The persistent illusion that the past was better
In 2015, 70% of Britons agreed that "things are worse than they used to be" — even though they were richer, healthier, and longer-living than ever before in history.
This is declinism: the cognitive bias that leads us to believe society is declining, the past was better, and the future is bleak.
But is the world really getting worse? Let's test your perceptions against the data.
Here's how your beliefs compare to the actual data:
Rosy Retrospection: We remember the past more positively than it was. Negative memories fade faster (the Fading Affect Bias), leaving us with rose-tinted recollections.
Negativity Bias: Negative information has more psychological impact. News media, which focuses on problems and disasters, amplifies this effect.
Availability Heuristic: Dramatic negative events (terrorism, plane crashes) are memorable and overestimated; gradual positive trends (declining poverty, rising literacy) are invisible.
Nostalgia: We're nostalgic for our youth — a time when, by definition, we were healthier, more energetic, and saw the world with fresh eyes.
The term was popularized by Oswald Spengler's "The Decline of the West" (1918). Modern research: Pinker (2018), Rosling (2018), Roser (Our World in Data).