Negative attitudes: what they are, types, and how they affect us

Attitudes are what mark an orientation based on which to act against life, so that we could say what marks attitudes would be the way of being or behaving of people. There are different types of attitudes: positive, negative, defeatist, neutral, passive, aggressive, empathic, etc.

Negative attitudes comprise a series of dispositions, thoughts and behaviors of a negative nature that people can show temporarily or for a longer period of time dragged on. Some examples of negative attitudes can be: looking only at the negative side of each situation, blaming other people for what happens to oneself, having a negative internal dialogue, etc.

In this article we will see what are negative attitudes and we will also comment on some examples that can be found in everyday life.

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What are negative attitudes?

An attitude within psychology can be understood as the usual mode of behavior of a person in various circumstances, with attitudes also playing a determining role in the emotional life of each person

. Likewise, attitudes can also be understood as an underlying disposition that, together with the influence of other factors, contribute to determining the behavior of people in relation to an object, another person or group. In addition, attitudes include the reaffirmation of feelings and convictions about behaviors of rejection or attraction.

Among the different types of possible attitudes are the negative attitudes that make up a series of behaviors, dispositions and thoughts of a negative nature that people can show temporarily or for a longer period of time.

In this sense, a person with negative attitudes will have negative opinions and vision towards an object or group, being able to even behave in a negative and/or harmful way towards that group that generates rejection.

Negative attitudes can also include a pessimistic view of oneself, various life circumstances and/or other people. In this way, the person will always focus on the negative side of things, leaving aside the positive side, they will tend to compare themselves with others. people for whom he considers that things are going better, he will think that life is not treating him as he deserves and that, therefore, he owes something.

It is also common for a person with negative attitudes do not value what he has and is always focused on what he wants to achieve, thus suffering a lot of frustration.

As we can see, there are various examples of negative attitudes. In the next section we will see some of the most common examples to help understand this concept in greater detail.

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Types of common negative attitudes

Below we will briefly explain some of the most common negative attitudes that we can find in people around us and that we have even had some time.

It is common that behind these negative attitudes there are some cognitive distortions (p. g., overgeneralization, personalization, absolutist thinking, maximizing negatives and minimizing positives, etc.).

1. Focus only on the negative side of every situation

One of the most frequent negative attitudes occurs when a person only focuses on the negative side of each situation and, therefore, is never satisfied with anything. In addition, this negative vision makes it difficult for the person to be motivated to achieve his goals because he will always make a mistake and think that they are not the ideal conditions to do so.

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2. anchor in the past

Thinking about the past more than it should, leaving aside the present moment, which is really the only thing we can control, is another of the most common negative attitudes. This attitude can lead to people not being able to turn the page and continually thinking about events from the past that can lead you to melancholy, lamentation and even guilt in some cases for something you regret having done in the past. He passed.

Negative rumination about one's past often causes more problems for one's mental health than benefits. We must learn from our past; however, it is not healthy for us to stay anchored in it and continuously go back without being focused on the present because possibly we would be missing out on the opportunities that the present offers us and in a few years when they become the past and we remember it, we we will regret

3. put other people down

Discouraging other people when they have the illusion of achieving a goal It is one of the negative attitudes that can cause the most damage, since no one should believe that they have the power to tell other people that they cannot achieve something.

We should also owe this to ourselves so as not to be discouraged when trying to achieve what we set out to do, no matter how difficult it may seem and no matter how many obstacles there are.

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4. compare yourself to other people

One of the negative attitudes that has increased the most in recent years is that which has to do with the act of continuously comparing oneself with other people, and Social networks have greatly influenced this., where photos of the "best version" of each one are continuously uploaded, so that whoever enters to view them can reach to think that others are doing better and are more attractive, even though those photos do not reflect the reality.

5. Blaming other people for what happens to oneself

One of the negative attitudes that can do the most damage to interpersonal relationships is the one that triggers someone to continually blame other people for their own misfortunes, instead of doing a self-reflection and assessing what part of the responsibility she herself has and what is in her power to change the situation.

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6. Having a negative self-talk

Internal dialogue is another of those most common negative attitudes, and may be the cause of others and consists of talking to oneself in a pessimistic and negative way. This makes it easier for reality to be distorted, causing the person to feel bad and wrongly facing problems by always focusing on the bad side of everything and also regarding oneself. This negative internal dialogue can become like a self-destructive speech.

7. Not valuing what you have and always thinking about what you don't have

Another of those negative attitudes that tend to occur quite frequently is the one that leads people to not value what they have, so they tend to continually complain about having what they would like to have, so they are never satisfied. It is also common that when they achieve what they wanted, they immediately want to have more or have other different things and thus they get into a vicious circle from which it is very difficult to get out.

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8. despise others

Another of the most damaging and deplorable negative attitudes is contempt for other people, being a sign of low self-esteem, since feeling above other people and continually comparing ourselves is not going to help us have a solid self-esteem. And it is that fundamentally you have to value yourself, but without it being at the cost of despising others.

9. Believing that life or others owe us something

Among the negative attitudes we can also find the victim role that some people have who continually complain about the setbacks that life could have given them and they have the belief that life or other people should reward them for it, when the reality is that you cannot be at the expense of others since we do not know if they are also going through a complicated situation.

10. Instilling our negativism into the people around us

Instilling our negativism is another of the most damaging negative attitudes, since we are not doing those around us any favors by infecting them with our negative vision, nor is it going to help us change our attitude for a more positive one.

When we are having a bad day and we are not in the mood to speak in a more positive way with our loved ones, before than instilling our negativism in them, which is not going to solve anything, perhaps it is more advisable that day to be sparing in words so as not to lose cordiality.

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11. overgeneralize

Another of those negative attitudes that tend to occur quite frequently is overgeneralization, which consists of extrapolate a specific negative event into a general conclusion; In other words, this occurs when we generalize from an isolated case, generalize what happened, and use it as if it were a valid conclusion for any other future situation. Based on this, words such as “always”, “never”, “everything”, etc. are often used.