The Science of Overcoming Negativity Bias
Have you ever noticed how one negative comment can linger in your mind far longer than ten positive ones? You’re not imagining it. The brain has a negativity bias—an evolutionary holdover that kept our ancestors alive by making them hyperaware of threats. But in today’s world, this ancient survival tactic can drain our mental well-being, leaving us stuck in cycles of anxiety, pessimism, and self-criticism.
Psychologist Rick Hanson, a pioneer in the field of neuropsychology, has developed a practical, science-backed method called HEAL to help retrain the brain for happiness, resilience, and emotional regulation. HEAL isn’t about ignoring negative experiences—it’s about balancing the mental scales so positivity has a fighting chance.
What Is the Negativity Bias?
The brain is like Velcro for bad experiences and Teflon for good ones. Neuroscience has shown that negative stimuli produce more neural activity than equally intense positive ones. Our amygdala (the brain’s fear center) tags threatening events as urgent, and we store them more deeply in memory—especially if they evoke fear, shame, or pain.
While this negativity bias helped us spot lions in the bushes or remember poisonous berries, it also means that modern stressors—like a coworker’s criticism or a partner’s bad mood—can dominate our mental landscape long after the moment has passed.
This is where Rick Hanson’s method comes in.
The HEAL Method: A 4-Step Practice for Lasting Inner Strength
Rick Hanson’s HEAL technique stands for:
- Have a positive experience
- Enrich it
- Absorb it
- Link it (optional)
Let’s explore each step more deeply:
- Have a Positive Experience
This step involves actively noticing or creating a positive experience. It could be something simple: the warmth of your morning coffee, a moment of laughter with a friend, or the satisfaction of completing a task. You don’t have to wait for something extraordinary—micro-moments count.
Importantly, you can also create a positive experience by thinking about something you’re grateful for or recalling a joyful memory. Your brain responds to imagined experiences much like real ones.
- Enrich It
Once you’ve had a positive experience, you deepen it by savoring it. Stay with the feeling for 10–20 seconds. Engage your senses: What do you see, feel, or hear? Focus on the emotional tone—joy, connection, pride, peace—and amplify it.
This enrichment increases the neural firing patterns associated with the positive state. The longer and more intensely your brain fires in a certain way, the more likely it is to rewire.
- Absorb It
This is the neuroplasticity moment: Let the positive feeling sink in. Visualize it soaking into your body and mind, like sunshine warming your skin. Absorbing helps encode the experience into long-term memory and strengthens new, positive neural circuits.
According to Hanson, this step is critical. It’s where you move from state (temporary good feeling) to trait (a lasting psychological resource like confidence or gratitude).
- Link It (Optional)
This step involves gently linking the positive with a negative feeling that’s present—without trying to suppress or deny the negative. For example, if you’re feeling unworthy but recall a moment of being appreciated, you can let both feelings exist side by side. Over time, the positive can soften and even replace the negative.
The Neuroscience Behind HEAL
The Big Think article on Rick Hanson highlights how the HEAL method is a form of “experiential neuroplasticity.” In other words, what we repeatedly focus on physically reshapes the brain.
In fact, functional MRI studies show that dwelling on positive experiences enhances activity in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus—regions linked to emotional regulation, memory, and resilience. Over time, this practice helps quiet the amygdala’s threat response and fosters a more balanced emotional baseline.
HEAL also aligns with findings in positive psychology and mindfulness research. Regularly practicing HEAL builds traits like optimism, calm, compassion, and even improved immune response—countering the chronic stress that results from being stuck in survival mode.
How HEAL Complements Neurofeedback
As a neurofeedback therapist, I often work with clients who are “stuck” in overactive fear or vigilance circuits. Whether it’s due to trauma, anxiety, or chronic stress, their brains have learned to fire in high-alert mode.
Neurofeedback helps calm and re-regulate those patterns—but integrating Rick Hanson’s HEAL method between sessions can dramatically accelerate healing. By intentionally installing positive experiences, clients strengthen healthy brain activity and reduce their dependency on stress-based survival strategies.
For example, someone working on calming Brodmann Site 4 (a region associated with emotional expression and mood regulation) might use HEAL to reinforce moments of self-compassion. The client isn’t just training their brain with neurofeedback—they’re supporting that training with new neural input rooted in positivity and safety.
Rewiring for Resilience
Imagine if we gave as much attention to joy, gratitude, and calm as we do to fear, shame, and frustration. What would shift in our lives?
Rick Hanson reminds us that happiness is not frivolous—it’s a neurobiological resource. When we take in the good, we aren’t ignoring life’s hardships; we’re building the emotional resilience to meet them with strength and grace.
So next time something good happens—pause. Stay with it. Enrich it. Absorb it. You’re not just feeling good—you’re healing your brain.
Want to try this in your daily life? Here’s a simple HEAL practice:
- Each evening, write down one positive experience from the day.
- Take 30 seconds to relive it—really feel it.
- Imagine it settling into your brain like a seed taking root.
Your brain—and your future self—will thank you.
-A Balanced Brain is a Better Brain for a Happier Life-