Is the glass half full or half empty?

In a motivational TEDX video, behavioural scientist Alison Ledgerwood elaborated on why failure seems to stick in our mind much longer than success, and how “reframing how we communicate” could be the key to unlocking a more positive outlook in life.

Alison began by citing the common example of a glass of water and how it may be a marker based on our perception. She claimed that people’s perceptions towards difficult situations may change “depending on how you describe the glass to people: half full or half empty.”

She continued, ”If you describe the glass as half full, it is called ‘gain frame’, because you are focusing on what was gained, and people like it. But, if you describe the same glass as half empty, a ‘loss frame’, then people won’t like it.”

Further, she went on to discuss how the world has a fundamental tendency to tilt towards the negative; but the onus rests on us to be consistent in our efforts and work on negative self-talk. “It’s pretty easy to go from good to bad but far harder to shift from bad to good. We literally have to work harder to see the upside of things.”

She concluded by emphasising on the importance of positive thinking: “We can be more aware that bad tends to stick, one mean comment can stick with somebody all day, all week even, and bad tends to propagate itself. Somebody snaps at you, you snap back and then you snap at the next person, but what if the next time somebody snaps at you, you forgive them? What if the next time you had a really grumpy waitress, you left her an extra large tip? Our minds may be built to look for negative information to hold onto it but how we can also re-train your mind is that if you put some effort into it and see that the glass maybe a little more full than we initially thought.”

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