Optimism is a mental attitude where our thoughts are related
to a positive outcome must occasionally to our favor. Our dreams and our goals
are products of optimism which becomes reality when stay focused on. Sometimes optimism
leads to fantasy when someone thinks beyond reality or having overactive
imaginations, which is bound to happen mostly in kids. It brings positivity
into our lives.
On the other way round there is pessimism, the antithesis of
optimism, a mental attitude in which an undesirable outcome is anticipated from
a given situation. To describe an attitude as pessimistic need not, however,
mean that it involve no hope at all. It’s not just about negative thinking,
personality science has revealed it also includes a focus on outcomes – that is
what you expect will happen in the future. While optimists expect positive
outcomes will happen more often than not, pessimists expect negative outcomes
are more likely.
Winston Churchill once said, “A pessimist sees the
difficulty in every opportunity; and optimist sees the opportunity in every
difficulty.” Research shows that , on average, human beings are hardwired to be
more optimistic than not, it’s an admirable quality that can positively affect
a person’s mental and physical health. Some optimists consistently ascribe sympathetic
motives to others and interpret situations in the best possible light; others
simply disassociate their internal mood from external circumstances, no matter
how sticky. Being optimistic is not necessarily always the BEST strategy, though. Optimism doesn’t mean engaging in wishful or
fantastic thinking. It’s a way of looking at the world that gives more agencies
to the optimist as being at least partly responsible when life is going well.
A common idiom used to illustrate optimism versus pessimism
is a glass filled with water to the half way point: an optimist is said to see
the glass as half full, while a pessimist sees the glass as half empty. If you
always see the brighter side of things, you may feel that you experience more
positive events in your life than others, find yourself less stressed, and even
enjoy health benefits. In a study of 99 Harvard University students, those who
were optimistic at age 25 were significantly healthier at ages 45 and 60 than
those who where pessimists. In the analysis of explanatory styles of sport
teams, the more optimistic teams create more positive synergy and perform
better than the pessimistic ones. Optimists don’t give up easily as pessimists,
and they are more likely to achieve success because of it. They also tend to
experience less stress than pessimists or realists. Because they believe in
themselves and their abilities, they expect good things to happen and lived
significantly longer.
Going through the attitude of optimists and pessimists, we
see an explanatory style how they explain the events of their lives. Optimists
explain positive events as having happened because of them (internally). They see
evidence that more positive things will happen in the future as they conversely
see negative events as not being their fault (external). Meanwhile pessimists
think in the opposite way. They believe that negative events are caused by then
(internally). They believe that one mistake means more will come (stable)
because they are the cause. They see positive events as flukes (local) that
they are caused by things outside their control (external) and probably won’t
happen again. For example if an optimist gets a promotion, that particular
person would believe it’s because he/she is good at the job and will receive more
benefits and promotion in the future, meanwhile a pessimist would see that
promotion as a lucky event that probably won’t happen again and may even worry
that he/she would now be under scrutiny (examination). Being passed over for
promotion would probably be explained as not being skilled enough. That person
would therefore, expect to be passed over again. So the attitude concept of
optimism imposes positivism in our lives which drive happiness and create coexistence.
Tags:
Psychology