Although those stats are clearly to do with the U.S., we imagine a similar study might reveal similar results in the UK. Regardless of whether the situation is better or worse on this side of the pond, this type of thinking is likely due to “declinism,” which is the bias-caused belief that a society or institution is always getting worse and worse over time—no matter what the facts say.
Basically, any time you think “things will never be as good as they used to,” that’s declinism. I feel like I’m constantly hearing things like “Wasn’t 2017 awful?” or “Things couldn’t be any worse...” Wrong! Things could definitely be worse, and they were. The further you go back in time, the worse things get.
There are plenty of issues that need to be addressed, sure, but things are actually gradually getting better. If you look at the facts, the general wellbeing of the population is better than it has ever been. You need not look any further than the work of cognitive psychologist (and terminal optimist) Steven Pinker. His works, like The Better Angels of our Nature and his forthcoming book, Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress, show how a lot of the “bad stuff” has actually been in gradual decline since, well, the dawn of history. So then why does everything seem so rubbish right now?
As we age, the brain has a preference not only for remembering positive over negative stimuli, but also for accentuating positive, and minimising negative memories. Therefore, if we are wired to reminisce about the past and accentuate the positive from those memories is it any wonder that today seems so much worse than yesterday?
Confirmation bias can be dangerous if left unchecked, but it’s also the reason why it’s so hard for us to shake off our preset cynical outlooks on the world. We think things are terrible in the present because of negativity bias, we think things used to be better in the past because of the reminiscence bump and the positivity effect, and we think things will get worse in the future because of declinism. Confirmation bias is the cherry on top of our rubbish brain sundae. I bet right now you’re thinking, “No, things are terrible. Let me go find some facts to show you.” But that’s the problem! We need to stop looking for the bad and try looking for the good. There’s more of it out there than you think.