Positive And Negative What Do They Mean?

It has become commonplace to describe human personalities or attitudes using the words negative or positive.

These bogus terms as used to describe human actions and thought processes didn't exist before magnetism and electricity were commonly understood. Positive and negative are a cycle. One is not superior and the other inferior. they are opposite and equal.

Why is a positive attitude preferable to a negative one?

Who coined these magnetic/electrical terms to describe human attitudes and why?

What was wrong with saying, "Faye as a child had a bad attitude about finishing her 1-quart bowl of prunes when her constipated granny visited and assumed Faye was also bound up intestine wise?"

Liberalism replaced that factual and informational statement with, "Faye has a negative attitude concerning prunes."

You see the second statement omits important information and thus labels Faye as a negative person and we all know that negative is bad and shameful. A typical liberal response to any information requiring several words to describe is, "Too many words of negativism" An attempt to shut down factual information with meaningless words and phrases that have shown success at an alarming rate.

Corporations and bosses love these short phrases and words and use them to label workers unfairly. Governments also profit by assigning meaning to words that do not apply to human personalities. Nobody wants to be labeled as negative. Remember the famous liberal that called conservatives, "Nieve knights of negativism?"

What do these terms mean to you? If someone tells you that your attitude or opinion of something is negative, do you take that as a compliment or insult?

 

I've been told before that I, sometimes, can have a "negative" on to many things. I can understand that, but then again, we live in, what seems like, such a negative Nation, other than during some holidays, like Thanksgiving and Christmas. IOW, things that people do/say is all over the place.

My thinking is, I like the gauge needle to be in the middle of the positive/negative meter. Not to, or overly, positive, but at the same time, not to, or overly, negative.

 

@Cody Fousnaugh @Yvonne Smith Can either of you explain how a term like negative applies to human attitudes? Explain how one scientifically unrelated word can define a person. My point in posting this is trying to get answers to what you think a negative attitude entails. Isn't there a better more descriptive word for that attitude than a totally unrelated word used in science? Is positive good and negative bad when referring to human attitudes? Who had the authority to proclaim that a universal "truth?"

Negative and positive are about polarity. Think about this. Testing positive for covid is a bad thing. So why does positive now have a bad meaning? Should we have a good (positive) attitude about testing positive? Gee, I am really pumped that I have covid. Do you see the point I am trying to make?

Next time you put a battery in a device, tape the negative end and watch how that devices works.

All this negative and positive polarity labeling of human behavior and personalities lacks continuity and therefore is just more ambiguous terms meant to taint the science of psychology.

 

Here is about "negativity" in people (from online):

Words that describe negative attitudes can quickly creep into our lives. And, when they do, it’s hard to get them out.

Who wants to spend the day thinking about anger, intolerance, or pessimism? No, indeed. It’s much better to focus on their more positive antonyms joy, acceptance, and hope. Yet, despite our best efforts, the reality is, our world is full of both darkness and light.

 

I now wonder if she is relating "negative" and "positive" in a battery to people's personality? As far as I know, "negative" and "positive" is completely different concerning a battery and people's attitudes.

 

No, we are not talking about batteries. I just used that as an example to get people to think about how psychologists many years ago introduced this labeling to describe human personalities for the sake of labeling people so they can be controlled by others.

"If you want to keep your job, then change that negative attitude." This releases the employer of explaining why this employee is unhappy or disagrees with something they feel is wrong. All they have to write down is the person has a negative attitude. If you dislike someone that is a complainer about things they could change, you might label them with having a negative attitude. Compare that to the one labeled as negative because they stood up against injustice. Both go on the record and in many people's memory as being negative and undesirable people to be around.

I am considered negative because I refuse to blind myself to injustice, corruption, and on a personal level scam artists that are everywhere. Example: One of my friends always asked me about all these pie in the sky free energy things she sees on Facebook. When I point out it is a scam she calls me negative. "Faye why are you so negative about everything and don't bother to research it. Google it and see all the good reviews." I point out that the free energy device is a photo of a 440 mhz J pole ham radio antenna and she gets mad and won't talk to me for a while. Since 100% of everything advertised on FB that is too good to be true is a scam, I don't bother researching it.

 

How is it different @Cody Fousnaugh this is my question to you? Please explain since the root of the word is about polarity; how it is different.

 

Respectfully, I didn't ask what you could find online Cody, I asked what is your understanding. Also in your own words, why are the words hope, acceptance, etc., positive words? Who declared them to be positive? Do you mean they are words that indicate a better human way of being?

Think about the tragedic death of a child. That is a sad thing yet the word sad is one that connotates negative in today's world. Be happy be positive ya de ya de ya de so let''s all smile when a child dies. Is that what you are saying?

 

Electrically, negative or positive is taken from a reference point and can be called ground or common. Magnetically, the reference point is one of the poles.

In humans, the reference point is that which is the attitude of the observer.

To conservatives, liberals are negative and conservatives are positive in attitude. To liberals, conservatives are negative and liberals are positive in attitude.

 

I submit that the use of the polar opposite magnetic terms to describe human personalities and attitudes came to be the same time as political correctness was foist on the public. Let's discuss what the experts, psychologists, and controllers consider to be negative and positive connotations.

In the case of my 85-year-old neighbor lady.
+ My neighbor is a mature woman.
- My neighbor is an elderly woman.

After completing a long days labor job
+ That job was a challenge.
- That job was very difficult.

Describing a man that refuses to change a bad habit
+ Joe is a determined man.
- Joe is a stubborn man.


+ My neighbor is gay
- My neighbor is homosexual.

How we write or talk is used to place us in one or the other category. Instead of saying things in perfectly good descriptive words, we are forced in altering and in my opinion sugar coating the obvious. Complaining is considered negative. Never use the word complaint, but rather concern.

Why can't we just say it like it is? "She has a combative attitude." This explains it all whereas "She has a negative attitude" tells us nothing.

 

I never communicated well, especially under pressure. To be told that my opinion or anything about me was negative, I would feel it as an insult. I need to step back in such a situation and think about it. It is a social thing.
I used to tell my mentally challenged daughter that we all feel a social cohesiveness and seek it. The glue that holds society together. But I warned her that it gives others power who would misuse it. But she had to give them the power or not. If they hurt with words, it is their problem, not hers.
Sadly, most feel the sting of the power because that is part of the social instinct.
I have been fortunate to be able to go my own way most of my life. But as my friends are dying off, it is getting a bit lonely. To stand one's ground does not generally draw people to oneself. To share one's ground or to go half way often does.

 

@Yvonne Smith This is what I was getting at. When I read your friend is a negative thinker it puts all kinds of undesirable thoughts about her in my head. When you explain that she lives in a world of impossibilities, then I get a clear picture of her as a pessimist and that doesn't make her a bad person, it is just the way she is.

This was the point of my thread. I am trying to get people to use more descriptive words that fit the situation rather than one blanket catch-all word that is meant to be a put-down and label someone as a bad person.

What bothers me is when one on this forum asked me why I am always so negative without any example or further explanation. If I take an opposing viewpoint then I am a negative thinker. If I question something that a majority takes as the gospel, then I am negative.

So again I would like to know how the members of this forum define negative and positive as applied to human attitudes. Do they mean pessimist or optimistic, do they mean evil or holy, do they mean sour or sweet, etc?

I started this investigation 25 years ago and wrote an article for a psychology magazine. I was surprised that the majority responded with they used these magnetic/electrical terms rather than using bad and good. They felt it was more sensitive and scientific. They felt it rude to tell someone their attitude was bad and a bit ungrateful to tell another that their attitude was good. Negative and positive became power words that corporate motivational speakers made famous.