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Making Yourself Miserable to Succeed?
PeterAitch writes "Nature is reporting that expecting the worst - emotional cushioning - does not usually make you feel any better when you flunk or flop. The reported study indicates that you are just making yourself miserable. On the flip-side, people who are anxious are more likely to motivate themselves better to prepare for the forthcoming ordeal - defensive pessimists. Those with a generally sunny outlook on life expect to succeed and tend to deny responsibility when they perform badly."
I'm not going to click on that link. The article's going to suck anyway.
Breakfast served all day!
Works with movies anyhow. I tend to enjoy them more if I don't expect too much.
tend to deny responsibility when they perform badly
Ah yes, "blamestorming".
Is it just me, or is science starting to do not much more than gather statistical confirmation for the evident facts of life? I mean, anyone can tell that this is how it is; does it matter that we know with what confidence level each trope covers its portion of the behavioral spectrum?
I have always thought that this guy has a point. Now it is scientifically proven. Time to buy some of the Y2006 demotivators http://www.despair.com/. Yess... The Dreamer above my desk definitely looks like the best way towards success...
Baker's Law: Misery no longer loves company. Nowadays it insists on it
http://www.sigsegv.cx/
Behind my bolt-locked door the Eagle and the Serpent are at war in me,
the Serpent fighting for blind desire, the Eagle for clarity.
What strange prizes these battles bring,
these hectic joys, these weary blues.
Puffed up and strutting when I think I win,
down and shaking when I think I lose.
In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
Dostoyevsky was right all along.
I'm going for first post! And if I don't make it, then, well, it's not my fault.
This just makes despair.com so true.
http://saveie6.com/
Those who stressed out and did well, or those who kicked back and blamed failure on others?
So they think that it sucks to think you're going to fail unless it makes you anxious enough to study.
How do they get to making that leap when the study they did didn't afford people an opportunity to prepare in a way that they'd be able to perform better?
That whole thing sounded like they were taking what they learned -- the concept that if you think you can't, you can't -- and appended to it their own thoughts, unrelated to the study, to make people feel better.
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I, for one, welcome our happy, upbeat, responsibility-denying overlords! May they ever smile at whatever disaster unfolds before them! They don't need to avoid any prophesies of doom - they can embrace them and enjoy the support of all they bring with them into an unknowable oblivion. Hooray!
It's not pessimism if you WANT the world to end!
[/insanity]
Really though, this article reads much akin to a classic story of political gamesmanship. People generally would rather be lead to a horrific war on words of false hope than actually deal with the uncertainty of complex politics. Labelling optimism and pessimism as stark good or bad is a misleading guide to live your life - one should rather feed one's emotions as they need to, while striving to look at reality as clearly as one can. It'll never be an easy game to play, but it's easier to improve one's outlook through honesty than many would suspect.
Ryan Fenton
Well, I would post... but it just ain't gonna get modded...
But then again, that's why I'm expecting to worst...
If it doesn't work out, dude, it wasnt your fault.
It was the mods'. You had a "sunny outlook on life"...
I fucking knew it!
I was very miserable. I thought I was going to fail those exams.
Yet I passed as one of the top students in the state.
Some people work better under stress and others don't. Period.
This is me. I worry. I worry a lot. Sometimes I wonder if I worry too much. For me it is not a defense mechanism against the fear of failure, it is a defense mechanism against failure itself. I dwell on every possible way of failure, this leads to me mentally preparing for failure and planning on actually avoiding failure. After my whatever went well, I look back a wonder if I wasted too much energy, as things NEVER turn out as bad as I was prepared for. But I guess that is how defensive pessimism prevents failure. I do worry about that mortality thing, and I fear all my preparations will be for naught.
P.S. The only downside to defensive pessimism is learning how to turn it off. On vacation, I try to just let things happen. Also during recreation, you must turn this off. DP doesn't let you actually fully experience any event because you are too busy planning. Meditation or a good run can help you turn that little Nazi in my head off, when the goose-stepping is not needed.
I think the lesson is not to make yourself miserable all the time so that you will face each challenge with depressive and pessimistic resolve, but to know when to be light-hearted and fluffy and when to get back to business -- Obviously, when individuals are optimists without a basis for such, then they will be less equipped to deal with situations and failure, but it they are optimists tempered with realism, logic, and fact, they will be more likely than a pessimist tempered with realism, logic, and fact to successfully move on; the important point being that their optimism has to be grounded in the real world, not denying reality but instead merely looking for the greater good in the world.
games journalism blog
the spillign erroes are NOT my fault, it's thist website!
those with a generally sunny outlook on life expect to succeed and tend to deny responsibility when they perform badly.
This kind of reminds me of Martin Seligman's book "Learned Optimism." Among other things it discusses research on how different kinds of people attribute their successes and failures. It's not at all "pop" psychology. Seligman was (is?) a research psychologist at Penn State. Definitely worth a read.
You like your Macintosh better than me, don't you Dave? Dave? Can you hear me Dave?
Sadly, this means there is no simple advice about whether we ought to expect the worst.
So keep doing whatever you usually do, seems to be the advice here.
Unless, of course, you're a pessimist. In that case, you probably think you're wrong and you'll change to thinking positively, but the positive thinkers already thought they were right, so they'll keep thinking positive... So, I predict, everyone will soon be optimists, if this study gets around.
I'm pretty confident that I'm correct... See, it's already begun!
CC Licensed Serialized Story and Podcast: Ingenioustries
Bush, the ultimate defensive pessimist
Please don't mod me down. I am paranoid that you are going to mod me down and ruin my Karma. So I beg you, please please don't mod me down. If you do, I'll tell your mother, you filthy me-hating slimebag!
Table-ized A.I.
Once again I disagree with the study conclusion after RTFA.
Let's examine what they did:
1. They gave people a "medium" practice session.
2. They asked people to guess how they did on it (i.e. rate how they think the will perform on "medium" task.)
3. They gave 1/2 of the group "easy" tests and the other half "hard" tests.
4. They asked the individuals to rate themselves and explain the situation.
confident failures: They concluded that those who expected to do well decided to blame the test when they did poorly on the "hard" test? No kidding?!?! They pulled a bait and switch on them and gave them something completely different than they were asked to rate themselves. They have every right to blame the test. It's like playing a pool shark.
disappointing success: They also concluded that those who expected to do poorly didn't feel any better when they did well on the "easy" tests. No kidding ?!?! People don't feel better when you "let them win." These people also felt slighted.
The whole testing methodology is flawed. Call me when they do a real study on the matter.
I wonder if old Knobby Walsh was wrong when he told us that the best philosophy was to "Hope for the best, expect the worst, and take whatever comes".
"Optimism is an accident waiting to happen".
Don't expect decent research to pop up anywhere except on some esoteric journal somewhere that nobody but other researchers read. People like stupid science, like why does your breath stink, or why you get tired on thanksgiving.
I feel that this applies to life in general.
:-)
For example: The first time I moved out of my mothers basement, age of 16, I did not have a job. I would do web development, PC Repair, etc on the side while still trying to make it through high school. I found that the first two months were terrible. Around then I was literally crying myself to sleep due to stress. But, I found that this stress motivated me to be more productive, and allowed me to set and achieve higher goals. Around mid-month 3, I managed to make near $3000 in 2 weeks. Which is absolutely amazing, concidering I live in a small town, Saskatchewan, Canada. I found that this was a huge confidence boost. A couple months later I found a new apartment with a roommate, to help keep bills lower, etc. Because I didn't have to pay as much, I felt like I wasn't achieving as much as I should have. I started to make less and less money due to, well, laziness.
Moral is: Stress + Bills == Desire to work and achieve goals
When I once failed a exam, I became REALLY depressed. I didn't want to do anything, and actually wanted to feel myself even worse. So I started preparing for the next exam and found out that my concentration was much better that it usually is. I got excellent marks for all exams following the one I failed.
Following that event, I sometimes deliberately tried to force depression on myself when I wanted to play UT2004 instead of studying. Beleive me, it works. It worked so well that I prepared three times more the needed material and the the professor asked me why I did much more than really needed.
Life's a bitch, and then you die!
-AC
I used to share the defensive pessimists view throughout my teenage life. Confidence was low in general life, borderline agrophobic, I was not miserable but I was never happy. I could thank my new outlook on life on my medication but I put it down to wisdom and experience. If you expect to succeed in something, you will. If you do fail, accept responsibility for it and fix it, don't hide from your problems, Attack them head on. Simple truths about life like if you don't have a solution to a problem, you are just complaining about it. This overall attitude about life has helped me go from an entry level position in a medium publishing company to operations manager (manufacturing) in 3 months. It pains me to see people with the same problems and attitudes that I once shared. But sadly, This outlook on life must be discovered first hand. This is not saying that I don't get stressed but I never feel guilty for failing, I always feel responsible for my actions. I could continue ranting but it's my day off, I've just woke up and Anarchy Online awaits :D
The pessimist says: damn, I hit rock bottom, it can get any worse...
The optimist replies: yes, it can.
"It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." -- Prof. Dumbledore
An australian bartender I know always says, "cheer up, mate. It's just gonna get worse". Words of wisdom.
----
Squirrel
optimism, pessimism not as effective as realism
man, i sure wish someone would give me a big grant, eh
To paraphrase Benjamin Franklin (whom history has consistently under-rated),
"Expect the worst. If all goes well, you'll be pleasantly surprised."
I prefer to think of myself as a pessimistic optimist.
A Passionate Independent Musician
Give me a break. How can anyone draw conclusions about human nature from a questionnaire of 80 students?
"Studies" are meaningless unless they're done on the kind of scale that allows you to draw realistic conclusions from the sample group.
There is some evidence that happiness may lead to success: http://whyfiles.org/shorties/193success_happy/
Hence, it may be worth the extra effort to bring yourself to happiness to improve your chances for success, health and strong relationships.
it's what my kintergarden teacher always told me! being happy makes people happy sp you can be happy and happy people are better happy! sunshine happy yayz!
If you're pessimistic, you're either going to be right or pleasantly suprised. If you're optimistic, you're either going to get let down or you'll be right.
The team then gave half the students problems that were slightly easier than the first set, while half were given more difficult puzzles. This ensured that the students' performances would either exceed, or fall short of, their expectations.
These people [the optimistic group], who see the world through rose-tinted spectacles, also tend to deny responsibility for their poor performance. Marshall and Brown showed this in a second part of the study, in which students were also asked whether they felt their test performance was a reflection of their ability. The 'rose-tinted' group who did badly in the test tended to believe that it was not.
How is this a "rose-tinted" interpretation? These people are correct to deny responsibility for poor performance, since they performed below their expectations only because they were tricked into doing a harder problem set than expected. I think the optimistic group had a pretty clear interpretation.
When I was in college, there was an Optimist Club that met in our cafeteria once a month or so. I always talked about starting a pessimist club to make fun of their club, but I never got enough motivation to do it because I figured I'd never be able to get anyone to join.
Authority questions you. Return the favor.
Those emo kids may be on to something.
I'm not going to click on that link. The article's going to suck anyway.
I clicked it. And it sucked.
Somehow I think this is all your fault.
1) the economy: the government is lying to us about the value of our money and pretending that the economy can pay off all its debt when it can't. Even worse, when they try to print money to pay it off - they will drive up prices, but not income or pay - so the debt problem will become worse. Got Gold?
2) copyrights and patnets - and all the industries that bend you over and butter you up into using proprietary products. While there are always these glossy, we'll save your life and make it sooo perfect, if you let us sucker you into using our crap. In the long run, those who choose the proprietary route for products and carrers are screwed 90% of the time. Even worse are artists and writers who actually believe that copyrights can make them money. They are screwed 99.9% of the time.
3) social security - if you believe that SSI is going to relieve more than 1% of your retirement needs, then I have brooklyen bridge shares that I need to sell you.
4) public education - right now the state of CA spends up to 11K per student. Even if you discounted every special needs student for 100,000 bucks - the cost per student is still more than 90% of best private prep schools in the state. Why do the public school teachers have more students in private schools than parents in any other profession? Why do many high quality private college prep boarding schools cost less than gehto high?
5) social medicine - please, don't make me go there.
You marry a bitch
then
She divorces you
then
You pay Alimony the rest of your life
then
You die.
then
She gets all your shiny stuffs
Diplomacy is the art of saying "Nice doggie" until you can find a rock. Will Rogers
One thing that I've noticed is that computer programmers often come off as being "negative" but I think this is a mischaracterization. A programmer by nature, seeks to "find bugs" and this mentality manifests itself in a way where we constantly look for things that are wrong to correct them. This doesn't always work well interpersonally. I've been accused of being negative, when I consider the act of finding problems and fixing them to be a very optimistic, positive practice. The problem is, your average person has a severe aversion towards being made aware of his/her mistakes or ways in which things could be improved. At least in the business world, the value of criticism can ultimately be qualified, but interpersonally, it's a much more difficult, more complicated process that often backfires.
I think people confuse criticism with negativity too much. You can anticipate something going wrong in both a productive and non-productive way, and many don't note the distinction. In one scenario you're preparing for every contingency; in another, you're making excuses for failure. But there's a profound difference in the way people deal with these situations.
In my experience, many tech people are profoundly positive and hopeful. However, they achieve this degree of self confidence via a process of identifying and subsequently solving problems. Along the way, this appears to an outsider as being negative, but it's a very optimstic process.
Unfortunately being critical is taboo these days. Nobody wants to be told they're doing anything wrong, yet we still want everything to be perfect, so people who anticipate and adjust for potential failure are the ones that actually make things work, but nobody wants to be around during the process it seems.
I'm generally optimistic but if I fail there's the ability to think I might have screwed up and that it wasn't anyone else's fault, I just did poorly. Next time it'll be better, sometimes I have to go back and rethink the entire concept.
I'm not sure what that research is telling us. It doesn't seem to have a lot of bearing on reality. It just says that gloomy people are even more gloomy when they do poorly. Having realistic expectations and willingness to experiment would seem to be more important to success than your mood whether it was good or bad.
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
Nature is reporting that expecting the worst - emotional cushioning - does not usually make you feel any better
There is a big, huge distinction between "expecting the worst" and "preparing for the worst". The former is an excuse to quit and not try as hard along the way, and the latter is a positive, optimistic process of doing your best to succeed by developing contingent plans.
The study, published in Cognition and Emotion, suggests that a person's reaction to disappointment or failure is determined mainly by their general outlook on life. Those who expect to succeed tend to have a sunnier stance all round, the researchers say. If they fall short of their goals, they are likely to look on the bright side and still think they have done reasonably well.
This is news???? In a related story, Nature.com reported that drinking water quenches peoples' thirst. Also, depressed people tend to have a depressing outlook on life, and people who don't like animals don't usually have pets. More amazing stories coming soon!!
Research I've seen also seem to agree on that you don't just feel worse for no good when being a pessimist, but that there's effects beyond the psychological as well. It's often believed that optimists are both psychologically and physiologically healthier, although that link above indeed speaks of some possibly negative effects from optimism as well, and this science is probably still quite hotly debated.
:-) Sexual tensions? Haha. Pessimists often prefer calling themselves "realists" anyway, and I'm sure many geeks would defend themselves with that, especially because there's abundances of geeks who feel they're on top of things in all their geekdom, turning them into those "know it all" pessimistic doomsday types we see all over the web forums, often lurking in DRM discussions. :-) Heck, I'm fully aware of I'm having a streak of that too in some cases. ;-)
Anyway, I can very well see the purely evolutionary reasons for negative effects from pessimism and unhappiness -- simply that happy and optimistic people should reasonably be those that are doing well (otherwise they wouldn't be happy), and hence those that should be able to spread their genes better. For such a reason alone, I can believe that e.g. something that at first sight feels completely unrelated, such as the immune system, can be hurt from an overly pessimistic mind.
Something else I've been observing is that pessimism is often prevalent among geeks, and I have to wonder why a little.
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
I when I am about to enter into a stressful time, such as a speech, I imagine the worse possible thing happening but I also imagine myself smiling and feeling calm during this disaster. this usually prepares me and it is never as bad as I imagine it to be - I believe I got this from the dalia lama - but I could be wrong - QA K
Ever heard about natural medicine? Our body is amazing, it have the ability to HEAL itself.
And how in the heck has that got to do with learning you ask? It is the same thing. You tell yourself to be negative and that you are unable to complete this task...you will most likely be unable to complete it - even if you know your stuff.
Let me take myself as an example, Ive failed many a test in my younger years and that made me quite sad as a kid. Other factors that made me even sadder was the fact that other kids thought I was a moron for failing all those tests, that did NOT add to my self esteem at all and thus I was bound for further failure.
And here comes the touchdown...
I finally grew up, came away from all the "bad" elements in my life. Bad elements = friends who doesnt really believe in you & family that constantly complain about your existence.
A year later after coming to myself again - all alone, I got much more self confident and what other said about me didnt matter anymore because they could not hurt me where I was - because I had a sanctuary...namely the privacy of my own home.
No matter what test or school or course I attended after that I passed with flying colors. I was happy - It was even so easy that I hardly had to study, well - of course I studied - but it did not FEEL like I was studying - it was too much fun being successful so I had all the confidence I needed to go on to whatever test came my way.
Proof right there!
What this world is coming to - is for you and me to decide.
Those with a generally sunny outlook on life expect to succeed and tend to deny responsibility when they perform badly.
I knew there was a reason I tend to shed all responsibility for everything. It couldn't be my fault.
They clap their hands.
Blaming others, especially the guy who doesn't speak english, Tibor, is the secret to life and happiness.
The post appears to draw several unwarranted inferences. Perhaps, for example, people develop a sunny outlook as a result of a long string of successes, punctuated only by failures caused by uncontrolable factors, whereas people who screw up a lot end up with a dismal outlook.
-I like my women like I like my tea: green-
You're damned if you do and damned if you don't.
Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_dichotomy
No, it's most definitely my fault.
It's always my own damn fault.
http://alternatives.rzero.com/
They're really cool. This one in Psychology clearly talks truth.
Your post reminds me of a conversation I had recently with a friend of mine who is an excellent software salesman. There is a positive and negative way to offer criticism. Programmer/Engineering types usually go about this in a logical, aggressive way that comes across as negative to other people. This approach works fine, and is very efficient, when dealing with inanimate objects without feelings. People who excel at sales and management approach these issues differently. I have had conversations with people who can point out my shortcomings and make me feel very good about myself at the same time.
Really, your post points out the differencese between optimisim and pessimism very well. Programmers have a pessimistic approach by nature. They believe that things are inherently broken and need to be fixed. Optimistic types believe that everything and everyone is good, but can be a little better with some help. The same results can be achieved with both approaches.
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Reduce expectations to minimize disappointment. The less you expect from people, the less disappointed you'll be.
Well, not specifically told, but it was heavily implied in a "team building" exercise I went to at an old company.
It's about your mental position. If you "know" that you're good at something, then you will BE good at that. Any problems will be because of external issues.
If things accidentally work out, that's because you're so good.
If things accidentally fail, that wasn't because of you.
And by "accidentally work out" I include hiring people who pay more attention to the problem than you do.
I have always thought that this guy has a point. Now it is scientifically proven.
Sure it is. Look at books like Ayn Rand's Anthem, Nazi Germany, Russian Communism, any browbeating teacher (diffeing intensities of evil, to be sure). You can't steal someone's rights except by brute force, but of you repeatedly tell them that they're unworthy of an item (task, right, ebility, etc) then you'll eventually get them to abandon it.
If you've never been told not to let "them" psyche you out, I'm sorry, but say it aloud now cause you need to hear it: DON'T LET THEM PSYCHE YOU OUT!
Yes and no. Anxiety can also cripple you into inaction. (Anxiety vs Confidence)
That means that someone else has to take the hit for your failure.Taking risks is fine, as long as there's someone else who is NOT taking a risk to protect you.
Example: Any dangerous sport you can think of.
You can take the risk because the people making your protective gear did NOT take a risk.
And because the doctor who will be working on you will NOT be taking a risk.Only in extreme cases.
For the rest of us, we look at what happened and why it happened and if it was because of something we did or did not do or didn't know enough about, we WORK to IMPROVE our skills or knowledge so that the NEXT time we will succeed.
In general, people will work as hard as they need to in order to stay in their "comfort zone".
This also applies to achieving beyond your comfort zone. Once you have more than you need to be "comfortable", most people get just lazy enough to fall back into their comfort zone.
I so rarely get to actually recommend this book on-topic in a conversation... http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0394750799/103-05 21598-0730242?v=glance&n=283155
-- "In order to have power, I must be taken seriously." -Mojo Jojo
thing always pissed me off.
When asked, I would always say the glass is half empty and everyone calls me a pessimist. So?
MY take on the question?
The glass is half full - Optimist (irresponsible, unwilling to face reality, accept responsibility, unprepared for the future.)
The glass is half full - realist (sees the truth, accepts responsibility, prepares for the future NOW.)
When you have the "don't care" attitude (glass is half full) you feel that "everything is fine, stick your head in the sand and party on dude."
When you have the "oh shit" attitude you know that you better prepare for what is to come. Life is not a constant party, it's cold and hard and unforgiving.
And if you KNOW that you are running out of water and don't do something about it, life will eat you. Darwin rules.
People call me a pessimist. I see my self a realist.
I would agree with that. I think good engineers are people who have good analitical skills and naturally pay close attention to detail. These qualities are often offset by what may be considered as underdeveloped social skills, as seen in the "nerd" architype. Engineers may be seen as picky or obsessed with detail in the way that they deliver criticism. A defining point of social skill may be the ability to offer criticism in a way that is seen as entirely positive. This probably comes more naturally to those who are by nature people-oriented since this is where their interest and motivation lies.
In this world nothing is certain but death, taxes and flawed car analogies.
How do they get to making that leap
If you RTA you'll see that the study doesn't seem to claim this, it only states "it is thought (by psychologists) that". That hardly sounds like a conclusion to me.
Attacking problems "head on" means having the conviction to attack problems quickly and decisively, but not everyone does that effectively.
It is not always clear when there is a problem, and when there is one, it isn't always clear how to attack it. Many people chase after the most obvious problems, while more remaining blind to more important ones.
You can't be too gung-ho/optimistic either, because solving tough problems requires setting priorities, careful observation, good analysis, and steady execution. It takes more than an attitude and the ability to follow directions.
This in no way means that if you adopt this sort of view, the same sort of phenomena will happen to you. The study constrained itself such that it can only conclude the emotional outcomes of pessimistic people, and not pessimistic thinking.
What is needed is an experiment where people adopted a pessimistic approach, and others an optimistic approach (with an additional control group) regardless of their natural outlook on life. Only then can we possibly say something about pessimistic thinking.
"Happiness is not the absence of hardship. It is the mastery of it."
I don't remember who it is who said that(someone remind me), but I do my best to think that way as often as I can.
Improve your way of dealing with difficult situations, and you'll have better results with fewer worries. Better results and fewer worries means more happiness.
Our emotions are our call. When anything happens, we have a split second to decide how it will make us feel, and as a result, out actions are altered. It takes a little practice in our self-awareness to notice this.
Of course, there's many reactions that can be changed, but some reactions are just right. Like how we react when a family member dies. Grief, I'd imagine, isn't unhealthy. It would probably be a good idea to notice when you're going too far, however.
Failure doesn't phase me much. I'd rather succeed and feel as happy as I like, thanks.
until Jesus made me fumble!
There exists no way of exchanging information without making judgments. --Bene Gesserit Axiom
I love how psychology researchers often paint whatever picture they want into their research:
"These people, who see the world through rose-tinted spectacles, also tend to deny responsibility for their poor performance."
Did this one little test prove this -- or is there something completely outside the scope of the study that this article refers to -- or omitted entirely?? Of course optimists denied responsibility -- somebody changed the test on them to make it harder!! They failed to meet expectations by design. They were, in point of fact, NOT RESPONSIBLE!
Every time I walk through a Psych building and read the articles posted proudly next to each doorway, at least half of them strike me as having no more logic behind them than this one. And that just makes me very sad -- very sad for science. Who trains the scientists and designs the filter that lets through so many people willing to work on this garbage?
Damned if you think you will, and Damned if you think you won't.
Lesson here kiddies: Don't think.
Cheerful backstabbing optimists tend to sleaze and buck-pass their way up the corporate ladder. People who actually perform risk management are labelled overtly or covertly as nay-sayers. We need an article to explain this?
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
"In my experience, many tech people are profoundly positive and hopeful. However, they achieve this degree of self confidence via a process of identifying and subsequently solving problems. Along the way, this appears to an outsider as being negative, but it's a very optimstic process."
Just to spell it out, the optimism is "I want to find problems because I think they can be solved and the situation can be improved", and the pessimism is "I'm sure there are more problems just waiting to bring the show down. I'll have to always be critical so I can keep them from getting the best of me."
I've embodied the former attitude while being accused of having the latter, ironically by self-described optimists. I'd better characterize these people as pessimists, since it's not that they are optimistic about their one approach to things, but pessimistic about any other approach working or finding problems so they can be solved. Their constant message is "give it time, it'll work out", all the while passing up genuine opportunities to solve real problems and actually make things work out.
A big part of this, IMHO, is the difference between physical/objective reality vs. social reality. The fact is that in many cases, simply believing that things will work out has a major influence in social situations, in ways that are both subtle and profound. Other people respond to a positive attitude, and can be influenced to change their beliefs based solely on our confidence in our own beliefs. So cheerful optimism, even when it conflicts with the reality of the situation, is a successful tactic. OTOH, in the physical world, or for that matter the realm of computing, such factors do not apply. Computers don't care if we expect them to work, they just follow the program; likewise, inaminate objects in general follow natural physical laws.
As engineers, we tend to take a realistic approach based on the facts of the situation. This is a successful trait for the problems on which we work. However, for a marketing person, sales person, or really anyone who deals with people, an optimistic approach is actually better than a realistic one.
BTW, one of reasons that non-technical people often believe in mystical "mind of matter" scenarios is that they see optimism at work in their everyday lives, and expect the same thing to carry over into other situations. But they don't realize that their everyday lives are mostly social constructs: you buy from a store clerk, work for a boss, etc. In the modern world, everything we need is supplied by systems run by other people. So Crystal Power, or whatever placebo feeds your optimism, may "work" in these situations; but don't expect it to do much when you're stuck alone in the desert...
The problem with the study in the article is that it's comparing optimism among natural optimists vs. pessimism among pessimists. Basically they're assuming that the two strategies will work the same way for everyone. But what if the natural pessimists picked that strategy because optimism just didn't work for them?
1 39153825/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-2922924-4895954?s=b ooks&v=glance&n=283155
The book linked below has an interesting take on all this. The idea is that optimist strategies don't work for some people, and that defensive pessimism is particularly useful for this group. So even if Optimists being optimistic are happier than Pessimists being pessimistic, according to this theory the Pessimists would be even less happy trying to be optimistic!
"The Positive Power of Negative Thinking: Using Defensive Pessimism to Harness Anxiety and Perform at Your Peak"
by Julie K. Norem
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0465051391/qid=1
As engineers, we tend to take a realistic approach based on the facts of the situation. This is a successful trait for the problems on which we work. However, for a marketing person, sales person, or really anyone who deals with people, an optimistic approach is actually better than a realistic one.
I agree with you.
However I think we all are aware of the misuse of optimism outside of its appropriate context, or the same thing with pessimism.
For example I have one of these types of friends and I'm probably not alone. Once a month or so he comes up to me with some grandiose plan he has that he is certain will make him rich. Some goofy invention that he has become fixated on that he's afraid to tell anybody about because they'll steal his idea. Of course, before he finishes his sentence describing his get-rich-quick scheme, I have already identified prior art or have picked apart the scheme as being a complete waste of time. Am I being pessimistic? Is he being irrationally optimistic? I don't want to shoot him down for having faith in trying to succeed but if his idea is so profoundly goofy that only he thinks it's marketable, isn't his unbridaled optimism a serious impediment?
Ultimately, it goes both ways, but I think there has been more of a reduction in progress because people fixate on optimism unrealistically, than those who fixate on pessimism as a way to justify lack of motivation. Progress is marked by what? The desire to change the status quo, which is a function of acknowledging the inadequacy things. I would not be so quick as to closely tie perserverence with optimism like the article states. Dedication and perserverence are no less associated with pessimism as they are optimism.
I agree with what you're saying as well... the next step it seems is to ask ourselves, in trying to make these social situations more productive, what is better? Becoming more political? Embracing ambiguity and the supposed benevolence of bullshitting? Or conditioning people to be more receptive to criticism?
Most engineers will definitely say the latter and have a plethora of rational arguments to back it up... however useful yet ironic that ultimately is. Maybe this explains the "nerd virgin" concept more than anything else?
Seriously, how can you work in a world so filled with finite problems that you know can be solved, and then not want to project this very successful approach elsewhere? Many of us are convince that if our girlfriends could simply understand the importance of being a little less insecure and more receptive to criticism, how much better everything would be. Ok, stop laughing! I could be serious you know?
Unfortunately being critical is taboo these days. Nobody wants to be told they're doing anything wrong, yet we still want everything to be perfect, so people who anticipate and adjust for potential failure are the ones that actually make things work, but nobody wants to be around during the process it seems.
Interesting theory. If true, it's likely because everyone nowadays wants to reap but not sow.
Calm down for a moment and ask yourself: Given the choice, how would I rather feel right now? Would I rather feel happy, or unhappy?
Or, how about this one: If forced to choose between justifiably pissed-off, or unjustifiably happy, which would I prefer?
Now, with your answers firmly in mind, ask yourself this one: Do I have a choice?
If you answer "No," then I highly recommend an independent study of human psychology, focusing on emotional management and meditation techniques.
Don't be a slave.