16 jun 2011

Negative Information

Negative information is more salient in psychological terms. It attracts more interest. That why "bullshit fields" is more interesting that "pretty good fields." On the other hand, people will end up associating negativity with the person being negative, so that a poetry critic who trashes all the poets will end up seeming like a jerk, no matter how correct he happens to be about 90% of what he says. You don't need to be a very good critic to call something bad, because chances are, you will be right. If you say everything is good, you will be wrong about 90% of the time.

So combining these two principles, this means that negativity will make you better-known but less well-liked, more polarizing. I am actually a very likable guy. I try to get along with everyone. The blog is kind of a "drain," where excess hostility and ideas I don't have time to use can be drained off.

2 comentarios:

Andrew Shields dijo...

Could it be that you of all people are actually thinking of William Logan here?

Jordan dijo...

How would a good critic work?