“It takes 65 muscles to frown and 13 muscles to make a smile. Why work overtime?” – B.J. Palmer
Although those specific numbers have been disproven since Palmer made the comment, the overall point still holds. So why do so many of us fall into negativity bias when life looks better from a positive perspective?
It seems a disproportionate amount of what you see today in the news, on social media, or, quite frankly, in conversation, comes with a negative connotation. That’s no accident.
In 2023, Nature Human Behaviour published a study with the goal of determining the impact that using either positive or negative language has on consumption.
To conduct the study, researchers analyzed thousands of randomized headlines. Subjects were shown variations of the same articles with different mixes of positive and negative words.
There were 5.7 million clicks across a pool of 105,000 headline variations, slightly favouring positive terms. The results: for an average-length headline, an additional negative word increased click-through rate by 2.3%. The more surprising part: an additional positive word decreased clicks by about 1%.
An older study from McGill University addressed the same theme and yielded a similar result. Ironically, they also reported in the survey section following the experiment that most participants believed the news contained too much negativity and preferred positive reports.
Regardless of what you think you want to see, many of us can be subconsciously more attracted to the word ‘war’ than ‘fun’.
With that in mind, I want to show you an uplifting side of the news.
An 11-year-old boy with autism, Soren Farrow, celebrated his birthday this August doing what he loves…trick-or-treating.
Soren’s mother, Leah, reached out to her neighbourhood Facebook group to see if any homes were willing to hand out candy. She was shocked by the response. 83 families waited around their doors that afternoon to give out candy and gifts to celebrate Soren, many even decorated their entranceways.
Children and adults opened the door with excitement to see Soren dressed in his banana costume. Leah noted the excitement as the most powerful part of the experience for her…seeing the love her community has for Soren.
This feel-good story was easy to read and put a smile on my face. More importantly, it showed me that there is lots of positive news out there if we choose to look for it.
As I’m sure many of you know, Ted Thomson (Grandpa to me) has preached about having the right attitude in everything you do. The right attitude is about more than being happy; it can mean approaching difficult situations with courage, compassion, and a commitment to doing what’s right.
These principles are relevant in many aspects of life and can also be applied to investing. It can be hard to mitigate negative distractions and focus on what’s important, but if you manage to do so, odds are you’ll be happier in the end.
In the wise words of Mac Miller, “No matter where life takes me, find me with a smile”.
That same attitude can be difficult to maintain when it comes to investing.
In line with the study’s results, you can read a headline, “Stock Market Loses Billions” and be drawn to that. As I write this commentary, I am looking at the three largest US indexes, which are all positive today. Yet, the top market-related articles focus on specific sectors losing or broader economic concerns.
Like earlier, I want to show the optimistic side, this time relating to investing.
Let me start by noting how fitting it is that many investors are worried about the market’s future when the S&P 500’s inflation-adjusted 10-year annualized returns are over 11%. You can choose to question the sustainability of those returns or be thrilled with the growth. I want to be positive, but a healthy mix is probably the right attitude. My Uncle Eric calls this “rational optimism”.
It’s easy to be pessimistic, but I was recently in a meeting with a group of optimistic fund managers discussing how they were going to help clients get from Point A to Point B.
They introduced the concept of “exposure by idea”. Conceptually, you would think owning both Nvidia and Meta would increase your diversification and technically, it does; but, because they’re similar companies, they’re more likely to move together in the market. Owning different ideas can hedge risk and expose you to broader opportunity.
As you can see in the graph, historically, highly concentrated markets have eventually peaked and then fallen. That is not to say that “Big 10” has reached its peak or that it will follow the falling trend, just that having all your eggs in one basket can pose risks.
The fund managers believe that the AI industry can offer great opportunity in sectors directly impacted by its development; they refer to these companies as “Eventual Beneficiaries”. Whether the idea is healthcare, science, or oil companies, AI has the potential to make a positive impact across all sectors in the coming years.
Currently, many of these promising companies are trading at their lowest valuations in recent history. In a time when investors are worried about over-concentration, it seems to make perfect sense to seek opportunities where others aren’t looking.
Maintaining my positivity, I want to point out another trend I see in the graph. After the Nifty Fifty came Japan, then Tech & telecom, now the Big 10. Although these high-concentration points saw extreme losses after the peak, this graph leads me to believe there will be another opportunity to catch a booming market down the road.
Nobody knows what the future holds, but personally, I want to be rationally optimistic and maintain the right attitude. That’s not pretending to know stocks will continue to rise but remaining disciplined in uncertainty. My optimism is not about ignoring risk, but about keeping it from being the only thing I see.
-Jesse Winrow – Summer Intern
References
- J. Palmer. (n.d.). AZQuotes.com. Retrieved July 12, 2026, from AZQuotes.com Web site: https://www.azquotes.com/quote/880160
CNBC. (2026, August 11). Markets. CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/markets/
Miller, M. (2011, March 11). Best Day Ever [Song]. On Best Day Ever. Rostrum Records, LLC.
Mitchell, C. (2026, June 20). Historical Average Stock Market Returns for S&P 500 (5-year to 150-year Averages). Trade That Swing. https://tradethatswing.com/average-historical-stock-market-returns-for-sp-500-5-year-up-to-150-year-averages/?srsltid=AfmBOoompYszgz5r8ylD5_bx8I06ln_TDGa2Ei4vmgT9qq6tWAL52U9i
Robertson, C. E., Pröllochs, N., Schwarzenegger, K., Pärnamets, P., Van Bavel, J. J., & Feuerriegel, S. (2023, March 16). Negativity Drives Online News Consumption. Nature News. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-023-01538-4
Trussler, M., & Soroka, S. (2014, March 18). Consumer Demand for Cynical and Negative News Frames*. https://www.cpsa-acsp.ca/papers-2013/Trussler-Soroka.pdf
Vega, A. (2026, August 4). Mom Asked Neighbors to Let Her Son with Autism Trick-or-Treat for His Birthday. Their Response Left Her Speechless. People. https://people.com/boy-with-autism-gets-his-dream-birthday-thanks-to-83-neighbors-exclusive-12033581
