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The times when optimism really pays off are when you are faced with
a life problem, challenge or setback. An optimistic thinking style
at these times will increase your resilience, maintain hope and
improve your chances of a successful or acceptable outcome.
Pessimism will tend to make you feel more anxious, depressed and
hopeless, none of which will help you overcome obstacles, deal with
tough situations or persevere with difficult projects.
"I'm not a pessimist, I'm a realist."
Apart from the endless, moebius-like philosophical debate on reality
that could be entered into at this point, there is another, much
more pertinent reason why optimism beats pessimism any day.
There is some research to show that pessimists have a more accurate
take on some situations than optimists. But not the sort of situations
that really matter.
In a study of students after an exam, those who were shown to have
a pessimistic thinking style guessed their performance more accurately
than the optimists. All well and good.
But what about the ambiguous situation presented by a relationship
difficulty for example? While the pessimist might have a more 'accurate'
take on the reality of the situation, the optimist will tend to
persevere, and so is much more likely to overcome the problem.
The pessimist is more likely to give up early. So who is better
off? Well, as long as you think relationships are worthwhile (and
you'd have to be a major pessimist to think they are not), the optimist
of course!
And this applies in all sorts of uncertain situations - the stuff
of which life is made.
Usefulness, not Accuracy
The thing is, optimism is simply much more useful than pessimism
in the sphere of emotions, relationships and life in general. As
mentioned above, learning optimism makes life more enjoyable. Period.
Optimism tends to engender pleasant emotions, while pessimism creates
unpleasant ones. And that, in essence, makes for an enjoyable life.
At least I think it does.
Return to Psychology Articles
Related: Learned Optimism by Martin Seligman. An incredibly important book that includes a self-test for optimism levels.
Article: The Pitfalls of Positive Thinking and Affirmations
