Hijacking of the American Mind

How negativity bias is corrupting society - and how we can fight back

Admittedly, my lack of creativity led me to steal borrow the title of this article from one of my favorites books, Jonathan Haidt’s Coddling of the American Mind. If you haven’t read it - especially if you’re a parent, student, or teacher - I can’t recommend it enough.

But the inspiration for writing this is not lacking.

Just open your eyes.

You can’t swing a dead cat without hitting a mountain of negative news or opinions.

Anyone who turns on the news, opens up a social media app, or clicks on a news site will be bombarded with how the world is going to hell in a handbasket.

Young people and older adults alike are constantly doomscrolling through Facebook, X, or Instagram.

Sharing every political/social meme that resonates with them or shows off their colors, throwing up blue or red flags like they are in South Central LA.

But what really pushed me to write this is a conversation I had with an old college buddy. The details aren’t important, but it was a political back-and-forth. It was civil, but we started off on very different sides - or so we thought. But eventually found our way to agreeing more than disagreeing.

And he said something that stuck with me and ultimately inspired me to put these thoughts together on paper:

“I do agree and find your approach refreshing. If I’m being honest it really can be hard to not let the algo[rithm] take hold. I think most folks are closer to the middle and common sense but our media and social is so geared towards negative reactions for views and likes. It’s hard for the interested but casual consumer to know what the facts are (sic).

This wasn’t some academic debate. This was two idiots (I say that lovingly, in case he’s reading this) who used to get drunk and play stupid games together in college, getting in a social media argument.

But it ended up like too few of our political and social debates do; with a civil agreement and an acknowledgement of the fact that the cards are seemingly stacked against us right now.

We’ve allowed ourselves to be at the mercy - not just of social or news media companies - but our own brains.

Negativity Bias

Negativity bias refers to our proclivity to pay attention to negative information far more than positive information.

Think about it - you do something at work and 10 people tell you how great of a job you did, but one person criticizes you - and all you do is dwell on that one critical comment.

Or you drive through 10 intersections with nine green lights but you get mad at the one red that stops you.

This isn’t our fault.

Our brains evolved this way in order for us to survive our earliest days. If you thought that rustling bush was just the wind rather than a lion, you were likely going to get eaten by the lion and your genes weren’t going to get passed on to later generations.

But this primal survival mechanism is now being exploited by modern media, tech companies, and political forces. And I don’t think anyone can reasonably argue that things aren’t spiraling at an alarming rate.

So how do we stop this cycle before it completely corrodes our moral and intellectual integrity?

The Science of Negativity Bias

The theory behind negativity bias is that negative stimuli have a stronger impact on our brains than positive ones, and it is based on the evolutionary advantage this bias had on earlier humans.

Tens of thousands of years ago, it was more critical for survival to avoid harmful things than it was to pursue potentially helpful things.

Think about it - if you were hungry, you could go try that strange new berry you found in a bush - but you also knew that other strange berries had killed your friend. Or you can avoid the new berries and stick to the berries you know for a fact are safe. You have fewer berries to choose from when you’re hungry because you’re worried you’re going to get poisoned - but at least you’ll live to see another day.

Or you wouldn’t venture out beyond the cave or fire at night, because there was a higher likelihood of getting eaten by a saber tooth tiger. The chances may have been slim, but you didn’t care - you were better off by the fire than out in the darkness. Mag and Bob could go venture in the darkness, you’re staying where it’s safe. And you would’ve had a higher likelihood of surviving and passing on your genes to your progeny.

From a neuroscientific perspective, research indicates that negative stimuli elicit stronger and more rapid responses in the brain compared to positive stimuli. This heightened sensitivity to negative information is evident in various neural processes, including attention and memory (which is important to this conversation).

That same research, from a behavioral psychology perspective, demonstrates that negative events influence decision-making and behavior more profoundly than positive events.

So the actions of our ancestors over thousands of years have helped them survive and it wired our brains the way they are today.

If we don’t think that tech companies, the news media, and political parties/figures (on all sides) intimately understand this and look to purposely capitalize on it for monetary and influential gains - then we have to pull the wool from over our eyes!

Negativity is a Profitable Trade

It’s no secret that social media algorithms are designed to increase user participation and time spent on their apps. They are designed to get people addicted to their phones and the programs they use.

One of the severe consequences of this is the explosion of virtual echo chambers - environments where we only encounter information or opinions that reflect or reinforce our own. They create misinformation and distort our perspectives, making it far more difficult to consider other viewpoints or constructively discuss complex issues.

We see those clips or memes of the political opinions or “facts” that we tend to agree with, and the algorithm kicks on and force-feeds our addicted brains the same thing, over and over. Your favorite political “influencers” and figures understand this - and they understand the power of our proclivity for negative news.

It feels good, like a warm blanket on a cold night.

You may think you just get a dopamine hit when you see videos of monkeys riding capybaras, or puppies tripping over each other.

But you also get a dopamine hit when you share that political post from your favorite political “influencer” that shows the rest of your tribe that you’re standing up for the team. I know the term is usually used in a derogatory manner, but it’s virtue signaling (I’m often guilty of it) - and it makes us feel good.

So they double down, and we double down with them.

Our fear, division, and anxiety goes up - just like their bank accounts and the profit margins of the tech companies.

The same goes for national legacy media and the nouveau media. They aren’t interested in facts or the general health of our civil society. They are interested in their profits, and they understand that fear, division, and negativity sells. They know people will be glued to their TVs, or that we will click and share articles that have the most explosive or divisive stories.

They know the more influence they get, the more exposure they’ll have.

Facts be damned, what can I put out that will get the most people excited and clicking on my links so I can sell more ad space?

Ever notice the explosion of unapologetically partisan news companies?

Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s important to have intellectually honest and stimulating publications on all points of the spectrum (such as The Atlantic, The Economist, and The National Review used to be intellectually stimulating), but folks have figured out that our negativity-addicted brains can bring in big bucks if they turn out enough bad news to keep us divided and hungry for more information to prop up “our” team and destroy the “other.”

In a hyper-partisan world, clickbait culture is king - fear-mongering and division sells a hell of a lot better than nuance.

They don’t even try to hide it.

And the psychological price we pay is increased anxiety, depression, and tribalism - in all levels of society.

The Moral and Intellectual Decay of Society

With the rise in polarization, we are seeing a decline in critical thinking.

We are consuming only what confirms our biases - even if it’s subconsciously. And since our brains are wired this way, it’s literally the path of least resistance.

And when we only look to confirm our own biases or refuse to acknowledge that someone else’s perspective might have merit - it leads to intellectual stagnation and a lack of trust.

It leads to a lack of empathy and nuance.

Outrage replaces dialogue.

It goes against literally everything we’ve been trying to teach our kids for decades.

The art of honest and sincere debate is so incredibly important to reaching better outcomes. Western intellectuals and philosophers have understood this for centuries.

And the normalization of dehumanization in political and social discourse is corrupting the moral fabric of our society - it’s hardening our hearts and blackening our souls.

Rewiring Ourselves for a Healthier Society

Now that I got all the fun, negative stuff out of the way - there is a brighter path forward!

On a personal level - and it has to start here - we can take back control of our own minds. While we are wired for negativity bias, it doesn’t mean we are stuck and can’t move beyond it. That’s the beauty of neuroplasticity!

Here are a few action items (putting on my business development hat for a minute):

• Mindful Consumption: Set intentional limits on news and social media.

• Curate your information diet: Look for balanced, well-researched or cited sources. Or at the very least, if you read something that’s clearly biased - seek out something that makes the opposite argument. You don’t have to agree with it, but it will lead you through an intellectual exercise that could either change your stance (if you’re truly open to it), or sincerely uphold your belief. If a claim is made by someone on social media or in a news article, do some digging to see if you can find verification from a reputable source. A random Instagram or X account is not usually a reputable source on its own.

• Rewire your brain: Practice things like gratitude, meditation, or anything else that is brain-healthy, like group activities (sports, prayer, etc). Taking care of our own anxieties and insecurities can allow us to move outward.

• Engage in Deep Work & reflection: Read more intellectually stimulating material - not just two sentence and 2-cent memes, 20 second sound/video clips, or YouTube videos. Reflect on what you read. Don’t think you have time? Make time, it isn’t that difficult. If you have hours to scroll through social media or watch your favorite Fox/MSNBC show, you can read something a little more intellectually challenging.

On a community level, we can participate in and encourage a healthier discourse among our neighbors, civic, and religious groups. These groups are so important, we need to be mindful of how we interact with each other!

We can encourage open-minded discussions rather than purely good (my team) vs purely evil (your team) debates, with both sides doing as much listening as talking.

We can support real local journalism, as all politics is local.

But most importantly - we can strengthen real life relationships rather than virtual echo chambers.

On a national level - a level we tend to focus on, for some reason - it can seem like a bigger mountain to climb, but we aren’t powerless.

We can even push for state and national policies that promote transparency and limit the spread of distrust in our governing institutions.

We can refuse to let social media companies and their algorithms from driving the conversation. We can look to encourage - with our words, actions, and votes - policies and candidates that reward collaboration rather than division.

The Choice is Ours

We don’t have to be slaves to our primal, negative-bias-driven brains. It’s not easy, but it’s possible.

You can turn off your TV. You can delete X.

And if we can break those chains - if we can re-wire our brains - we can work on the rest. That’s not as crazy as it may sound, millions of people are constantly doing it every day!

We can break the stranglehold that hyper-partisan media, influencers, and politicians/parties have on us.

The stranglehold that grows their influence and their bank accounts while we are left bickering amongst our neighbors. And for what?

We can encourage our children, our parents, our friends and family - to pay closer attention to what they consume and what they share. And we can start by being the model of that ourselves, first and foremost.

We can learn to focus on the things that unite us, the problems on which we can find common ground, and the things that strengthen our fraternal bonds as members of the same community.

We can either continue down the path of decay, or we can fight for a society that values truth, critical thinking, and genuine human connection.

You know what they say - “nothing worth doing is ever easy.”