On the other hand, people who are more pessimistic are more likely to use avoidance coping, which involves denying or disengaging from the problem-a style of coping that is generally found to be less effective. Psychologists have found that people who are more optimistic tend to use a style of coping known as approach coping, which involves engaging with the problem and is generally considered to be a more adaptive coping style. Why is optimism good for mental health? One possibility is that it may help us cope with stressful events more effectively. Research has also found that higher optimism predicts lower levels of depression among caregivers. Another study found that new moms who were more optimistic before giving birth were less likely to experience post-partum depression. For example, in a study of college students, those who were more optimistic at the beginning of college reported being less distressed at the end of the semester. Optimism is correlated with better mental health. Although there are some exceptions, most studies of optimism have shown that being optimistic is actually good for us: optimists have better mental health and may even live longer. Is It Better to Be Optimistic?ĭoes seeing the world through rose-colored glasses end up benefitting us? Psychologists studying this question have looked at whether having higher levels of optimism is related to better physical and mental health. If you’re interested in learning your level of optimism, you can take a short quiz here. Participants are asked whether they agree with items measuring optimism and pessimism (including the example sentences I used at the beginning of this article). Researchers often measure optimism and pessimism with the Life Orientation Test. However, studies measuring people’s optimism levels at different time points have found that, although there is some stability in optimism levels over time, it also appears that some people change-becoming either more or less optimistic as time passes. Psychologists see optimism as a personality trait-in other words, something that is relatively stable and consistent over time. Studies have found that, on average, people tend to be more optimistic than pessimistic. Instead, optimism is a mindset that we can cultivate that empowers us to cope with life’s challenges (in fact, as I’ll discuss below, some research suggests that optimism may actually help us cope with stressful events in more beneficial ways). Importantly, and contrary to what you might think, optimism doesn’t need to mean denying or avoiding negative events. Although we often talk about people being either optimists or pessimists, researchers actually tend to view optimism and pessimism as a spectrum-someone might be more optimistic, more pessimistic, or somewhere in the middle. Optimism relates to how people see the future: people who are optimists expect good things to happen to them across a variety of domains in their lives. Instead, optimism is a mindset that we can cultivate that empowers us to cope with life’s challenges. Optimism doesn’t need to mean denying or avoiding negative events. In today’s post, I’ll review what optimism is, explain its potential benefits, discuss whether pessimism can ever be beneficial, and suggest ways that more pessimistic people can work to cultivate optimism. Researchers studying psychology have investigated how positive emotions benefit us, why we should focus on our strengths instead of dwelling on perceived weaknesses, and how positive psychology can help us to be more resilient in times of stress. Optimism is an important aspect of positive psychology (an area of psychology that looks at how individuals can become happier). More optimistic people-those who more strongly agree with example #1-tend to have higher well-being, better health, and may even be more successful. Researchers who study optimism have found that our answers to questions like these have a wide variety of consequences. “If something can go wrong for me, it will.”.“In uncertain times, I usually expect the best.”.Which of the following sentences best describes you?
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