“Taking the Good”: A Simple Way to Offset Your Brain’s Negativity Bias
By Saga Briggs | Published: 2025-03-27 15:32:00 | Source: Neuropsych – Big Think
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Imagine lying in a hammock on a sunny beach, palm trees swaying in the breeze, and the bright turquoise sea barely dimmed by your sunglasses. You look up and down the beach: not a soul in sight. It’s the first day of your vacation, and your entire body will feel relaxed; It can dissolve in the sand and wash into the sea. You take a lazy sip of the pina colada and take it all in. Out of nowhere, a voice whispers in your ear: “No, really, Take it“.
This inner voice? It reflects a simple but often overlooked idea: good experiences don’t always last unless we make an effort to let them do so. This is the hypothesis behind Solid happinessa book by psychologist Rick Hanson, which explores how consciously retaining positive moments can help balance out the brain’s built-in negativity bias. This bias may have served a useful evolutionary purpose long ago when our survival was often at stake, but in the relatively stable environment of the 21st century, it often traps us into cycles of rumination.
Hanson’s approach is not about forced optimism, but rather is based on the idea of neuroplasticity, which is the brain’s ability to change over time through repeated experiences. Drawing on psychological theory and early research suggesting that “intentionally taking good” may help build resilience and emotional well-being, Hanson developed a theory Healing method:
- I hope you have a good experience
- Enriching it
- Absorb it
- Connect it to other positive or negative experiences.
While the Hanson Method of Healing is based on well-established neuroscience concepts, it remains a clinical and meditative approach rather than a rigorously validated scientific intervention. In small Exploratory study Using pre- and post-self-report measures, Hanson and colleagues evaluated the effects of this intervention on 21 healthy people and found statistically significant self-reported improvements in measures such as savoring and self-compassion, although the small sample size and lack of a control group limit the strength of the conclusions. Participants also reported statistical improvements in self-esteem, positive reflection (self-focus), pride, happiness, and life satisfaction. Many of these effects persisted after two months.
Change the mind, change the brain?
Can you really rewire your brain this way – simply by changing your mind? This is the idea behind neuroplasticity: the brain’s ability to adapt and reorganize in response to experience. Researchers are investigating the matter through a combination of brain imaging and behavioral assessments. For example, if someone is able to learn a new skill more quickly after an intervention, scientists can link this to changes in brain activity, using what is called “task-based functional MRI.” But the details of cause and effect are far from simple, and the research methods are far from perfect. Although there is a great deal certificate As for neuroplasticity as a phenomenon associated with health and well-being, skeptics warn against the “neuroplasticity hype,” and positive neuroplasticity itself has not been neuroscientifically proven in humans.
However, Hanson says, we have come a long way toward understanding the relationship between mind and brain.
“As science has advanced in the last 150 to 150 years through the study of the nervous system, the connections have become increasingly well understood and consistent between ongoing mental activity—hearing, seeing, loving, hating, wanting, remembering—and the basic neural activity that forms its physical basis,” he told Big Think.
A number of brain imaging studies suggest that certain mental practices, such as mindfulness meditation, are associated with structural and functional changes in the brain, although questions remain about causality and long-term effects.
In the 1960s, researchers began using electroencephalograms (EEG) to study neural activity during meditation. In the 1970s, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) appeared, and by the 1990s—the so-called “decade of the brain”—scientists were increasingly able to link specific mental experiences to distinct patterns of neural activity. For example, one seminal study of The nuns pray Functional MRI scans showed that the reward centers in their brains lit up in ways similar to people who use cocaine.
“This doesn’t mean that connecting with Christ consciousness is the same as taking cocaine, but they are starting to find basic neural correlates,” Hanson says.
A growing body of research shows this contemplation And other meditative practices can promote neuroplasticity, encouraging the brain to form new connections and adapt over time. In the mid-2000s, when Hanson and his colleagues began combing through the research literature, they wondered whether they could turn the tables and harness what scientists had gathered about the brain for use in contemplative and clinical practice, an investigation that eventually became the basis for HEAL.
Could they intentionally activate the brain to induce certain mental activities that would lead to lasting changes in the brain and, ultimately, support the development of ideal traits such as a more positive outlook on life? As Hanson said: “Can we use our minds to stimulate and change our brain to benefit our brain?”
If so, harnessing brain science could, in theory, motivate people who wouldn’t otherwise consider taking up a “mental hygiene” regimen like meditation.
“When people realize that these imaginary things actually help their minds, they become more motivated,” he said. Ruminating about the state of the world may not be helpful, but “when you slow down, take a moment to feel closer to your friend or partner, and let that settle in, it changes your mind for the better.”
While the exact mechanisms remain uncertain, Hanson points to the role of the autonomic nervous system—particularly how social contact and safety signals can downregulate stress responses—as one pathway through which positive experiences can shape long-term well-being.
“If I want to calm myself down, it’s important to touch my partner, or my dog, because this social interaction will calm my heart,” he said.
Good experiences—whether through social connectedness, gently swaying between two palm trees, or meditation—can light up the brain’s reward centers in the same way. But according to Hanson, when we recognize the good and stick to it, the real benefits begin. This may already be an insight distilled through contemplative practice, or simply common sense, but neuroscience can help us prioritize it further. During his many decades as a clinician and meditator, Hanson says combining brain science with meditative practice—such as internalizing the good—has helped him feel more empowered in improving the daily lives of himself and others. Aside from the neural correlates, the real evidence is how you feel on a daily basis.
“When you go to bed, are you happier, wiser, and more in love than when you woke up? It is within your power.”
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