Can negativity bias affect a whole society, according to Alison Ledgerwood?

Responding to Hussain, a psychiatrist from Iran who said many Iranians before the 1979 revolution believed things could not get worse, Alison Ledgerwood agrees negativity bias can play out at the level of societies, not just individuals. She says people struggle both to imagine how things could be worse and how they could be better, and points to Rebecca Solnit's idea of hope in the dark.

• Hussain says many Iranians now wish the earlier days back, and a recent war showed things could get worse again.
• Ledgerwood also describes negativity spreading between people, as when a complaining relative spoiled a listener's 12-day trip through Italy.

Source: our own transcription of the episode. The full conversation is on Hidden Brain (2026-10-12). Read the whole episode summary →

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