A Sad Fact of Life: It’s Actually Smart to Be Mean Online
I’m doomed to obscurity. Not a bad thing really.
Why does this bias exist? No one really knows, though some theorists speculate it’s evolutionary. In the ancestral environment, focusing on bad news helped you survive.
Like I said, this is based on anecdata—and you can’t easily generalize about why things go viral in the roiling, wine-dark sea of social media. Some utterly saccharine posts get wildly liked; certain smartly critical thoughts are loathed. (Compare the rollicking success of the feel-good site Upworthy to the abuse directed at women and minorities who write intelligent criticism.) And what’s “negative”? Is a manifesto for social change negative because it criticizes the status quo or positive because it’s idealistic?
But knowing about negativity bias has made me more skeptical of high-brow punditry that defaults to dour views. If caustic wit is what garners a person whooping accolades for their intelligence, surely public intellectuals adjust their approach accordingly.
Gibson told me that his study hadn’t been cited or followed up on much by other researchers. “Maybe you weren’t negative enough?” I asked. He laughed: “I guess so.”
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