression be accurate? Fair?

Question

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