ThePollyanna principle (also calledPollyannaism orpositivity bias) is the tendency for people to remember pleasant items more accurately than unpleasant ones.[1] Research indicates that at the subconscious level, the mind tends to focus on theoptimistic; while at the conscious level, it tends to focus on the negative. This subconscious bias is similar to theBarnum effect.[2]
The name derives from the 1913 novelPollyanna byEleanor H. Porter describing a girl who plays the "glad game"—trying to find something to be glad about in every situation. The novel has been adapted to film several times, most famously in1920 and1960. An early use of the name "Pollyanna" in psychological literature was in 1969 by Boucher and Osgood who described aPollyanna hypothesis as a universal human tendency to use positive words more frequently and diversely than negative words in communicating.[3] Empirical evidence for this tendency has been provided by computational analyses of large corpora of text.[4][5]
ThePollyanna principle was described by Margaret Matlin and David Stang in 1978 using thearchetype of Pollyanna more specifically as a psychological principle which portrays thepositive bias people have when thinking of the past. According to the Pollyanna principle, the brain processes information that is pleasing and agreeable in a more precise and exact manner as compared to unpleasant information. People actually tend to remember past experiences as more rosy than they actually occurred. The researchers found that people expose themselves to positive stimuli and avoid negative stimuli, they take longer to recognize what is unpleasant or threatening than what is pleasant and safe, and they report that they encounter positive stimuli more frequently than they actually do. Matlin and Stang also determined that selective recall was a more likely occurrence when recall was delayed: the longer the delay, the more selective recall that occurred.[6]
The Pollyanna principle has been observed on online social networks as well. For example, a series of studies byEmilio Ferrara, a computer scientist at theUniversity of Southern California, found thatTwitter users preferentially share more, and are emotionally affected more frequently by, positive information.[7][8]
However, the only exception to the Pollyanna principle tends to be individuals suffering fromdepression oranxiety, who are more likely to either have moredepressive realism or anegative bias.[9]
Thepositivity effect is the ability to constructively analyze a situation where the desired results are not achieved, but still obtain positive feedback that assists one's future progression.
Empirical research findings suggest that the positivity effect can be influenced by internal positive speech, where engaging in constructive self-dialogue can significantly improve one's ability to perceive and react to challenging situations more optimistically.[10]
The findings of a study show that the optimism bias in future-oriented thinking fulfils a self-improvement purpose while also suggesting this bias probably reflects a common underpinning motivational process across various future-thinking domains, either episodic or semantic.[11]
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.
Two studies byEmilio Ferrara have shown that, on online social networks likeTwitter 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.[7][8]
Positivity bias is the part of the Pollyanna principle that attributes reasons to why people may choose positivity over negative or realistic mindsets. In positive psychology, it is broken down into three ideas: positive illusions, self deception, and optimism.[9] Having a positive bias increases with age, as it is more prevalent in adults approaching older adulthood than younger children or adolescents.[12] Older adults tend to pay attention to positive information, and this could be due to a specific focus in cognitive processing. In studies compiled by Andrew Reed andLaura Carstensen, they found that older adults (in comparison to younger adults) purposefully directed their attention away from negative material.[13]
Although the Pollyanna principle can be seen as helpful in some situations, some psychologists say it may inhibit an individual from coping effectively with life obstacles.[14] The Pollyanna principle in some instances can be known as "Pollyanna syndrome" and is defined by such skeptics as a person who is excessively positive and blind towards the negative or real. With regard to therapy or counseling, it is viewed as dangerous to both the therapist and patient.[15]
