The positivity effect is the ability to constructively analyze a situation where the desired results are not achieved; but still obtain positive feedback that assists our future progression.
In attribution
The positivity effect as an attribution phenomenon relates to the habits and characteristics of people when evaluating the causes of their behaviors. To positively attribute is to be open to attributing a person’s inherent disposition as the cause of their positive behaviors, and the situations surrounding them as the potential cause of their negative behaviors.
In perception
On online social networks like
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
and Instagram, users prefer to share positive news, and are emotionally affected by positive news more than twice as much as they are by negative news.
According to the research recorded by Dan Zarella, the more positive a person is on social media, the more followers they will get because "users become less engaged when content on their feed becomes more negative" (Lee 1). So, when someone posts a lot of positive things, it makes people want to be a part of their social media presence. People on social media seek out positivity.
See also
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List of biases in judgment and decision making
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List of memory biases
Cognitive biases are systematic patterns of deviation from norm and/or rationality in judgment. They are often studied in psychology, sociology and behavioral economics.
Although the reality of most of these biases is confirmed by reproducible r ...
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Optimism bias
Optimism bias (or the optimistic bias) is a cognitive bias that causes someone to believe that they themselves are less likely to experience a negative event. It is also known as unrealistic optimism or comparative optimism.
Optimism bias is commo ...
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Pollyanna principle
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Positivity offset
In psychology, the positivity offset is a phenomenon where people tend to interpret neutral situations as mildly positive, and rate their lives as good, most of the time. The positivity offset stands in notable asymmetry to the negativity bias.
S ...
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Rosy retrospection
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Self-serving bias
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Wishful thinking
Wishful thinking is the formation of beliefs based on what might be pleasing to imagine, rather than on evidence, rationality, or reality. It is a product of resolving conflicts between belief and desire.
Methodologies to examine wishful think ...
Notes
References
Dictionaries and encyclopedias
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Papers
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* {{cite journal, pmid= 15367078 , year= 2004 , last1= Mezulis , first1= A. H. , title= Is there a universal positivity bias in attributions? A meta-analytic review of individual, developmental, and cultural differences in the self-serving attributional bias , journal= Psychological Bulletin , volume= 130 , issue= 5 , pages= 711–747 , last2= Abramson , first2= L. Y. , last3= Hyde , first3= J. S. , last4= Hankin , first4= B. L. , doi= 10.1037/0033-2909.130.5.711
Cognition
Cognitive biases
Memory
Memory biases
Psychological theories