Why criticism lingers when praise is fleeting

Turns out you’re not alone in holding on to criticism far longer than compliments.

“Some people do have a more positive outlook, but almost everyone remembers negative things more strongly and in more detail,” says Clifford Nass, a professor of communication at Stanford University.

We tend to linger on negative emotions because they generally involve more thinking, so we process the information more thoroughly.

A summary of much of the research on the subject: “Bad emotions, bad parents and bad feedback have more impact than good ones. Bad impressions and bad stereotypes are quicker to form and more resistant to disconfirmation than good ones.”

Professor Nass also says we tend to see people who say negative things as smarter than those who are positive, so we are more likely to give greater weight to critical reviews.

Managers should be acutely aware of the impact they have when they fail to recognize their employees, pass on negative information without filtering, or don’t listen when employees try to express grievances.

The answer is not to heap meaningless praise on employees, but to criticize constructively — and sparingly.

One additional interesting point from Professor Nass -- it’s better to offer the criticism right off the bat, then follow with a list of positive attributes.

Our digital habits

Duke University researchers calculate that more than 40 percent of the actions we take are governed by habit, not actual decisions. These range from the products you buy in the grocery store to when you snack. Habits are ingrained so deep in the brain that a patient with brain damage sitting in his living room can’t tell you where the kitchen is, but if he is hungry, he can get a jar of peanut butter out of the pantry.

Charles Duhigg, a reporter at the The New York Times, writes about how our habits shape us in his book “The Power of Habit.” Researchers now understand the structure of habits — cue, routine, reward. Duhigg’s book is about people who have learned to replace bad habits with good habits.

You can change your own personal habits. Leaving running shorts on the floor at night is a cue to run in the morning. If you have an afternoon snack craving, insert another routine.

It got me to thinking about our digital habits, such as frequently checking email or Twitter. How much do we do out of habit, and could we improve productivity by being more aware of the choices we make?