Your brain is wired for negative thoughts. Here’s how to change it.

There’s a reason that insults stick with us longer than compliments.

Is the glass half full or half empty? 🥛 Turns out, the way that you present a situation to people can really change how they feel about it — our brains tend to fixate on the negative aspects over the positive ones.

Alison Ledgerwood, a UC Davis professor of psychology, studies how people tend to get stuck in particular ways of thinking and what they can do to get unstuck. Can we stop the negative thoughts?

🧠 The research highlighted in this video was supported in part by the National Science Foundation.

00:00 Intro
00:37 Negative and positive frames
1:54 Negatives really stick
2:05 Why is that?
2:37 Can we shift our way of thinking?

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Fig. 1 explores new ideas and research out of the University of California — ranging from science, technology, art and humanities. Get inside the mind of a researcher.

#insults #psychology #opinions

[flipaust]

When I get a negative thought, I tell myself it’s an old program and it no longer belongs in my subconscious mind.

[TheShospitali]

For one thing stay away from negative people that always try to tare you down if you can avoid it.

[Cody_Rea]

Whatever you focus on, grows. Just focus on what FEELS good to focus on. And slowly but surely, it will grow. Gratitude is the shortcut.

[remingtonwilbur]

Ways I get out of negative thinking:
1. Embracing positive thoughts, I look around and find the silver lining in ten things.
2. Visualization. I think back to a good memory and relive in or imagine something.
3. I reframe negative thoughts. Once I notice a negative thought, I find the cognitive distortion as there always is one and reframe the thought into a positive one.

[yeahiprotest]

“Don’t kill what you hate save what you love” is a quote I’m trying to live by

[jolynmiller]

people who think negatively dont live to be elderly, constant stress on the body has its toll.

[naturalstrength]

I don't see the glass half full or half empty, I see the whole glass, that's the most logical way to see things, don't exclude the good or the bad.

[frankieangelo]

As I could observe about myself, I'm really being hardwired for negative thoughts. It makes me feel being a silly, dumb, ugly, or stupid person is better than being a smart, normal, gifted, skillful, and confident person, yeah that's true. That feeling like someone or something is forcing me or compelling me to stay on the negative side, because negative side is better than the positive side. It even makes every regular activities a hard work, like thinking, socializing regularly, learning, communicating, understanding a simple sentence, and make decisions. It's even impossible to convey my real emotions. I couldn't even cry what I feel or tear it out. It mostly tooks away all the abilities that you have, that's how unbelievably powerful this condition what I have is. I even almost took for granted my ability to understand, communicate, compose a sentence, and any other activities involving development, learning, communicating, and thinking because of this strong and compulsive negative desire, though it dissapears for a while, then it just suddenly appears back quickly. I could only act like a normal person for a while like for 2 to 3 days, but when me, being a stupid and opposite person, are more often like it lasts for a weeks or a month, though it's not continuous. Yeah It's so aggressively debilitating and compelling, yet I'm trying to fight and eradicate it; I'm trying to change the directions of my heart and brain that I'm able to be completely conscious and mentally awake again; and one thing I have to add, and share to y'all, bcoz I've been really holding this in my mind within already a long time, is that there's someone or imaginary people in my mind, although they don't seem like a real person, they keep telling me that "You're a normal person, that's only a challenge that has been given to you, so you have to fight it, your negative desires are strong, but you are stronger than them, don't give up! You are yourself, prove that you are undefeated, we always had your back and always support you, though you don't have real friends to motivate you" They keep encouraging me and motivating me to stay strong and invincible because I'm strong. And yes, I truly learned and realized a lot from them, then I realized, you could actually make a lot of friends and companions from your own. But honestly and genuinely, It's still so hard to change my heart and mind, I missed being a normal person like I used to be, before, please just help pray for me guys that I could succeed through this journey, I'm still 16 years old, still learning and studying, yet I already have to face and experience this big problem like no one has ever experienced yet. Anyways, I'm so glad that I finally have the ability or words to share or voice out this to y'all😭

[chandrakanthmendon]

Changing Negative Thoughts to positive ones will require conscious efforts...deliberately use more Positives words in your communication for at least 15 days, you will find a positive change over in your thinking.

[willieluncheonette]

"First thing in the morning, imagine yourself tremendously happy. Get out of bed in a very happy mood – radiant, bubbling, expectant – as if something perfect, of infinite value, is going to happen today. Get out of the bed in a very positive and hopeful mood, with the feeling that this day is not going to be an ordinary day – that something exceptional, extraordinary, is waiting for you; something is very close by. Try and remember it again and again for the whole day. Within seven days you will see that your whole pattern, your whole style, your whole vibration, has changed.

When you go to sleep in the night, just imagine that you are falling into divine hands...as if existence is supporting you, that you are in its lap, falling asleep. Just visualize it and fall asleep. The one thing to carry is that you should go on imagining and let sleep come, so that the imagination enters into sleep; they are overlapping.

Don’t imagine any negative thing, because if people who have an imaginative capacity imagine negative things, they start happening. If you think that you are going to get ill, you will get ill. If you think that somebody is going to be rude to you, he will be. Your very imagination will create the situation.

So if a negative idea comes, immediately change it to a positive thought. Say no to it. Drop it immediately; throw it away.

Within a week you will start feeling that you are becoming very happy – for no reason at all. "

[noreenebostick]

The negative I think is the negative I hear about in the world. The other negatives I hear towards myself I ponder to think what can I do positively. Patience is one of my best gifts. Time is also a great gift. Breathing abilities is a great gift. Utilizing things that in life to the best of my abilities and needs is wonderful. I am 64 years, eight months and six days as of this comment. However many more time, I look forward to making the best of it bringing my past to assist me on the remaining life journey.

[shivbhaktsanatani]

But people with anxiety or depression find it hard to switch it off.

[FoxycityGD]

I have negative thought about myself, and this video helped me. Thank you

[AManofBalance]

1:51 - Ego wants to survive so it’ll ignore the positive for the negative to ENSURE that it has THE HIGHEST CHANCE for survival.

[ShyamsMotivationalVideoTamil]

1. Have Daily Negative Thought Time
2. Replace the Negative Thoughts
3. Be Your Own Best Friend
4. Write Instead Of Think
5. Make A Conscious Effort To Find Things To Love, Like And Appreciate
6. Establish New Habits
7. Use Affirmations
8. Develop Your Success Routine
9. Channel Those
Thoughts Into Something Constructive

[fiskyfiskums]

Every night before dinner our family says a prayer we tell our lord thank you for what we have. And how blessed we are. Teaching a 5 year old gratitude can easily be forgotten through out the day. But a reminder to add is better than nothing.

[jeanlister]

I'm an half empty type of person so I'm taking note of these as I suffer severe anxiety

[kasiivee]

negativity is so poisonous, I’ve been overly negative for the last 5-6 months and it’s most definitely because of the environment I was constantly in. I’ve removed myself from that negative place but all those bad things I fed my mind are stuck with me so it didn’t really make a difference, I wish I could just erase it from my memory lmao

[jayf]

Block out all the negative things you can e.g news/media and try to reach for neutral things from there you can start to flood your mind with funny/happy things and get to a point where you can’t even reach the negative thoughts anymore. I know because I have come from depression to laughing everyday in less than 2 years.

[genasutton]

Great information. I get it. I’m trying it for 30 days. I can find loads of things I’m grateful for and say positive thoughts daily. This is not going to be easy for me to train my thoughts to not to think negative. It’s worth the effort