Positivity effect
Encyclopedia
In psychology
and cognitive science
, the positivity effect is the tendency of people, when evaluating the causes of the behaviors of a person they like or prefer, to attribute the person's inherent disposition as the cause of their positive behaviors and the situations surrounding them as the cause of their negative behaviors. The positivity effect is the inverse of the negativity effect
, which is found when people evaluate the causes of the behaviors of a person they dislike. Both effects are attributional bias
es.
Both older and younger adults process emotional data over neural data. However,age-related valence reversal in processing emotional data is often observed.
The term positivity effect also refers to age differences in emotional attention and memory. Studies have found that older adults are more likely than younger adults to pay attention to positive than negative stimuli (as assessed by the dot-probe paradigm
and eye-tracking methods). In addition, compared with younger adults' memories, older adults' memories are more likely to consist of positive than negative information and more likely to be distorted in a positive direction. This version of the positivity effect was coined by Laura L. Carstensen's research team.
Research shows an age-related reversal in the valence of information the most active within the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC). In younger adults, more MPFC activation was found negative compared to positive stimuli. Results for older adults demonstrated more MPFC activity when subjected to positive compared to negative stimuli.
However, the positivity effect may be different for stimuli processed automatically (pictures) and stimuli processed in a more controlled manner (words). Pictures tend to be processed more rapidly than words and pictures activate emotion processing centres earlier than words. Automatic stimuli are processed in the amygdala and dorsal MPFC, whereas controlled stimuli are processed in the temporal pole and ventral MPFC. Compared to younger adults, older adults showed less amygdala activation and more MPFC activation for negative than positive pictures. The opposite pattern was observed for words. Older adults showed a positivity effect in memory for words, but not for pictures, suggesting that the positivity effect may stem from age-related changes in MPFC engagement during encoding.
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Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
and cognitive science
Cognitive science
Cognitive science is the interdisciplinary scientific study of mind and its processes. It examines what cognition is, what it does and how it works. It includes research on how information is processed , represented, and transformed in behaviour, nervous system or machine...
, the positivity effect is the tendency of people, when evaluating the causes of the behaviors of a person they like or prefer, to attribute the person's inherent disposition as the cause of their positive behaviors and the situations surrounding them as the cause of their negative behaviors. The positivity effect is the inverse of the negativity effect
Negativity effect
In psychology, the negativity effect is the tendency of people, when evaluating the causes of the behaviors of a person they dislike, to attribute their positive behaviors to the environment and their negative behaviors to the person's inherent nature...
, which is found when people evaluate the causes of the behaviors of a person they dislike. Both effects are attributional bias
Attributional bias
In psychology, an attributional bias is a cognitive bias that affects the way we determine who or what was responsible for an event or action...
es.
Both older and younger adults process emotional data over neural data. However,age-related valence reversal in processing emotional data is often observed.
The term positivity effect also refers to age differences in emotional attention and memory. Studies have found that older adults are more likely than younger adults to pay attention to positive than negative stimuli (as assessed by the dot-probe paradigm
Dot-probe paradigm
The dot-probe paradigm is a test used by cognitive psychologists in order to assess selective attention, originally developed by MacLeod, Mathews & Tata . In many cases, the dot-probe paradigm is used to assess selective attention to threatening stimuli in individuals diagnosed with anxiety...
and eye-tracking methods). In addition, compared with younger adults' memories, older adults' memories are more likely to consist of positive than negative information and more likely to be distorted in a positive direction. This version of the positivity effect was coined by Laura L. Carstensen's research team.
Research shows an age-related reversal in the valence of information the most active within the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC). In younger adults, more MPFC activation was found negative compared to positive stimuli. Results for older adults demonstrated more MPFC activity when subjected to positive compared to negative stimuli.
However, the positivity effect may be different for stimuli processed automatically (pictures) and stimuli processed in a more controlled manner (words). Pictures tend to be processed more rapidly than words and pictures activate emotion processing centres earlier than words. Automatic stimuli are processed in the amygdala and dorsal MPFC, whereas controlled stimuli are processed in the temporal pole and ventral MPFC. Compared to younger adults, older adults showed less amygdala activation and more MPFC activation for negative than positive pictures. The opposite pattern was observed for words. Older adults showed a positivity effect in memory for words, but not for pictures, suggesting that the positivity effect may stem from age-related changes in MPFC engagement during encoding.
External links
- Positivity effect and cognitive control in aging
- List of papers related to aging and positivity effect
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