It’s believed to be an evolutionary adaptation: paying more attention to negative things was crucial for survival, as these often posed greater immediate threats. This bias is now a key concept in understanding various aspects of human behavior, from the way we process news and information to how we make decisions and interact with others.

This bias was only officially documented relatively recently in 2001. In their paper “Negativity Bias, Negativity Dominance, and Contagion,” Psychologists Paul Rozin and Edward Royzman explored negativity bias by examining how negative events and emotions tend to exert a stronger influence on an individual’s psychological state than positive ones.

The paper also discussed the concept of negativity contagion, highlighting how negative traits or elements can spread more readily and have a more lasting impact within groups and societies compared to positive ones, which has huge implications for software teams.

This bias can significantly impact the dynamics within software teams.

Negativity Bias can impact team morale, decision-making, and ultimately project outcomes. The team might fixate on negative feedback, the number of bugs, or become overly risk-averse.

Managers and leaders need to be aware of this bias to foster a more balanced and positive team environment. Recognizing achievements, learning constructively from failures, and maintaining a balanced perspective on feedback and reviews are essential strategies to counteract Negativity Bias.

Perhaps the most critical learning, for me, is the idea of negativity being contagious within a team. Everyone loves to vent and commiserate together. And while venting can be therapeutic, it can often lead to negativity spreading, especially when this comes from authority figures within the team.