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Hello Readers, Welcome back and Happy New Year to our thinking community! I am rejuvenated and feeling excited for 2025 with lots of personal goals and voluntary responsibilities I will continue to set for myself. I will always make sure I place goals ahead of myself to remain hopeful. If I don’t, my mind will instead push me towards hopelessness and an uncontrollable urge to focus on the negative aspects of my life. Today’s critical thinking (CT) topic will focus on negativity bias and how it is a powerful springboard for CT. Let’s get into today’s Trio of Thoughts… THOUGHT ONE: AN APHORISM In CT work, complicated ideas communicated through a few short words (quote) can profoundly encourage deep reflective CT. Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space lies our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom."
– Viktor E. Frankl
THOUGHT 2: AFTER NEGATIVITY BIAS: THE PERFECT SPOT FOR CRITICAL THINKING RE-WIRING NEGATIVITY Critical thinking (CT) thrives when we have cognitive and psychological clarity. However, this clarity can often be difficult to achieve due to the brain’s natural wiring to focus on the negative elements in our days. Today, I am going to explore how negativity bias—the tendency to focus on threats, challenges, and unresolved past issues—impacts our thinking and how we can counteract it using insights from Rick Hanson’s Hardwiring Happiness as well as my recommendations on deep reflective practice central to CT. Reflective practice also nurtures emotional intelligence. RICK HANSON: HARDWIRING HAPPINESS A friend and follower introduced me to Rick Hanson, a psychologist known for his work on neuroscience, mindfulness, and well-being. To me, the best type of knowledge is interdisciplinary and intersectional (not to be confused with intersectionality theory). Intersectional, as in things that connect and overlap at a crossing point, whether it be ideas or roads. We as people are complex and multidimensional, and our feelings and ideas overlap, so relatable information needs to mirror this cognitive complexity, at least to some degree. Neuroscience explores how the brain and nervous system influence our thoughts, emotions, and behaviours. Mindfulness is the practice of being fully present, intentionally focusing on thoughts, feelings, and surroundings without judgment. Hanson discusses how this practice assists in clearing our thoughts and regulating our nervous system to avoid impulsive reactions. This is very much rooted in the principles of reflexive practice, which is fundamental for CT. NEGATIVITY BIAS Hanson highlights that our brains are hardwired for "negativity bias." This means we tend to focus on, remember, and recall the negative feelings first. There could be ten good things in a day, but the one negative event that triggered a negative emotion will stick. We can all agree this is true. As always, I am the type of educator who wants you to figure things out for yourself because for adults to remember and apply information, it needs to be relevant to their lives, and they need to be able to draw on their own wisdom and experience. Nothing else will help you learn and recall better than staying focused on your own life and improving the things that matter to you. Everything else is just noise. You can see evidence of humans' tendency for negativity bias just by looking at internet threads. Usually, people with their comments, especially faceless ones, will choose the negative route. And without tone, faces, or expression, we assume the worst—or rather, our brains do. You don’t need smart people to tell you how to think about everything. You need smart people to teach you how to think in smart ways for yourself. Look around—what do you see? What are people saying? What are they doing? How often is this same behaviour happening? What does it mean? Find a hypothesis based on your own curiosity, then try to understand it. Many of us are unaware of how much our history shapes our present thoughts. Hanson’s research shows that by intentionally trying to achieve positive mental states and practicing mindfulness, we can overcome this bias and achieve greater clarity and balance. In his book Hardwiring Happiness, Hanson explains how deliberate practices (which I will teach you some of in this letter) can physiologically reshape our brains to prioritise calmness and clarity, even in the face of stress or emotional turbulence. Despite having a very emotionally turbulent past, when I began learning CT, this balanced my emotional mind a lot. It absolutely increased my emotional intelligence. I always had emotional awareness and sensitivity, but I did not know how to control it. Whenever I experienced a negative emotion—whether it was annoyance, irritation, or even a sense of regret, shame, or revenge about something I said or did not say or something someone else said—I turned to reflective practice or mindfulness. At first, I did it out of anger and resentment. Then I did it because there was unfinished business. Then I planned revenge. Then I realised I might have contributed to the issue. This all involved repeatedly stepping back and examining my feelings, the situation, and the dynamics of my interaction with the person involved. Dynamics meant what my relationship was with the person, how I felt about them, and what our history was. I reflected on their potential thinking flaws as well as my own, considering why I might feel irritated and what I should do next. This practice allowed me to process my emotions thoughtfully and respond more deliberately. Some of you may think mindfulness sounds wishy-washy or irrational, but it’s far from that. Mindfulness is simply about giving your mind the time and space to reflect and process the world and its events. We live in an age of immense cognitive activity, with countless demands competing for our attention and mental space. This relentless cognitive overload is incredibly taxing, putting our brains in overdrive—and it will inevitably take a toll on both our physical and mental well-being. It already is. Be mindful of your thoughts! NEGATIVITY BIAS AND DECISION MAKING For example, when we are tired, hungry, stressed, or preoccupied with unresolved issues, our cognitive resources are depleted, and we are less likely to think clearly or make sound decisions. Decisions made during these times are often influenced by reactive patterns rather than deliberate thought. By contrast, moments of mental clarity—when we are rested, nourished, and focused—provide the cognitive balance needed for thoughtful, reasoned choices. Think about this: When do you make your best decisions? What state of mind are you in during those moments? When do you make your worst decisions, and what are the impacts of those reactions?
When you have had a negative experience in any setting, sit back and think about what is happening in your life that could have contributed to this breakdown. Often there are obvious connections between your mental state and a negative event. This letter serves as a reminder that our negativity bias often takes the lead, shaping our perceptions before we even have a chance to catch up. Whether at work, at home, or with friends, when we encounter an idea—whether it’s through reading a book or listening to someone speak—our unconscious, initial response triggers an emotional reaction before we consciously process it. That historical, emotional bias kicks in first, while slower, more deliberate thought comes later and demands much more cognitive effort. That cognitive effort is the critical thinking part. CRITICAL THINKING HAPPENS INSIDE THE NEGATIVITY Negativity bias thrives when we are stuck in subjective thinking, which often leads to emotional chaos. To counteract this, we need to step outside of ourselves and observe our cognitive flaws objectively. This process, while challenging, is key to forming habits that improve our thinking. When you can objectively observe your cognitive flaws in action, it feels as though you’re watching yourself from the outside—like you’re floating above yourself. Most people, however, judge the world from the inside out. If you feel stuck in this inward perspective most of the time, it’s a sign you need to practice assessing the world with a more objective framework. Thought 3 CT Activities for this Week Try this: the next time you read or hear something that stirs a negative or surprising emotion in you, take a few minutes, hours, or even days—you will have to judge how long is required to reflect and understand the feeling. The more you do this the better your CT will become. I have given you some reflective questions to mindfully work through. After a while, these types of thinking habits will become normal and feel very easy, even natural. CT your way towards emotional health. QUESTIONS TO TRIGGER OBJECTIVITY AND CT: Did I feel negatively about what just happened? Why did I feel this way? Is it because I was personally insulted and feel the need to defend myself, or is it because this idea is connected to a personal vulnerability? What is that vulnerability? Did the person intentionally try to upset me? If not, then why am I upset?
The best CT practice happens right in the times you are engulfed in the rumination that comes with recalling negative emotions. The more you ignore it and pretend it doesn’t exist, the more it will torment you. Okay, that’s it from me for today! As always, email me any comments, ideas, recommendations, requests, epiphanies, stories, or feedback, OR please send mail to say hello as I love to hear that you are out there! Esha. READINGS AND RESOURCES APA Reference for Hardwiring Happiness: Hanson, R. (2013). Hardwiring happiness: The new brain science of contentment, calm, and confidence. Harmony Books. Article on Reflective Practice and Thinking: Helyer, R. (2015). Learning through reflection: the critical role of reflection in work-based learning (WBL). Journal of Work-Applied Management, 7(1), 15-27. Rick Hanson Youtube Video on Negativity Bias (Click the link to take you to YouTube). NEW: CRITICAL THINKING TEST!! Want to know how well you reflect? In order to work on our minds we need to understand it. I have designed an evidence based critical thinking test specifically for you to self-assess how your thinking style impacts your social/work life, communication style, and relationships. This test will assesses you in 6 CT domains based on your day-to-day social interactions. It takes about 20 minutes. CLICK HERE FOR CT TEST
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