The folks over at UnitedAcademics.com Magazine pose an interesting question…
Should We Be Optimistic?
If ignorance is bliss, then optimism must be euphoria. Thanks to a mechanism called the optimism bias, humans are pretty much incapable of applying basic risk statistics to their own lives. We know smoking causes cancer, but we don’t expect it to happen to us. We find a lump on our body and we tell ourselves it’s probably nothing.
In his 2011 book “Thinking, Fast and Slow”, Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman notes that “people tend to be overly optimistic about their relative standing on any activity in which they do moderately well.” This ‘optimism bias’ generates the illusion of control [1]: the idea that we are in control of our lives. Bad things only happen to others.
You can see where this bright outlook on life can cause trouble. Wearing seatbelts? Not necessary. Opening a savings account? Maybe later. Being overly optimistic in life puts us at risk. In addition, people who show cheerful, optimistic personality traits during childhood, have a shorter life expectancy than their more serious counter parts. On the other hand, optimists are more psychologically resilient, have stronger immune systems, and live longer on average than more reality-based opposites. So who’s better off in life; the optimist or the pessimist? And who’s reality comes closest to the truth?
According to the “depressive realism” proposition, people who suffer from (moderate) depression actually have a more accurate perception of reality. They are less affected by the illusion of control and therefore better capable of estimating their chances in life. In other words, people with depression are not pessimists, they are realists.
(Hey! Looks full to me!)
When you tend to attribute positive events to yourself and negative events to others, that is called a self-serving bias [2]. This is the case for most people. When you believe you are responsible for negative events rather than positives ones, you show a non self-serving bias – something that is often seen in people who suffer from depression.
Humans, apparently, have developed a way to better cope with negative emotions. Their rose-colored glasses cause them to view the world just a little better than it actually is. But without them we would never get anything done, says neuroscientist and author of “The Optimism Bias” Tali Sharot: “Optimism pushes us to take chances – attempt a new job, a new relationship. It also acts as a self-fulfilling prophecy, as believing a goal is attainable makes it more likely to be.”
Being optimistic is necessary in order to get anything done in life. Without the belief we can accomplish anything, we will not even try to do so. Still, holding on to the belief that everything will be OK in the future does not mean that we should ignore the things that are shitty today.
That, I think, is truly being realistic.
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[1] The tendency to claim more responsibility for successes than failures. It may also manifest itself as a tendency of people to evaluate ambiguous information in a way that is beneficial to their interests
[2] The tendency to overestimate one’s degree of influence over other external events.
The last time David Rakoff was on The Daily Show he said something about the stats on cancer wards. People who faced their illness optimistically and tried to be kind and cheerful fared no better than those who were bitter and mean about it. Neither lived any longer than the other, other just wished the mean ones would die sooner.
(Jon and the audience laughed too.) I have found when you face life realistically (writing a will, pre-planning a funeral, etc. so your family doesn’t have to cope with that crap when the day comes), people place the diagnosis of depression on you. Realistic people don’t deserve the label of depression at all. The people who don’t do these things are the ones who should be labelled in negative ways.
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/tali_sharot_the_optimism_bias.html check this link out – Tali Sharot talking about the optimism bias on TED.
Personally, I think regardless of whether optimism helps in reality or not, it’s down to the individual and the way they want to spend their waking hours. I’m in favour of ignorant bliss. Feeling like you’re hopeful about the future is a nice feeling, regardless of if it comes true or not!
As long as your optimism is grounded somewhat in reality, yes. I agree. Optimism keeps us going and growing! I don’t mind rose-coloured glasses now and again, provided I don’t step into a man hole as a result.
Reblogged this on Voiceless in America.
While chatting with a friend the other day, she said someone asked her if she could do anything in the world and be guaranteed success, what would it be? – implying that she should then go ‘do’ whatever that was.
This is often cited as some sort of guidance for life, but the problem is, you are NOT guaranteed success based on your desire to do such-and-such. I mean how many of those American Idol auditioners could use a real friend to say. “Hey, dude, you really can’t sing.”
I agree. Optimism should be grounded in reality. Unreasonable optimism only leads in disappointment. Another thing people say that drives me nuts is, “The job goes to the person who wants it the most!” What a bunch of tosh. I could want a star position with the national ballet company more than anyone else in the world. But I’ll never get it. And how many times have you heard about the guy who applied for a job he didn’t really want, got the position and then turned it down?
Anyway… thank you so much for your comments! Please keep reading and providing input!
‘In other words, people with depression are not pessimists, they are realists.’
I always say this when people accuse me of being a pessimist, and I just get laughed at – it’s good to know someone else agrees with me!
I’m with you, Deborah!