The article by Felicia Pratto and Oliver P. John explores the phenomenon of automatic vigilance, where individuals are naturally drawn to negative social information, even when their attention is focused elsewhere. Through three experiments, the authors demonstrate that subjects take longer to name the colors of undesirable traits compared to desirable ones, indicating that negative stimuli capture more attention. This effect is consistent across experiments and is not mediated by word length or frequency. The authors also show that subjects have better incidental recall of undesirable traits, ruling out a perceptual defense mechanism. Additionally, they rule out the base-rate explanation for the negativity effect, as the perceived frequency of traits does not significantly influence attentional capture. The findings support the hypothesis that negative information is automatically processed and given more attention due to its valence, rather than its informational value or diagnosticity.The article by Felicia Pratto and Oliver P. John explores the phenomenon of automatic vigilance, where individuals are naturally drawn to negative social information, even when their attention is focused elsewhere. Through three experiments, the authors demonstrate that subjects take longer to name the colors of undesirable traits compared to desirable ones, indicating that negative stimuli capture more attention. This effect is consistent across experiments and is not mediated by word length or frequency. The authors also show that subjects have better incidental recall of undesirable traits, ruling out a perceptual defense mechanism. Additionally, they rule out the base-rate explanation for the negativity effect, as the perceived frequency of traits does not significantly influence attentional capture. The findings support the hypothesis that negative information is automatically processed and given more attention due to its valence, rather than its informational value or diagnosticity.