When prompted to be in a good mood, defensive pessimists performed poorly on a series of word puzzles. However, when they were put in bad mood, by being instructed to imagine how a scenario might have negative outcomes, they performed significantly better. This suggests that they harness their negative mood to motivate themselves to perform better.
Pessimism can also be more beneficial than optimism in situations where you are waiting for news about an outcome and there is no opportunity to influence the outcome such as waiting for the results of a job interview. When the outcome is not as good as optimists had hoped for, they take a bigger hit to their wellbeing and experience greater disappointment and negative mood than do your garden-variety pessimists.
Strangely, this type of pessimism can even help boost confidence. In one study that followed students throughout their university years, those who were defensive pessimists experienced significantly higher levels of self-esteem compared to other anxious students.
In fact, their self-esteem rose to almost the levels of the optimists over the four years of the study. Although these individuals will worry more about getting ill during an outbreak of an infectious disease compared to optimists, they are also more likely to take preventive action. For example, they might frequently wash their hands and seek medical care promptly when they experience any unusual symptoms.
When pessimists become chronically ill, their negative view of the future may be more realistic and encourage the sort of behaviours that healthcare professionals recommend for managing their illness. I conducted a study with two groups of people — those with either inflammatory bowel disease IBD or arthritis — and asked them to rate their future health on a simple scale ranging from poor to excellent. Yep, you guessed it! The pessimist goes straight to, 'This ain't gonna last.
The event is probably more to do with some special circumstance or luck. Our thinking is something like this for good events:. People who believe good events have permanent causes will try harder the next time. People who see temporary reasons for good events may give up even when they succeed So, now we've covered permanence, now let's move to pervasiveness. People pretty much fall into two boxes when it comes to setbacks or successes.
Those who globalize events and those who isolate events. When something bad happens, some people let that one problem bleed all over the rest of their life. For example, a person loses their job, and it affects their marriage, their relationships, their health, etc. Whereas others, can put their troubles into a box, and go about their lives even when one significant aspect their job, for example is crumbling. It comes down to this: people who make global explanations for their problems, give up on everything when a crash happens in one area.
People who make specific explanations may become helpless in that one area of their life, but get on with the rest. The thinking is something like this for bad events. And you guessed it again! When good things happen, it all gets reversed! The thinking is something like this for good events. Optimists, who make permanent and pervasive explanations for good events, as well as temporary and specific reasons for bad events, bounce back from troubles briskly, and get on a roll easily, when they succeed once.
Pessimists, who make permanent and pervasive explanations for setbacks, tend to collapse under pressure - both for a long time and across situations - and rarely get on a roll. So how do we improve optimism and hope?
We do this by disputing pessimistic thoughts. A method, developed by Dr. Is a terrifically easy-to-use model, I've used it with teams when they have hit a setback which looks like it might derail them.
Optimism vs Pessimism - it's over to you to decide which style of thinking you want to dominate your life. It's over to you to decide the results you want in your life. Optimism vs Pessimism. It is just a way of thinking.
What research has to say about optimism vs pessimism. Optimism vs pessimism - it's learned. Which means you can change it! The change was slow. Having a pessimistic outlook can at times be helpful There are times when having a pessimistic view is beneficial.
Optimism vs pessimism - the three crucial elements: Permanent, Pervasive, Personal. Optimism vs Pessimism: Permanence - When Bad Things Happen Let's take a look at how thinking is different for the two types when bad 'stuff' happens.
The Pessimist thinks The Optimist thinks Your boss tells you that your performance is not up to par. I may as well look for a new job". You overeat at a restaurant, while trying to lose weight. How do you react when bad things happen? Gets a promotion. Receives an award for outstanding work. Or do you immediately assume the worst and focus on the negative? When it comes to how we view the world, most of us fall into one of two categories: optimist or pessimist.
And according to experts, whatever category you fall into has a lot to do with your upbringing. If the atmosphere is relaxed and loving, children blossom even if they innately have a tendency towards anxiety.
But if the home environment is tense and filled with dysfunction, optimism is one of the first things to go. It's hard to be emotionally open and hopeful when that is not being modeled for you by your caretakers.
Studies show that optimism is about 25 percent inheritable, and then there are other factors that affect our positivity — like socioeconomic status — that are often out of our control. Yet that still leaves a solid amount of wiggle room for us to develop a more optimistic outlook as adults. D, a Stanford professor specializing in mindfulness in the workplace. Many equate optimism with happiness. Being optimistic allows you to handle stressful situations better, which reduces the harmful health effects of stress on your body.
Science shows that those with an optimistic outlook have better cardiovascular health and a stronger immune system, earn a higher income and have more successful relationships.
So what exactly is happening in the brain when we have a positive or negative response to a situation? Research shows that positive moods are associated with more left-side activity, while negative emotions, like being angry or depressed, are associated with more right-side activity. Davidson , director of the Laboratory for Affective Neuroscience at the University of Wisconsin, who has conducted numerous studies on the link between activity in the frontal lobes and emotions.
He found that only 15 percent of people have no inclination one way or the other. Another one of his studies published in The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology confirmed that these brain pattern activities are strong predictors of how we will react to certain situations. Volunteers with more left-side activity who watched amusing films had a far stronger pleasant response, while those with more right-side brain activity who watched distressing films had far stronger negative feelings.
Positive moods are associated with more left-brain activity, while negative emotions fire up the right side of the brain. The good news: By consciously altering your thought processes, you can literally re-wire your brain.
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