The Power of Bad
How the Negativity Effect Rules Us and How We Can Rule It
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Narrated by:
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Paul Bellantoni
About this listen
"The most important book at the borderland of psychology and politics that I have ever read." (Martin E. P. Seligman, Zellerbach Family Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania and author of Learned Optimism)
Why are we devastated by a word of criticism even when it’s mixed with lavish praise? Because our brains are wired to focus on the bad. This negativity effect explains things great and small: why countries blunder into disastrous wars, why couples divorce, why people flub job interviews, how schools fail students, why football coaches stupidly punt on fourth down. All day long, the power of bad governs people’s moods, drives marketing campaigns, and dominates news and politics.
Eminent social scientist Roy F. Baumeister stumbled unexpectedly upon this fundamental aspect of human nature. To find out why financial losses mattered more to people than financial gains, Baumeister looked for situations in which good events made a bigger impact than bad ones. But his team couldn’t find any. Their research showed that bad is relentlessly stronger than good, and their paper has become one of the most cited in the scientific literature.
Our brain’s negativity bias makes evolutionary sense because it kept our ancestors alert to fatal dangers, but it distorts our perspective in today’s media environment. The steady barrage of bad news and crisismongering makes us feel helpless and leaves us needlessly fearful and angry. We ignore our many blessings, preferring to heed - and vote for - the voices telling us the world is going to hell.
But once we recognize our negativity bias, the rational brain can overcome the power of bad when it’s harmful and employ that power when it’s beneficial. In fact, bad breaks and bad feelings create the most powerful incentives to become smarter and stronger. Properly understood, bad can be put to perfectly good use.
As noted science journalist John Tierney and Baumeister show in this wide-ranging book, we can adopt proven strategies to avoid the pitfalls that doom relationships, careers, businesses, and nations. Instead of despairing at what’s wrong in your life and in the world, you can see how much is going right - and how to make it still better.
©2019 John Tierney, Roy F. Baumeister (P)2019 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
A Greater Good Magazine Favorite Book of 2019
A Leadership Now Best Leadership Book of 2019
“Provocative...the authors are shrewd about the ways in which negativity can pollute both intimate relationships and large groups. They also show that bad experiences can be instructive, using stories to humanize a subject that could otherwise be dry.” (The Economist)
“In their new book, The Power of Bad, bestselling authors John Tierney and Roy F. Baumeister offer a rule of thumb to help you reach any goal you set your mind to.” (Carmine Gallo, Forbes)
“In John Tierney and Roy Baumeister’s new book, The Power of Bad, we learn about fascinating research on the negativity bias that illustrates its power over us.... Their book is full of unexpected surprises about human nature, paired with a nice dose of humor.” (Greater Good Magazine)
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You Are Now Less Dumb is grounded in the idea that we all believe ourselves to be objective observers of reality - except we’re not. But that's okay, because our delusions keep us sane. Expanding on this premise, McRaney provides eye-opening analyses of 15 more ways we fool ourselves every day. This smart and highly entertaining audiobook will be wowing listeners for years to come.
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Not a lot of guidance
- By A. Yoshida on 02-08-14
By: David McRaney
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Do Nothing
- How to Break Away from Overworking, Overdoing, and Underliving
- By: Celeste Headlee
- Narrated by: Celeste Headlee
- Length: 7 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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In Do Nothing, award-winning journalist Celeste Headlee illuminates a new path ahead, seeking to institute a global shift in our thinking so we can stop sabotaging our well-being, put work aside, and start living instead of doing. As it turns out, we’re searching for external solutions to an internal problem. We won’t find what we’re searching for in punishing diets, productivity apps, or the latest self-improvement schemes. Yet all is not lost - we just need to learn how to take time for ourselves, without agenda or profit, and redefine what is truly worthwhile.
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I almost never leave reviews
- By keli wolfe on 03-03-22
By: Celeste Headlee
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Performing Under Pressure
- The Science of Doing Your Best When It Matters Most
- By: Hendrie Weisinger, J. P. Pawliw-Fry
- Narrated by: Michael Butler Murray
- Length: 11 hrs
- Unabridged
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Performing Under Pressure tackles the greatest obstacle to personal success, whether in a sales presentation, at home, on the golf course, interviewing for a job, or performing onstage at Carnegie Hall. Despite sports mythology, no one rises to the occasion under pressure and does better than they do in practice. The reality is pressure makes us do worse and sometimes leads us to fail utterly. But there are things we can do to diminish its effects on our performance.
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great book!
- By Family Account on 04-01-15
By: Hendrie Weisinger, and others
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The Worry Cure
- Seven Steps To Stop Worry From Stopping You
- By: Robert L. Leahy
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 3 hrs and 33 mins
- Abridged
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A new, comprehensive approach to help you identify, challenge, and overcome all types of worry. This empowering seven-step program, includes practical, easy-to-follow advice and techniques.
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Don't worry about buying this one
- By Dennis on 10-04-06
By: Robert L. Leahy
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Willful Blindness
- Why We Ignore the Obvious at Our Peril
- By: Margaret Heffernan
- Narrated by: Margaret Heffernan
- Length: 11 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Margaret Heffernan argues that the biggest threats and dangers we face are the ones we don't see - not because they're secret or invisible, but because we're willfully blind. A distinguished businesswoman and writer, she examines the phenomenon and traces its imprint in our private and working lives, and within governments and organizations, and asks: What makes us prefer ignorance? What are we so afraid of? Why do some people see more than others? And how can we change?
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How Not to Be the Blind Leading the Blind
- By Cynthia on 06-29-13
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Before You Know It
- The Unconscious Reasons We Do What We Do
- By: John Bargh PhD
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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For more than three decades, Dr. John Bargh has been responsible for the revolutionary research into the unconscious mind, research that informed best sellers like Blink and Thinking Fast and Slow. Now, in what Dr. John Gottman said "will be the most important and exciting book in psychology that has been written in the past 20 years", Dr. Bargh takes us on an entertaining and enlightening tour of the forces that affect everyday behavior while transforming our understanding of ourselves in profound ways.
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Political jab
- By Brad on 10-20-17
By: John Bargh PhD
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The Plateau Effect
- Getting From Stuck to Success
- By: Bob Sullivan, Hugh Thompson
- Narrated by: Don Hagen
- Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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The Plateau Effect is a powerful law of nature that affects everyone. Learn to identify plateaus and break through any stagnancy in your life - from diet and exercise, to work, to relationships. The Plateau Effect shows how athletes, scientists, therapists, companies, and musicians around the world are learning to break through their plateau - to turn off the forces that cause people to “get used to” things - and turn on human potential and happiness in ways that seemed impossible.
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Heath
- By Oliver Nielsen on 07-22-13
By: Bob Sullivan, and others
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The ADHD Advantage
- What You Thought Was a Diagnosis May Be Your Greatest Strength
- By: Dale Archer MD
- Narrated by: Walter Dixon
- Length: 8 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Sharing the stories of highly successful people with ADHD, Dr. Archer offers a vitally important and inspiring new way to recognize ADHD traits in oneself or in one's loved ones, and then leverage them to great advantage - without drugs. As someone who not only has ADHD himself but also has never used medication to treat it, Dr. Archer understands the condition from a unique standpoint.
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This guy doesn't understand ADHD – at all
- By Oliver Nielsen on 02-25-16
By: Dale Archer MD
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Brainblocks
- Overcoming the 7 Hidden Barriers to Success
- By: Dr. Theo Tsaousides
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 6 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Brainblocks are the mental obstacles that keep people from achieving success, defined as setting, pursuing, and achieving a goal. Managing the brain is the solution to preventing mental blocks from interfering with achieving your goals.
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Not worth my time
- By John W. Bates on 11-03-15
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The Leading Brain
- Powerful Science-Based Strategies for Achieving Peak Performance
- By: Friederike Fabritius, Hans W. Hagemann
- Narrated by: Karen Saltus
- Length: 8 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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There's a revolution taking place that most businesses are still unaware of. The understanding of how our brains work has radically shifted, exploding long-held myths about our everyday cognitive performance and fundamentally changing the way we engage and succeed in the workplace. Combining their expertise in both neuropsychology and management consulting, neuropsychologist Friederike Fabritius and leadership expert Dr. Hans W. Hagemann present simple yet powerful strategies.
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Understand your brain for a better life!
- By Khalid Sul on 02-23-18
By: Friederike Fabritius, and others
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Mastering the Art of Quitting
- Why It Matters in Life, Love, and Work
- By: Peg Streep, Alan B. Bernstein
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 7 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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In Mastering the Art of Quitting, the authors show us how to let go when we need to and how to start over. A guide to increasing our emotional and mental flexibility, assessing our goals, and knowing when to hang in or bail out, it tackles our tendencies to overanalyze, ruminate, and put a positive spin on situations we actually need to avoid. In a culture which perceives quitting as a last resort, Alan Bernstein and Peg Streep show that it’s an essential tool for a happy and successful life. They reveal simple truths which apply to goals in all areas of life including love, relationships, and work.
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Good book but not in audio format.
- By Viktar on 11-25-15
By: Peg Streep, and others
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Rewire
- Change Your Brain to Break Bad Habits, Overcome Addictions, Conquer Self-Destructive Behavior
- By: Richard O'Connor Ph.D.
- Narrated by: Fred Stella
- Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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We humans tend to get in our own way time and time again - whether it comes to not speaking up for ourselves, going back to bad romantic partners, our umpteenth diet, or engaging in any of a range of bad habits we just can’t seem to shake. In Rewire, renowned psychotherapist Richard O’Connor, PhD, reveals why our bad habits die so hard. We have two brains - one a thoughtful, conscious, deliberative self, and the other an automatic self that does most of the work without our attention.
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Meh
- By Grateful on 12-31-14
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Mindwise
- Why We Misunderstand What Others Think, Believe, Feel, and Want
- By: Nicholas Epley
- Narrated by: Nicholas Epley
- Length: 6 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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You are a mind reader, born with an extraordinary ability to understand what others think, feel, believe, want, and know. It's a sixth sense you use every day, in every personal and professional relationship you have. At its best, this ability allows you to achieve the most important goal in almost any life: connecting, deeply and intimately and honestly, to other human beings. At its worst, it is a source of misunderstanding and unnecessary conflict, leading to damaged relationships and broken dreams. How good are you at knowing the minds of others?
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Finally gave up - no real point
- By Thomas on 05-12-14
By: Nicholas Epley
What listeners say about The Power of Bad
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Rex
- 09-12-20
read this book (or listen, rather)
it should be required reading in school. that's all I need to say but I had to add more words to submit this.
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- Joe F Acosta
- 01-25-20
Psycho educational
This book provides a great resource for psychotherapists who deal with patients whose negativity, anxiety, depression and phobias of social unrest can be challenged and redirected to a more positive view of their lives. I wish I had read it ten years ago to help my combat Veterans recover faster.
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- Anonymous User
- 04-18-24
Incredible and helpful information
Several years ago, a business partner asked me to read this book and I skimmed through it. In my work of PR and political campaign management, the cliff notes I made back then were helpful. But I just completed the entire read through and wow, I feel very empowered to not only serve my clients better — but now my family, friends, church, and community. Thank you all, and especially the authors, for such an extensive, well-written book.
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- Anonymous User
- 04-27-20
Learned so much
Very good, highly recommend to anyone who wants to know more about negativity bias and effective strategies to make it work for you not against you.
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- D. Fork
- 03-15-24
Warning: book causes happiness and clear thinking
Tierney and Baumeister take a look at the negativity effect in many important social situations and provide a practical understanding that most will find informative and some will even find liberating.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Mae
- 03-11-20
I'll be the gospel
I enjoy anything that keeps my rationale in check. This does just that, so thank you.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 01-05-21
Interesting read
At first the pacing was great. About 8 hrs of play, and really well written. Near chapter 9 and 10 it was very long and felt all over the place. Overall though interesting way of thinking presented with some relevant statistics and studies
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- scott
- 09-05-20
The book we all need in 2020....
or whenever you read this.
Very power read about debunking your mind of needless clutter and worry.
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- Peter McFadden
- 02-08-20
Must listen!
I’ve read ... and listened ... to so many books I sometimes wonder if there is anything left out there to learn. This book was fresh. Gained some valuable new insights. Frankly, I wish everyone would read it.
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- Amazon Customer
- 03-30-22
FINALLY a book that admits th power of bad...
Then offers simple, practical, & obvious solutions all of us all too often neglect.
The negativity bias isn't our fault, but it is our choice, and responsibility as to what we do with it.
Get on the low bad diet today:-)
tim #bgreen🌏
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