Positivity Bias

Positivity bias refers to the phenomena when the public evaluates individuals positively even when they have negative evaluations of the group to which that individual belongs. It is commonly seen within the political science literature that examines positive [Page 594]respondent evaluations of individual political leaders in spite of that respondent's negative views on government in general. This phenomenon has been seen for more than 70 years.

It has been suggested that the public will generally evaluate specifie individuals more favorably than impersonal objects or groups. Poll results evaluating political leaders suggest that this positivity bias can be found regardless of the leader's party, ideology, or relative fame. The positivity bias has also been seen in evaluations of individuals in careers as wide ranging as Hollywood actors and actresses to athletes to union leaders.

This phenomenon seems to exist regardless of the amount or quality of information a respondent has for the object of evaluation. Studies indicate that the positivity bias is even seen when the respondent has never heard of the individual he or she is evaluating. In this situation, some suggest that the respondent assumes a favorable evaluation because he or she presumes that the person must be famous in order to be included in the survey. Research has also revealed that a positivity bias can be found in any subpopulation categorized by demographics like age, gender, race, and religion.