Looking Up

The present research examined the relation between mindfulness and negativity bias, or the tendency to weigh negative information more heavily than positive. A randomized experiment compared a brief mindfulness induction to an unfocused attention control condition. Negativity bias was assessed with a subjective measure of optimism and pessimism and an objective measure of negativity bias in attitude formation, BeanFest, which required associating novel stimuli with positive or negative outcomes. Participants in the mindfulness condition demonstrated less negativity bias in attitude formation. That is, they correctly classified positive and negative stimuli more equally than those in the control condition. Interestingly, the difference in negativity bias stemmed from better categorization of positives. Furthermore, those in the mindfulness condition reported higher levels of optimism compared to the control condition. Together, these results suggest that mindfulness increases positive judgments and reduces negativity bias.