Optimism - AllPsych

Learning to be Optimistic

Christopher L. Heffner, PsyD, PhD — Wed, 08 Sep 2021 01:37:37 +0000

As a human species, do you think we are more naturally pessimistic or more naturally optimistic? Interestingly, Seligman and others in the field of positive psychology argue that we are naturally more pessimistic. From a biological perspective, as animals, we are preprogrammed to seek out potential danger as a means of survival. Even Freud talked…

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Building Psychological Capital (Hope, Efficacy, Resilience, Optimism)

Christopher L. Heffner, PsyD, PhD — Thu, 22 Apr 2021 10:37:46 +0000

You Can Bank On it Psychological capital in many ways is like a savings account for our well-being. Just as it is good to save money for a rainy day, it is good to build psychological capital. It is beneficial for good days and allows us greater comfort and safety in taking risks, being vulnerable,…

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The Fading Affect Bias in Pursuit of the Pleasant Life

Christopher L. Heffner, PsyD, PhD — Thu, 22 Apr 2021 10:10:52 +0000

Fading Affect Bias (FAB) The Fading Affect Bias, or FAB for short, refers to the cognitive phenomenon supported by research showing that memories associated with negative emotions tend to fade faster than memories associated with positive emotions (Skowronski, 2014). This means we tend to forget the bad times at a faster rate than the good…

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Brief History of Positive Psychology (Part 2)

Christopher L. Heffner, PsyD, PhD — Thu, 22 Apr 2021 10:03:44 +0000

Continued From Part 1... But Wait, There is Good News Remember, Csikszentmihalyi found that teenagers can be unhappy and can see life through their suffering, but he also found an interesting exception. When teenagers focus their energies on tasks that are challenging, their mood is more upbeat. In other words, he found evidence of when…

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Optimists Sleep Better at Night

Neil Petersen — Thu, 09 Jul 2020 00:00:49 +0000

Do you ever wake up in the night and worry about what the future might hold? Well, if you’re an optimist, maybe not. A new study published in the Journal of Sleep Research indicates that viewing the world through rose-colored glasses may go hand-in-hand with a lower risk for chronic insomnia. If that’s the case,…

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The Psychology of Finding the Silver Lining

Neil Petersen — Sat, 04 Jul 2020 00:13:43 +0000

Finding something good in a bad situation is a common way of coping with adversity, as can be seen when we talk about clouds, silver linings, and the like. It’s also a technique that has a decent amount of evidence to back it up from the psychology literature. Psychologists talk about benefit finding, or being…

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The Advantages of Unrealistic Optimism

Neil Petersen — Mon, 29 Jun 2020 22:53:59 +0000

Having a realistic view of the world might be overrated. One of the first psychology papers to explicitly make that case was published in 1988 by Shelley Taylor and Jonathon Brown, under the title Illusion and Well-being. It challenged the traditional idea that “accurate perceptions of the self, the world, and the future are essential…

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The Dietary Habits of Optimists

Neil Petersen — Wed, 22 Jan 2020 23:55:28 +0000

It’s solidly established that there appears to be a link between optimism and physical health. This can be seen, for example, from the fact that people with higher levels of optimism tend to encounter fewer health problems as they age. Multiple explanations have been put forward for why seeing the world through rose-tinted glasses might…

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Optimists Live Longer. Why?

Neil Petersen — Wed, 28 Aug 2019 23:43:10 +0000

There’s a new study out that’s been getting some media attention. In the study, researchers found that people who are more optimistic are more likely to make it to the age of 85, adding more evidence for a link between optimism and longevity. One thing that sets this study apart is its scale. The researchers…

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Optimism and Life Satisfaction Go Together in Schizophrenia

Neil Petersen — Tue, 13 Aug 2019 23:58:34 +0000

Psychologists have been optimistic about the power of optimism, and a new study provides more evidence consistent with the idea that optimism might have far-reaching mental health effects. In the study, researchers in Korea found that adults with schizophrenia tended to have higher life satisfaction when they had higher levels of optimism. It may be,…

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