Optimism’s relationship with well-being and satisfaction with life has been well studied, even before positive psychology was seen as a major topic in psychology. Optimism is positively correlated with life satisfaction (Szczesniak & Soares, 2011). A students degree of optimism is a predictor of satisfaction with life and distress in college (Brissette, Scheier, & Carver, 2002; Yalcin, 2011). Newlyweds who were higher in optimism solved problems more constructively, had lower decline in marital well-being in the first year of marriage, and were better able to handle relationship trouble (Andersson, 2012a; Neff & Geers, 2013). A husbands optimism is associated with marital satisfaction early on while a wife’s optimism is associated with greater …show more content…
Optimists are more likely to complete college with only 15% dropping out in first year compared to 30% of pessimists (Solberg Nes, Evans, & Segerstrom, 2009). Furthermore, optimism of law students predicted higher earnings after 10 years of graduating (Stegerstrom, 2007). Socially, optimists tend to work harder in their relationships and have broader social networks with people from different education, age, and racial group (Andersson, 2012b; Rand, Martin, & Shea, 2011). On top of that, people seem to be more accepting of optimistic viewpoints and social interactions with optimistic people are rated pore positively (Helweg-Larson, Sadeghain, &Webb, 2002; Raikkonen, Matthers, Flory, Owens, & Gumps, …show more content…
There are differences and problems that still need to be clarified. For the sake of this article, optimism and pessimism are shown as one dimension, with someone low in optimism being high in pessimism. However, there are contradictory ideas about whether optimism and pessimism are unidimensional or two dimensions. There is evidence to support the theory that they are unidimensional with low optimism being the same as high pessimism and vise versa (Rauch, Schweizer, & Moosebougger, 2007). However, there is evidence to support the theory that they are two separate dimensions and people can be high or low in both optimism and pessimism (Herzberg, Glaesmer, & Hoyer, 2006). Additionally, optimism studies are largely done on European Americans so there is no clarification on the universality of the results. People from eastern cultures experience more positive emotions when they are experiencing negative emotions so they might be more optimistic than western
An article written by Kendra Cherry states, “By nurturing positive emotions, even in the face of terrible events, people can reap both short-term and long-term rewards, including managing stress levels, lessening depression, and building coping skills that will serve them well in the future” (Cherry). Optimism has allowed for people to deal with conflicts in a healthy way. Neuroscientist Tali Sharot in her book The Science of Optimism: Why We’re Hard-Wired for Hope argues that optimism provides an adaptive advantage. According to her, “Expecting our future to be good reduces stress and anxiety, which is good for our health. Researchers studying heart attack patients have found that optimists were more likely than nonoptimistic patients to take vitamins, eat low-fat diets, and exercise, thereby reducing their overall coronary risk” (Popova). Dealing with conflicts positively is better for your health and it decreases bad health
planned behavior, if we want to predict a behavior we need to know three things: (1) attitude
In this Ted Talk cognitive neuroscientist Tali Sharot shared with us the concept of optimism bias and the research that she has been doing on the very topic. She spoke about it as being an illusion. Her description of optimism bias is that we tend to think we will have more positive things happen in our life than bad one. We overestimate the good and underestimate the bad. Optimism bias is something that people throughout the world experience from young to old people. She gave marriage as an example of this kind of bias and stated that forty percent of people that get married will get a divorce but people who just got married will say that there it is unlikely they will end up divorcing. Despite the facts people
Some people argue that happiness helps make good decisions because happy people strive for the best result. David states, “[Positive emotions] help build vital social, physical, and cognitive resources that lead to positive outcomes and affiliations” (124). David points out that with the right amount of positivity, people make good judgments. The author acknowledges that happiness can have benefits, but she states that too much happiness could hurt human development because the mind does not consider the consequences of an action. Julie Norem, a psychology professor, points out, “’If you’re a pessimist who really thinks through in detail what might go wrong, that’s a strategy that’s likely to work very well for you’” (qtd. in Wallis). She explains
Lang, explains through a series of scientific studies that pessimism can sometimes be a better form of seeing life than optimism. Throughout the article studies are being done on different age groups, the youngest group always shows a “sunny” outlook on life while the middle aged group is logical and realistic. Optimism has shown health complications and mental issues in older people (Lang, 2013). I usually do not think negatively about life, but as an improvement I should start seeing life for what it truly is, unpredictable and inconvenient in order to prevent a distasteful lifestyle in the
What is a character trait that everyone needs in order to overcome obstacles? In the novel Dark Inside by Jeyn Roberts, five characters named Mason, Aries, Chickadee, Evans, and Michael try to survive in an apocalyptic world with optimism. An earthquake strikes each character’s neighbourhood and many citizens die as a result. Although these five characters do not know each other and are situated in different locations in the beginning, they eventually encounter one another. Their main goal is to survive this obnoxious disaster. Each character goes through a different adventure optimistically, and perseveres despite the myriad of problems they face. Therefore, the novel Dark Inside shows that
“Optimism is a happiness magnet. If you stay positive good things, and people will be drawn to you.” Mary Lou Retton says, driving home a topic brushed by schools and parents. Happiness is something that everyone strives for and without a goal so large many things would be completely meaningless. To some people happiness is an amazing house with cars and money but to others, happiness is a loving, healthy family, a roof over their heads with clothes and food. When a large figure in society or even a community shows their beliefs through examples, it is hard not to follow or at least be interested. When something interesting is going on with hands on parts, or even just a couple jokes it makes a big difference.
In this video, Achor (2011)discusses how instead of simply trying to help or cure individuals with some problem in their life, positive psychology tries to take average people and find ways to reach their full potential. Many people believe that if they change the circumstances in their environment, they can generate greater amounts of happiness and well-being in their lives. Achor (2011) maintains that only about ten percent of long term happiness can be predicted by the external world, a whopping ninety percent is dependent upon what happens within our minds; and by changing the way people process the world around them, it can ultimately change how they perceive reality. Approximately twenty-five percent of job success can be predicted by
In addition, this study hypothesized that if one mediated the effect of optimism on health outcomes by removing the effect of a person’s affectivity inclination, negative or positive, that optimism would not be shown as the correlation variable. Rather the authors hypothesized,
Pessimists tends to think about all the negatives the future will bring thus making them think more carefully and to take health and safety precautions. Also, pessimists being have better relationships with others due to their expectations being low to begin with. If you start out a relationship thinking about the negatives and what might go wrong, you will automatically try to prevent it from happening thus keeping good healthy relationships with the people around you. For example, I occasionally have anxiety attacks and research has proven that pessimism can help provide protection against anxiety. Pessimists will think about all the things they could do wrong. For instance they might think of how they could trip over that stick or spill that glass of milk. Because of this thought process, pessimists apt to think of things they can do to prevent such
Cambridge Dictionary (2016) defines Optimism as “the quality of being full of hope and emphasizing the good parts of a situation, or a belief that something good will happen” Cambridge Dictionary, 2016. To me, being optimistic can help any situation. For example, I work around 25 hours per week whilst studying full time, which results in me being stressed. Having a more positive behaviour towards my studies and work has helped me immensely with reducing my stress levels. Being a student, it can be very hard to deal with getting bad feedback or not finding the resources you need to complete a great assignment. I use my optimism to
The person’s genetics and childhood or the person’s family and culture are things that influence a person’s happiness. Happiness is a mindset that is created by a person’s surroundings and their origins.
Being optimistic is the main principle for most people. We may often hear the statement about “be an optimist, not a pessimist!” shouted by people. Sometimes you do it for yourself too. When facing such a failure or problem, this will not only help to relieve your heart. Being optimistic will help someone to be healthy in physical and mental. An optimist will find the best way in any circumstance and hope for every good thing can come to him/her. You may have gone through thousands of hard times. However, if you are a born optimist then you will not care of anything destructing you.
Optimism is another trait or attribute displayed by Type Bs, Cs, and hardy personalities (see below). Optimists are more inclined to appraise situations as challenging, whereas Type A personalities will appraise the same situation as a threat. Optimists tend to focus on what they can do to change or improve a stressful situation, rather than what they are unable to do. They are content in what they do accomplish, and do not focus on their failures (Schafer, 2000; Morris & Maisto, 2005).
Optimistic and pessimistic attitudes constantly affect the outcome of people's lives. In my life, I try to keep an optimistic attitude about the things I do because I know it will help lead me to more desirable ends. There have been many situations in which optimism has helped me through difficult times. Two areas in particular have provided me optimistic experiences: athletics