It's not in your head. Fear drives decision making.

Dreading negative outcomes is six times more powerful than anticipating the positive ones. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. Dread shapes our decision making and new research published in the journal explores why spinning those negative scenarios affects us more than the possible positive outcomes. The team from the University of Bath in England and the University of Waterloo in Canada analyzed data from the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS). The team looked at roughly 14,000 individuals between 1991 and 2024, tracking emotional responses to real-world economic choices including investing, changing jobs, or making health decisions.