655: Negative Bias Sep 23, 2016

Everyone at some point or another has forgotten the best, most suitable word. This can be caused by anything from confusion to distraction or perhaps there simply is not a single word that would be effective to communicate one idea. While some languages may have some entertaining words that don't translate, like German's 'Kummerspeck' meaning 'grief-bacon' (for the weight one puts on while grieving), all people has 'negativity bias'. What this means is that people focus on negative thoughts and emotions more than positive ones for a flew of evolutionary reasons, and in turn, it influences language. There are more words, for example, categorized as negative than positive, words for unfortunate emotions like 'angst' or 'anxiety' are created fairly often, and it makes discussing negative thoughts easier than positive ones.