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Why Pessimistic Headlines Sell But Optimistic Ones Don’t
And Why It Is Not Our Fault
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These are just a few of the headlines in USA Today newspaper Monday morning. Unfortunately, this is not the only place headlines like this appear. Check out any other paper, magazine or any other news reporting agency like CNN or Fox News.
It is not just news outlets that perpetuate this pessimistic gloom and doom. We have all seen sensational headlines and articles predicting the end of the world, the next stock market crash, an alien takeover or how America will turn socialist, communist, Islamic or whatever the hell else they imagine this country becoming.
What is it that we find fascinating about pessimistic headlines and news? Why do we continue to fall into the same trap of craving these articles and stories?
Well this article will explain why we love to read why something destructive is going to happen and not anything that will help society.
Hardwired in Our DNA
Our attraction to these headlines might not be our fault. We have been conditioned to be pessimistic since our ancestors have had to be on the lookout for being killed by predators in the wild or even another human being. In earlier days humans had to be on guard against all sorts of dangers.
The best news they could hope for on a daily basis was they lived to see another day. Survival was the only thing in their lives that was priority. So their senses were very acute to any cue that they were in danger.
As danger in our lives became less and less of a distraction nobody bothered to tell our brains the danger is much, much less these days. We don’t have to live with the fear of being eaten alive by a hungry dinosaur or lion.
According to the Brookings Institute humans are wired to pay 10 times more attention to negative news than positive news.
Evolutionary psychologists teach us that humans are ingrained with traits that help us adapt to our current environment. I guess our adaptive…
