How Negativity Bias Affects Drinking Habits and Alcohol Dependence

You’re back from a much-needed vacation, the kind you dream about during long work days. You soaked in amazing views, indulged in great food, and had a blast with your friends. But now, when you think back, all you can remember is that one rough night when you drank too much, tainting the entire trip. Instead of basking in memories of scenic hikes or late-night laughs, your mind seems glued to that one regrettable evening. Sound familiar? It’s known as negativity bias, which is our brain’s pesky tendency to focus more on the bad stuff than the good. 

Overfocusing on the negative can make it easier to seek out unhealthy coping mechanisms and dampen our motivation to make positive change in our life. But when we learn to recognize this pattern, we can manage our thoughts and enjoy a more balanced view of our experiences. Let’s dig into why this happens, so we can shift into a positive mindset and begin making changes that stick. 

What Is Negativity Bias?

Negativity bias is our brain’s natural tendency to focus on negative experiences more than positive ones. We might remember negative experiences more and be more affected by them. There’s actually a biological reason for this. Back in the hunter-gatherer days, when survival was the main focus, recognizing danger was what helped keep us alive. Recalling that terrifying moment of picking the poisonous berry helped us avoid it in the future.

These days, we may not be constantly dodging life-or-death threats, but negativity bias still works behind the scenes to keep us safe. That’s why a small hiccup — like the barista giving us the wrong coffee order — can overshadow an otherwise good morning. This negative focus can be frustrating, but it isn’t all bad and can help us learn and grow. When it comes to the coffee, we’ll most likely double-check next time.

When negativity takes over too often, or we’re lacking healthy coping skills, negativity bias can cloud our perspective and influence our choices in unfavorable ways. Add alcohol (a mind-altering drug) to the equation, and things get even more complicated. Let’s see how.

How Negativity Bias Affects Alcohol Consumption

Negativity bias might cause us to overlook the positive aspects of life, increasing our negative emotions and bringing down our mood. As a result, we might find ourselves reaching for a drink. Negative emotions and alcohol consumption are closely tied, as they can trigger one another.

Alcohol gives us a fleeting moment of escape or distraction — tempting when we’re trying not to get overwhelmed with negative emotions. Drinking slows down messaging in our brain and body. Our heart rate slows, our muscles relax, and our thoughts can become hazy, offering us a temporary sense of calm.

On top of that, alcohol boosts the release of serotonin and dopamine, two “feel-good” hormones that cause our uncomfortable emotions to fade away. But this feeling is short-lived. When alcohol’s depressant effects wear off, its rebound effect kicks into high gear. An unpleasant mood, irritability, and anxiety can make the uncomfortable emotions and experiences we’re already facing even more challenging. 

Negativity bias further amplifies negative experiences, digging us into even deeper holes. Without positive coping mechanisms in place, it can feel like our back is to the wall and the best way to feel better is to drink more. We develop a cycle of alcohol dependence that can be difficult to break. But that’s not the worst part. Let’s see how negativity bias can prevent us from living a healthier, alcohol-free life.

How Negativity Bias Affects Recovery From Alcohol Misuse

Negativity bias can prevent positive change by impacting our ability to initiate and maintain recovery from alcohol misuse. Here’s how. 

• Fear of failure. When we focus on the negative — “What will go wrong?” “Can I do this?” “What if I fail?” — we doubt ourselves before we even try. This fear of failure is like an invisible wall that can prevent us from taking that uncomfortable first step towards a healthier future.
• Lack of motivation. Negativity bias can also drain our motivation. We might be making progress, but when we focus only on our setbacks, it’s hard to see that. Lack of motivation not only decreases our chances of starting recovery but also sticking with it. 
• Self-judgment during setbacks. Setbacks are an opportunity for learning, but when we dwell on everything that went wrong, a setback might feel like a failure. When we feel like we’ve “messed up,” we might continue down that track due to black and white thinking. However, the key to maintaining recovery is learning from our setbacks and getting back on track. 

You might be thinking, “Isn’t negativity bias supposed to protect me?” Well, yes, when we learn to balance it. But since alcohol can change how we think and feel, it can amplify the negatives. When our emotional balance gets thrown off, the benefits of negativity bias can be overshadowed. So, how can we manage this balance so we can set ourselves up for success in developing a healthier relationship with alcohol? 

Navigating Negativity Bias 

We can actually change the way we think, as our brain adapts and learns depending on what we expose it to — a concept known as neuroplasticity. By changing our behaviors, we can shift to a more positive mindset. Let’s explore the three main steps. 

• Recognize. Take time each day to reflect on how you’re feeling and recognize negative thoughts. Practicing meditation and mindfulness can help us recognize when we might be focusing too much on the negative side of things. 
• Reframe. For each negative thought or experience, find the silver lining. When we practice this, we train our brain to also recognize the good. 
• Repeat. Developing a positive mindset takes practice and repetition. Implement gratitude in your daily routine to combat negativity bias. Also, remember to celebrate even the small wins in recovery to remind yourself of how far you’ve come.

There are several other tweaks we can make to our daily life that can help us minimize negativity in our lives:

• Watch what you consume online. The media is full of negativity, from depressing news to social media posts that make us feel less-than. Be mindful of what you’re looking at and how it makes you feel. Remind yourself that a lot of online content isn’t all it appears to be, and don’t let it affect you to the point of wanting a drink.
• Limit “doomscrolling.” While it’s important to know what’s going on in the world, it’s also important not to spend excessive amounts of time scrolling through negative or depressing content. Just read the summaries or ask a friend to give you the gist of it.
• Redirect after setbacks. We can also use negativity bias to our advantage. For example, if we’re trying to quit or cut back on alcohol and we fall back into old patterns, we can see that slipup as an opportunity to do better. The pounding headaches, groggy mornings, and anxiety that often follow drinking can be powerful motivators to make healthier choices the next time.

We might not be able to completely eliminate the negativity bias that’s hardwired into us, but we can reframe our thoughts so we can see things from a different perspective. As Greek philosopher Epictitus said, “it’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.”

A Brighter Perspective

While our mindset and willpower alone may not be able to make negative drinking habits go away (thanks to the alcohol’s impact on our brain chemistry), they can play a major role in change. Shifting to a positive mindset can boost our motivation, confidence, and resilience to quit or cut back on alcohol. So, let’s balance negativity bias with gratitude to start making the change we want to see!