It’s a reality of human psychology:
Bad is stronger than good.
That’s the title—and core finding—of a well-known research article by social psychologist Roy Baumeister and colleagues. Published in the Review of General Psychology, the article compiles evidence from across disciplines to demonstrate a sobering truth:
Negative experiences and emotions leave a deeper, more lasting impact than positive ones.
Whether it’s a harsh comment, a traumatic event or a moment of failure, bad tends to outweigh good in how we think, feel, remember and relate.
At Living Proof Advocacy, we’ve seen how this negativity bias plays out in advocacy storytelling. When people share stories about hardship, struggle or injustice, those stories matter—but if the story ends there, the takeaway often stays rooted in pain.
That’s why one of our Five Qualities of a Well-Told Advocacy Story is this:
Point to the Positive.
Not by sugarcoating. Not by skipping the hard parts.
But by tipping the balance—intentionally highlighting strength, agency, hope or possibility—we help audiences do more than feel sympathy or outrage. We help them see what’s worth building, supporting or fighting for. We help move them from empathy to action.
When you point to the positive, you show what’s possible. You leave your audience with something to carry forward—not just something to feel bad about.
It’s not about denying what’s hard. It’s about not letting what’s hard have the final word.