The Power of Negative Criticism

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The results of negative criticism on the human mind originate from the beginning of mankind. Due to the lack of change in the human brain’s genealogy, people are still victim to the many forms of criticism in today’s society. The human brain is programmed to collect and store negative information versus positive information. A prime example of negative criticism is when a comment directed at an individual feels like a personal character attack. Such attacks tend to be most painful when they originate from oneself. Self-criticism acts as a major blockade to anyone with a planned goal ahead of them, like athletes, intellectuals, and creatives. The way the human brain understands and perceives positive and negative criticism impacts a person, in both their actions and self-esteem, despite where it originated (from the self or another person).
The human mind is naturally and quite easily persuaded and controlled by the constant negative criticism that it encounters. Of course, people gather these negative comments into their own growing consciousness. The reason why humans are so instinctive to remember such notions goes all the way back to “the caveman days, when [people’s] lives depended on being able to remember, above all, what could kill [them]” (Sunday Morning). Despite the evolution of the human being, the human mind itself has yet to make any drastic adjustments. A common trait, or rather a desire, held amongst the majority of the human population is to survive. As a result, people also “possess an instinct to remember the things that scared them so as to avoid them in the future” (Firestone). Still today, even though many do not live with constant threat of death, humans hold on to the worst of experiences in order to prote...

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