When we imagine how things could be, we imagine how things could be better, even though it's easier to come up with ways things could be worse

Mastroianni, Adam, and Ethan Ludwin-Peery. 2022. “Things Could Be Better.” PsyArXiv. November 14. doi:10.31234/osf.io/2uxwk

Abstract: Eight studies document what may be a fundamental and universal bias in human imagination: people think things could be better. When we ask people how things could be different, they imagine how things could be better (Study 1). The bias doesn't depend on the wording of the question (Studies 2 and 3). It arises in people's everyday thoughts (Study 4). It is unrelated to people's anxiety, depression, and neuroticism (Study 5). A sample of Polish people responding in English show the same bias (Study 6), as do a sample of Chinese people responding in Mandarin (Study 7). People imagine how things could be better even though it's easier to come up with ways things could be worse (Study 8). Overall, it seems, human imagination has a bias: when people imagine how things could be, they imagine how things could be better.