Optimism vs. pessimism: Which one makes more sense?

[DtJ Jungle]

Its a balance. Either extreme is stupid.

isnt this true for anything?

 

[illinialex24]

isnt this true for anything?

For most things yes. But not true for everything. Like slavery for example. One extreme, no forms of forced labor, is a widely adopted view.

 

[DtJ Jungle]

true. i stand corrected.

 

[LordoftheMorning]

For most things yes. But not true for everything. Like slavery for example. One extreme, no forms of forced labor, is a widely adopted view.

What about chores?

 

[illinialex24]

What about chores?

I'll refine my position to keep it valid: Adult slavery. Yes, children often have to do very very mild forms of slavery for the rule "Because I told you so". So it is slightly of the extreme you are correct. So I refined my position.

 

[GoldShadow]

Doing chores is not "slavery".

 

[RDK]

I'll refine my position to keep it valid: Adult slavery. Yes, children often have to do very very mild forms of slavery for the rule "Because I told you so". So it is slightly of the extreme you are correct. So I refined my position.

I don't get how chores is even comparable to slavery under any circumstance.

The purpose of chores is either as punishment, or to help out around the house and pull your own weight. Believe it or not, but your parents are basically paying for your existence as long as you live in their house, so chores is the least you could do. If you don't want to do chores, then you can leave whenever you want.

 

[manhunter098]

I don't get how chores is even comparable to slavery under any circumstance.

The purpose of chores is either as punishment, or to help out around the house and pull your own weight. Believe it or not, but your parents are basically paying for your existence as long as you live in their house, so chores is the least you could do. If you don't want to do chores, then you can leave whenever you want.

Not to mention preparing children to be able to do basic tasks once they live on their own.

 

[illinialex24]

I don't get how chores is even comparable to slavery under any circumstance.

The purpose of chores is either as punishment, or to help out around the house and pull your own weight. Believe it or not, but your parents are basically paying for your existence as long as you live in their house, so chores is the least you could do. If you don't want to do chores, then you can leave whenever you want.

In an extremely, very limited point of view it is a very temporary form of forced labor. But it really isn't.

 

[blazedaces]

This has turned from a debate on optimism vs pessimism to an informal pool room discussion on arrogance. I hope this isn't what happens to most threads in here.

First of all, I would like think that no, most threads in here don't stoop to this level.

Seriously guys, this thread has been a bunch of opinions going back and forth. Why not try looking at actual facts?

The Benefits of Optimism
Superior Health
In a study of 99 Harvard University students, those who were optimists at age 25 were significantly healthier at ages 45 and 60 than those who were pessimists. Other studies have linked a pessimistic explanatory style with higher rates of infectious disease, poor health, and earlier mortality.

Greater Achievement
Seligman analyzed the explanatory styles of sports teams and found that the more optimistic teams created more positive synergy and performed better than the pessimistic ones. Another study showed that pessimistic swimmers who were led to believe they’d done worse than they had were prone to future poor performance. Optimistic swimmers didn’t have this vulnerability.

Research like this has led some companies to go out of their way to hire optimists -- a practice that seems to be paying off.

Persistence
Optimists don’t give up as easily as pessimists, and they are more likely to achieve success because of it. Some optimistic businessmen, like Donald Trump, have been bankrupt (even multiple times), but have been able to persist and turn their failures into millions.

Emotional Health
In a study of clinically depressed patients, it was discovered that 12 weeks of cognitive therapy (which involves reframing a person's thought processes) worked better than drugs, as changes were more long-lasting than a temporary fix. Patients who had this training in optimism had the ability to more effectively handle future setbacks.

Increased Longevity
In a retrospective study of 34 healthy Hall of Fame baseball players who played between 1900 and 1950, optimists lived significantly longer. Other studies have shown that optimistic breast cancer patients had better health outcomes than pessimistic and hopeless patients.

Less Stress
Optimists also tend to experience less stress than pessimists or realists. Because they believe in themselves and their abilities, they expect good things to happen. They see negative events as minor setbacks to be easily overcome, and view positive events as evidence of further good things to come. Believing in themselves, they also take more risks and create more positive events in their lives.

Also from the same source, why not actually define optimism and pessimism the way the psychological and scientific world choose to view them:

'Explanatory Style' Explained

‘Explanatory style’ or ‘attributional style’ refers to how people explain the events of their lives. There are three facets of how people can explain a situation. This can influence whether they lean toward being optimists or pessimists:

Stable vs. Unstable: Can time change things, or do things stay the same regardless of time?

Global vs. Local: Is a situation a reflection of just one part of your life, or your life as a whole?

Internal vs. External: Do you feel events are caused by you or by an outside force?

Realists see things relatively clearly, but most of us aren’t realists. Most of us, to a degree, attribute the events in our lives optimistically or pessimistically. The pattern looks like this:

Optimists

Optimists explain positive events as having happened because of them (internal). They also see them as evidence that more positive things will happen in the future (stable), and in other areas of their lives (global). Conversely, they see negative events as not being their fault (external). They also see them as being flukes (isolated) that have nothing to do with other areas of their lives or future events (local).

For example, if an optimist gets a promotion, she will likely believe it’s because she’s good at her job and will receive more benefits and promotion in the future. If she’s passed over for the promotion, it’s likely because she was having an off-month because of extenuating circumstances, but will do better in the future.

Pessimists

Pessimists think in the opposite way. They believe that negative events are caused by them (internal). They believe that one mistake means more will come (stable), and mistakes in other areas of life are inevitable (global), because they are the cause. They see positive events as flukes (local) that are caused by things outside their control (external) and probably won’t happen again (unstable).

A pessimist would see a promotion as a lucky event that probably won’t happen again, and may even worry that she’ll now be under more scrutiny. Being passed over for promotion would probably be explained as not being skilled enough. She'd therefore expect to be passed over again.

What This Means

Understandably, if you’re an optimist, this bodes well for your future. Negative events are more likely to roll off of your back, but positive events affirm your belief in yourself, your ability to make good things happen now and in the future, and in the goodness of life.

Fortunately for pessimists and realists, these patterns of thinking can be learned to a degree (though we tend to be mostly predisposed to our patterns of thinking.) Using a practice called ‘cognitive restructuring,' you can help yourself and others become more optimistic by consciously challenging negative, self-limiting thinking and replacing it with more optimistic thought patterns.

-Source: http://stress.about.com/od/optimismspirituality/a/optimismbenefit_2.htm

I decided to do some more research to find a published paper on the subject. While you can't view this one without paying you can check out the abstract. It's a paper citing many studies showing the links between good health and optimism or linking bad health with pessimism. (SOURCE)

This should clear up any confusion people have about pessimism or optimism. As someone's already pointed out being pessimistic doesn't necessarily cause one to avoid possibilities in life, but you have to admit one's outlook would have some influence on one's actions. This is undeniable, wouldn't you all agree?

I took a test from a psychologist once and it showed me to be slightly pessimistic (on a scale of 1 to 10 where 1 is as pessimistic as you can be and 10 is as optimistic as you can be I believe I was around 3), but since then I have consciously tried to disregard my naturally pessimistic reaction and be optimistic in that regard. This has more to do with blaming myself when things go wrong, which is something I tend to do. It's probably because I consider myself too responsible for the world around me. This is good when it comes to taking responsibility seriously, but it's bad when you blame yourself for what is probably bad luck. It's self-destructive.

I wanted to point this out because in general, I used to always think I was clearly optimistic, but a fairly accurate test proved otherwise. Again, this is perhaps because I misunderstood the true definition of optimism/pessimism.

-blazed