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Key points
- Declinism is a belief that things used to be better in the good old days.
- It includes a view that things are getting worse and romanticizes memories of the past.
- Declinism can be triggered by negative news reporting and political rhetoric.
- De-biasing through objective statistics may be a promising way to address declinism.
My late grandmother was a formidable woman. She raised three children almost single-handedly while working multiple jobs and volunteering in her local community. I loved her for her warm heart, ferocious nature, and ample supply of home-baked goods. Yet, I didn’t always see eye-to-eye with her, and there was one belief I found particularly irking: her firm assertion that everything used to be so much better in the past.
My grandma criticized anything, ranging from modern food options (too many additives) to modern equipment such as computers (expensive nonsense). Once, she threw out a calculator because she deemed it unnecessary. After losing the battle with her antiquated washing machine, she even reverted to boiling her linens in large metal pots on her little kitchen stove because “That’s how we used to do it in the good old days.”
What Is Declinism?
The worldview described above is a classic example of “declinism.” This phenomenon refers to a pessimistic thinking bias, which leads people to believe that things are constantly getting worse over time. The bias reflects an overly negative view of the current situation, and it usually goes hand in hand with tendencies to romanticize the past.
Individuals with declinist views typically bask in nostalgic recollections of what used to be while overlooking or discounting less-than-rosy memories from that time. An experimental investigation into people’s perceptions of personal life events, such as travels and celebration of family holidays, demonstrated that a “rosy view” is common in people’s recollections. Indeed, when asking travelers about their experiences of recent trips, they tended to downplay disappointing incidents and mostly recalled the positive aspects of their vacation.
Further research indicates that older adults, in particular, are inclined to recall past events more positively. Such idealized memories appear to serve as a source of emotional well-being.
What Are Some Causes of Declinism?
Negative news reporting often triggers declinism. Alarmist news stories of war, disaster, and suffering frequently dominate TV and newspaper headlines because they’re effective in grabbing attention. With doom and gloom plastered across each title page, it’s hardly surprising if people assume that things are going downhill.
Another trigger of declinism is political arguments that are strategically used to win over voters and build opposition to the ruling government. By describing the present situation as a downward spiral of misery, politicians often try to convince the public that a change in leadership is long overdue. Such political rhetoric is likely to be most effective if it coincides with negative events (financial hardship or natural disasters). One example of political declinism includes the Brexit campaign slogan “Take Back Control,” which implied the need to regain sovereignty to prevent further decline. Another example is Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again,” which suggested that things were better in the past.
Once the seed of declinism is planted, the notion is difficult to shake off. Confirmation bias can perpetuate the negative worldview because many individuals will seek out information to confirm ideas that the world is declining.
There are many reasons why declinism is so persuasive. It plays into the inherent human fear of change. Sticking with what’s known is easy. Doing things “the way we’ve always done them” provides comfort in an uncertain world. Additionally, declinism may even have evolutionary advantages. Pessimistic worrying about the world’s decline may motivate us to prepare for all eventualities and minimize personal risks.
How to Tackle Declinism
An overly negative outlook on the future can dampen the mood and lead to hopelessness. A mildly pessimistic view can help people to prepare for future risks. By contrast, a fatalistic belief in irrevocable deterioration is likely to lead to despair (and potentially irrational actions, judging by my grandma’s case). What can we do to tackle the bias?
Factual, statistical information might go a long way in tackling declinism. By providing objective facts about current levels of war, crime, poverty, and suffering and comparing those with data from previous years or decades, we might be able to offer compelling arguments to challenge overly negative worldviews. One possibility could be to harness the power of AI to provide relevant information and tailor it to address particular concerns. This is supported by recent research, which found chatbot dialogues to be effective for tackling misperceptions such as conspiracy beliefs.
I do wonder what my late grandma would have made of AI. Perhaps she would have been intrigued and impressed. More likely, she would have called it dangerous hocus-pocus and dumped the PC. May she rest in peace.
