Most of us, to a degree, have an optimistic or a pessimist world view rather than a realist one. Research have showed that an optimistic outlook is associated with superior physical and mental health, increased longevity, greater achievement, persistence and less stress.

Optimism and pessimism rest on different thinking styles to explain life events and the optimist outlook can be learned in some degree.



Optimist Thinking

Optimists explain positive events as having happened because of them. They also see them as evidence that more positive things will happen in the future and in other areas of their lives.

Conversely, they see negative events as not being their fault. They also see them as being flukes that have nothing to do with other areas of their lives or future events.

For example, if an optimist gets a promotion, he will likely believe it's because he's good at his job, and will receive more benefits and promotion in the future.

If he's passed over for the promotion, it's likely because of extenuating circumstances, but will do better in the future.

If you are optimist, negative events are more likely to roll off of your back, but positive events affirm your belief in yourself, your ability to make good things happen now and in the future, and in the goodness of life.

Pessimist Thinking

Pessimists think in the opposite way. They believe that negative events are caused by them, believe that one mistake means more will come, and mistakes in other areas of life are inevitable.

They see positive events as flukes that are caused by things outside their control, and probably won't happen again.

A pessimist would see a promotion as a lucky event that probably won't happen again. Being passed over for promotion would probably be explained as not being skilled enough, and therefore expect to be passed over again.

To become more optimist

Research of Martin Seligman demonstrated that people tend to "learn" helpless and hopeless behavior after suffering a series of bad events. Research also showed that if you help a pessimist's change his outlook on the events that befall him, you can help him become an optimist.

Here's how you can learn to explain events in a more optimistic way.

- When something positive happens in your life, stop to analyze your thought process for a moment. Are you giving yourself due credit for making it happen? Think of all the strengths you possess and ways you contributed, both directly and indirectly, to make this event occur.

- Think of other areas of your life that could be affected by this good event. Also, think of how the strengths that you possess that caused this good thing to happen can also cause other positive events in your life. For example, what other good things can come from your intelligence, dedication, and ability to effectively prepare for tasks? Also imagine what future possibilities could be in store in consequence of your success.

- When negative events occur, think of the extenuating circumstances that could have contributed to this happening. If you do poorly on an exam, for example, were you especially busy in the preceding week? Were you somewhat sleep deprived? What outside circumstances contributed to your failure? Keep in mind that this isn't necessarily a reflection of personal weakness.