Why is being 'pessimistic' sometimes leads to success and confidence?



Pessimism, which focuses on the pessimistic aspects of things, is often considered bad, and there are seminars and books out there that teach ``

how to live optimistically ''. Studies have shown that the average is 11-15% longer . However, Fuschia Sirois , a psychologist at the University of Sheffield, argues that certain types of pessimists have various benefits.

The surprising benefits of being a pessimist
https://theconversation.com/the-surprising-benefits-of-being-a-pessimist-91851

According to Sirois, pessimists do more than just think negatively, while optimists think that a particular event is likely to have the desired outcome, while pessimists say it is It is likely to be the result. ' While pessimism often doesn't have a positive impact on life, some people, called 'defensive pessimists,' enjoy many benefits by pessimistically thinking about the consequences of an event. That.

Defensive pessimists are those who expect bad consequences for future events, including the worst scenarios. For example, if you take a pessimistic view such as 'May fail a job interview', details about factors that can cause a job interview to fail, such as 'Fail to answer the interview' or 'Delay in the interview time' It seems to think.

Defensive pessimists differ from regular pessimists in that defensive pessimists anticipate bad consequences and act to reduce the causal factors. For example, considering a scenario in which a job interview fails, make sure that the worst-case scenario assumed does not occur, such as `` practice in advance so as not to fail in the interview '', `` arrive to the site early so that you are not late for the interview '' Take action. Sirois says that this can result in defensive pessimists doing things better than others.



In a 2008

study , defensive pessimists were asked to solve puzzles, and they were asked 'when they were encouraged to feel positive' and 'when they were encouraged to feel negative.' , And how performance changed. As a result, if defensive pessimists were encouraged to feel negative, their performance would have improved significantly.

The performance of defensive pessimists in the negative mood was improved because they assumed many scenarios where they couldn't solve the puzzle well in a negative mood and adopted a more conservative strategy when solving the puzzle. is. This result suggests that defensive pessimists are motivated to use their 'negative mood' to improve their performance.

Pessimists are often thought of as lacking self-confidence, but strangely, defensive pessimists also know that they have high self-esteem. A 2007 study, which followed college students for four years, showed that defensive pessimists had much higher self-esteem than other pessimists and as high as optimists. For this reason, Sirois stated that 'defensive pessimists may have increased their confidence by anticipating bad consequences and avoiding them successfully.'



Defensive pessimists who take various measures to prevent negative consequences may also benefit from health benefits. For example, in an epidemic of infectious diseases, optimists may think 'I will not be infected', while defensive pessimists say 'I am also likely to be infected. I tend to think. As a result, defensive pessimists tend to take defensive measures, such as washing their hands frequently, and seek medical attention sooner if suspicious symptoms appear.

In a 2015

study , Sirois asked people with chronic conditions, such as inflammatory bowel disease and arthritis, to predict what their illness could look like in the future. These chronic diseases are likely to worsen in the long term, but optimists thought that their symptoms would improve in the future, while pessimists said that their symptoms would Will worsen in the future. ' The results suggest that pessimists may be more likely to listen to the doctor's advice and may be more willing to cope, such as reducing pain.

Many pessimists tend to use ' avoidance ' as a way to deal with anxiety, avoiding thinking badly, but defensive pessimists dare to think badly to deal with anxiety . Sirois argued that this was the key to high performance of defensive pessimists and not all pessimism was bad.



in Note, Posted by log1h_ik