In shortReaders who land here meaning Negativity Bias rather than Optimism bias are usually searching for phrases like “why do I remember the one bad comment”, “bad outweighs good psychology”, “negativity bias explained”.

In shortOptimism bias. 1980 — Neil Weinstein has 258 students rate their own chances of 42 life events against their classmates'. They rated themselves above average for desirable events and below average for undesirable ones — a statistical impossibility, since they were each other's comparison group.

1. 1980

   Optimism Bias. Neil Weinstein has 258 students rate their own chances of 42 life events against their classmates'. They rated themselves above average for desirable events and below average for undesirable ones — a statistical impossibility, since they were each other's comparison group.

2. 2001

   Negativity Bias. Paul Rozin and Edward Royzman set out four distinct forms: negative potency, steeper negative gradients, negativity dominance (a mix of good and bad reads as worse than the sum), and negative differentiation — we simply have richer vocabulary for the bad.

• Negativity BiasCognitive Biases & the Mind
• Optimism BiasCognitive Biases & the Mind