Negativity in Social Media

Adam KummerStaff WriterIn recent times, people have started to realize how unnecessarily negative other individuals are, especially regarding Facebook and other forms of social media and networking. There are some who are simply hopping onto a bandwagon, though one begs the question; what started the negativity in the first place? What caused people to be more likely to dislike something than enjoy it, not based on the subject’s inherent contribution?It is very probable that people are merely attracted to negative information in a general sense. According to researchers at the University of Missouri, when people are presented with negative news, readers’ attention and memory are increased compared to when they are reading about articles that are not negatively themed.“Although journalists have often prioritized negative and local stories, there has been limited evidence to support that approach until now,” said Kevin wise, assistant professor of strategic communication at the MU School of Journalism. ‘This study provides psychological evidence that supports both the practice of localizing news stories and the idea that people allocate more attention to negative news.”Western Washington University Psychologists Michael Siegrist and George Cvetkovich performed a series of studies on people’s confidence in negative news over positive news. In their first study, they found that research results indicating a health risk were more trusted than those containing studies on less heath risk. This effect was independent of the credibility of the information source. In their second study, it was shown that confidence in research results increased alongside an increased indication of health risk. Their third and final study showed that people have more confidence in the results of animal tests on a food additive indicating negative human health effects than tests that conclude the additive to be harmless.Most of us are not secure enough with ourselves to completely disregard positive or negative feedback. Sharing negativity gets a reaction. Maybe we are just trying to get the most "Likes" and have realized that posting negative things gets us more attention than if we share our happiness.akummer@thesamohi.com