Tampa Bay Buccaneer quarterback, Baker Mayfield has discussed the importance of mindset and how negative thoughts are generally more impactful than positive thoughts. “If you put negative stuff into your head, you’re gonna believe it 100% of the time. Positive stuff  – you can do it every once in a while, it’s not always gonna stick. The negative stuff always does.” 

Baker’s observations of his thought process refers to negative bias. Negative bias was proposed by Roy Baumeister et.al. (2001), who stated that negative messages get the loudest microphone. Negativity bias is our brains tendency to give more weight to negative information than positive. This shows up in how our brain hears and stores it:

Internal Dialogue: 

*Self-criticism sticks harder than praise.

*One awkward, botched or miscued play or performance replays repeatedly in athlete’s mind.

*Ten compliments and one insult – brain has predisposition to fixate on the insult. 

Our inner dialogue basically runs a “threat detector” filter that over-highlights negatives. Negative bias also affects how we perceive outward comments.

External Dialogue:

*Person remembers negative feedback from others more vividly.

*Neutral comments may get interpreted as critical.

*Person may interpret more complaints than positives because those feel more urgent.

This world view isn’t a flaw or a personal failure, it’s mostly a mix of biological predisposition, learning and experience. Our brain’s are wired to notice danger more than safety. Early on for human survival missing a threat was fatal, while missing something good wasn’t. Our brain’s learned “better to overreact than be eaten.” That wiring remains today even though “threats”  more likely for the athlete are connected to performance stress and anxiety, making or being cut from a team, defending a ranking, or for high school athletes getting into a college of their choice.

If you were shown some exercises to alter negative bias would you take the time? If not why not? There are ways for athletes of any sport to recalibrate their thought process to soften negative bias and create a gentler lens when performance goes off track, without stifling edge, or competitiveness. 

Whether it’s football or another sport, the first step is to shift mindset. Shifting mindset isn’t to become, “positive with positive phrases but to become accurate. Negative bias isn’t realism, it is selective evidence. It is about adding missing data, not erasing the error.

1.  When a negative thought emerges, instead of arguing with it or beating yourself up ask yourself, “What else is true right now?”

     Example: I missed a buzzer three pointer. I choked when it mattered. 

      Also true: During the game I hit four three pointers. I took reasonable risk at the buzzer. this

      last one I was off balance when the shot got off. I am disappointed but can work on this so

      I am more prepared next time I am in this situation. 

You aren’t saying what happened wasn’t true, the shot at the buzzer was missed.  It is saying the information processing is incomplete, there were several times earlier that going for the three worked.

2) Shorten the half-life of negative events. Negative bias isn’t just about noticing errors – it’s how long they echo in the athlete’s mind. Example: The basketball player who missed the three at the buzzer, “Will this matter in 6 months?” “Did missing harm me or just disappoint me as I felt I let the team down?” “What part can I grow from and work to improve my performance going forward?” It doesn’t minimize the frustration, it prevents your brain from turning a moment into an identity. 

3) Negative bias attaches inner dialogue words like: always, never, everyone, nothing. Example: 

Basketball player, “I always miss when it counts” vs. “I am disappointed the last three I shot didn’t sink.”  “Everyone will be disappointed in me.: vs. “I am disappointed I couldn’t pull out the last shot for the team. I know my coach and team-mates know I gave it my all.” 

4) Allow pessimism with boundaries. Instead of trying to eliminate negative thoughts, contain them. Practice, “Okay I missed the final shot, I allow myself 5 minutes of disappointment, then it is time to more on. Negative thoughts over a big loss often continue to pop up but an athlete can retrain the brain by visualizing the adjustment and the shot going in, or write down negative thoughts for five minutes to emotionally release them on paper. Then rewrite them as, “what else is true?”  Yes, it takes discipline but remember it is a choice to reinforce the negatives or redirect them.

No athlete wants to lose but it happens. The most successful athlete’s in the world work to master, faster emotional recovery, fewer catastrophic spirals, reset mentally & physically instead of days of self rumination, allow for flexibility in thinking, trust in their ability to cope and grow, reduce mental noise, and build composure under pressure. In the process you don’t lose realism you gain range. These are just a few exercises to soften negative bias and create a gentler lens when performance goes off track. 

Athletic photo credit: KeithJJ