Attitude affects the outcome – I think we all know that if you go into something expecting it to be great, chances are it will. The same is true when you expect something to go badly, and it does.
Your expectations influence your experiences. That, in a nutshell, is how I think of negativity bias.
When a person has a negativity bias, they give more attention to the negative side of things than the positive. So, how does that affect caregivers and caregiving? If you are a family caregiver, you know the ups and downs in the life of a caregiver and the care recipient. Because there are two people involved – you and the person you care for – there are two personalities involved in everything that happens. The care recipient has a lot of say in how things go depending on their care needs and their level of cognition, but the caregiver is the one who has the ultimate responsibility for how the day goes because it is their attitude that rules the day.
A person with dementia doesn’t have a lot of control over their mood. They may not know why they are anxious or be able to tell you what is worrying them; their feelings come out in their actions. They can’t change with the snap of a finger, so it falls to the caregiver, the “normal” one, to help change the tone of the day, and that’s much easier to do that if the caregiver goes into the day with a good (positive) attitude.
People with cognition impairment are more prone to pick up on the emotions of others. This is called “emotional contagion” and is defined as the tendency to mimic the emotions and behaviors of another person. Emotional contagion affects all of us: if someone smiles, most people smile back at them. If you consider how much direction a person with cognitive impairment (dementia) needs, you can see how easy it is for a caregiver’s negative bias or just plain bad mood to impact the person for whom they are caring.
My mother used to tell me to put my best face on when I was leaving the house and would often tell me I’d “catch more flies with honey.” I don’t think I really understood what she meant until I was well into adulthood, but now I think I do. Every day, with every interaction we have, we have the opportunity to show our best face and to allow others that same opportunity. As caregivers, we must remember to stay positive even in the midst of the chaos and struggles we face every day in our caregiving world.
Comments