Negative messages are ignored by humans

Bad news is mostly ignored by people

10/10/2011

Normally people ignore bad news. For the evaluation of one's own future prospects and health, people mainly use positive news. Negative messages and messages are usually ignored by most people. This was found in a psychosocial study by English researchers „University College“ in London as part of a student research project.

Every day, people receive positive and negative messages that can influence their own being. In contrast to positive, negative messages are mostly suppressed. However, the unrealistic view can produce consequences for health and social coexistence. As social scientists at the University of London College have proven by a study, the assessment of their own personal profile leads to a verifiable but unrealistic optimism, as the research team to write Tali Sharot in the journal "Nature Neuroscience".

Although most people are afraid of getting cancer, coronary heart disease or dementia, in everyday life, anxiety is masked by a survival optimism. In the course of the study, subjects were asked about their personal probability score. In a total of 80 negative questions, for example, the participants were asked how likely it would be to be themselves car-borne, robbed, get Alzheimer's or die from incurable cancer. Respondents had to use a questionnaire to assess how much they assess their own risk. Afterwards the social researchers told the study participants the actual probabilities, which were calculated on the basis of statistical evaluations and personality profiles.

Negative news is considered optimistic
In the second study phase, the subjects were again presented with the same questionnaire. Again, the participants had to answer the same questions. The scientists wanted to find out what impact the facts had on the assessment of their own risk. During the passage, the activities of individual brain areas were measured. The evaluation showed that 79 percent of the study participants changed their minds when they were refuted in advance by facts that their risk was lower in some points than previously estimated themselves. If the participants rated their risk profile more positively, but were refuted, most of them remained optimistic. "Our behavioral results show a firm asymmetry in the change of opinion," said Tali Sharot. "Participants learned more from the information that provided a way to adopt more optimistic attitudes."

The positioning and estimation of one's own future can therefore produce health consequences, for example because people smoke and, contrary to the facts, consider their risk of cancer to be low. „But social aspects also play a major role“, as the psychologists note. The unrealistic self-assessment leads to misjudgments in the prevention, pension and inadequate behavior in road transport. „It will not hit me.“

Optimism against stress and anxiety
So, is optimism that is refuted by facts in its entirety not conducive to health? In naturopathy emotional and physical well-being interact. People who fell seriously ill and lost their optimism showed a high mortality rate in numerous studies. If the optimism is strengthened, for example, with the help of salutogenesis, the body's own defense reactions and healing processes can be strengthened or even activated. The London researchers do not contradict this when they conclude: "On the other hand, optimistic expectations can reduce stress and anxiety and thereby promote good health and well-being." Optimism can be understood as a kind of survival mechanism that prevents us from living socially isolated due to overvalued risk mitigation in order to avoid potential dangers. (Sb)

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Happiness extends life
Optimism strengthens the immune system?

Image: Bernd Boscolo