We all have those Debbie Downers in our lives—the Negative Nellies and Pessimistic Patties.
Now, these individuals seem to be perceived as considerably less happy and content in the world than the Positive Pollys out there. Aside from happiness, what if I also told you that by simply anticipating favorable outcomes more often, we would verifiably be improving our physical health, our success in college and our jobs, and would be being much more logical than our potentially more pessimistic counterparts?
Last year, approximately 17.5 million people; more than the entire population of the Netherlands died from cardiovascular-related diseases, accounting for 31% of global deaths. A study from researchers at the University of Illinois published in the January 2015 edition of the New York Times stated that “Individuals with the highest levels of optimism have twice the odds of being in ideal cardiovascular health compared to their more pessimistic counterparts, even after adjusting for socio-demographic characteristics and poor mental health.”
Not only is being more of an idealist more idealistic for your health, but it is also is an indicator of your success in college, your ease of finding a job after graduation, and how well you will do in that job later down the road. A study by researcher Lise Solberg at the University of Kentucky proved that having both dispositional and academic optimism statistically heightens college retention rates as well as GPA’s in University students. The National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Report cited a study from Duke, “Optimistically inclined MBA students found jobs more easily and with less intensive job searches. What’s more, two years after graduation optimists were more likely than their less-optimistic peers to have been promoted.”
So, the elusiveness of the argument due to longevity and success seems pretty compelling at this point, but nowadays the term ‘Pessimist’ has been nearly interchangeable with “Realist” in the eye of society. With the CBNC News channel alone claiming over 97 million regular household watchers in the US and a 350 million dollar annual income, it’s no wonder why 4/5 adults contend that they’re concerned about the moral condition of the nation (Barna.org). In a short film called “We’re on the Right Track”, Notoriously positive Philosopher Jason Silva points out that due to Mass Media, people have a misconception that we are declining morally as a society. He cites Author David Pinker saying that, “The odds of a man dying in the hand of another man are statistically the lowest they’ve ever been throughout the history of mankind”. He then cites Bill Clinton’s article in Time Magazine, quoting, “The most extreme form of poverty at a Global level has almost been eliminated due to the innovative emergence of the Cell Phone. The statistics of negative views (Barna) shows a wide-scale irrational cultural bias breeding pessimism. If you’re truly being a realist and looking at the facts, you would have a brighter versus bleaker view of society as a whole.
As an incurable optimist myself, I would personally attest that positivity breeds productivity in day to day life; this is merely an opinion. However, in regard to physical health, educational and vocational success, and cultivating an attitude of realism—the data shows that it pays to be an optimist.
