Declinism: Is the world actually getting worse?

Abstract

This article investigates the reasons behind the widespread belief that the world is in decline and argues that this belief is likely due to psychological factors such as the reminiscence bump and positivity effect. The reminiscence bump refers to the tendency for people to remember events from late childhood or early adulthood more vividly and fondly, while the positivity effect refers to the tendency for people to remember positive events over negative events. The article also looks at potential explanations for why people might think that things are worse now than in the past, such as the negative bias, where people are more likely to remember and dwell on negative events, and the increase in rates of depression, which can lead to a more negative outlook on life. Additionally, the article acknowledges that there is evidence to suggest that in some ways, the world is indeed getting better, such as increases in life expectancy, decreases in violence, and improvements in health and education. – AI-generated abstract.