Would you consider yourself a glass half empty or a glass half full person? If you consider yourself to be a pessimist, you could be facing higher risks of getting injured in a car accident. Researchers from China have found a connection between what’s known as negativity bias in drivers and the likelihood of being involved in a car accident.

Negativity bias refers to the tendency to focusing on what’s bad in a particular situation. Individuals who possessed strong negativity biases reported that they were involved in more car crashes when compared with individuals who did not classify themselves as having a negativity bias.

The experiment worked with 38 different drivers who had a minimum of three years of experience on the road. The drivers were then split into two separate groups based on their driving record, penalty points that had been accumulated during the previous year. This broke down to 15 dangerous drivers and 23 safe drivers.

Participants were then asked to determine whether a picture evoked positive, negative or neutral emotions. Individuals in the dangerous group took a little bit longer to identify the image when it was intended to be negative showing that individuals with a negativity bias could be more likely to be impacted in a car accident.

If you or someone you know has already been injured in a car accident, it is imperative to get medical attention sooner rather than later. Doing so could help to eliminate some of the pain associated with the accident and give you a treatment plan to improve your condition over the course of the future.