Yesterday I bought some lotto tickets (lottery/scratch-it, a variety of names) and I scratched off all the... foil? (what is that stuff... does anyone know?!) 

I noticed that before I even looked at the numbers to see if they matched enough for me to become a "Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!" I had this voice in my head that told me I definitely hadn't won. All I had done was scratched - I hadn't seem the numbers yet. Sure, statistics were always against me in a lotto ticket but why did I feel optimistic pre-scratch and so pessimistic post-scratch?

It was so curious because there was no evidence yet at all that I had not won.

It got me thinking... why do the little voices in our head almost always assume that the worst outcome or the most negative outcome will occur?