Professor Seligman’s research, which analyses human and animal behaviour, suggests that optimism prepares us much better for success than pessimism. Optimistic people tend to be happier, healthier, and to achieve more in life. The respected psychologist Martin Seligman has put forward evidence to suggest that, although pessimism is a necessary strategy to protect us from unacceptable “downside” risks (such as a house fire), it is much better for our basic disposition to be optimistic. The good news is that the pessimists are wrong: optimism is not just fanciful thinking, but practical and sensible. Always planning for the worst may make actuarial sense, but thinking the worst all the time makes us feel mean-spirited and misanthropic. Optimism may seem foolish, given the obvious misfortune in the world, but it feels more satisfactory. YET, as we push the arguments for pessimism, they become increasingly unappealing, leading us into a defensive world of mistrust. Best for children, arguably, to treat all strangers as dangerous, and for us all to shun engagement with the grubby business of politics. The cultivation of suspicion is, we might think, a sensible self-defence. We would be well advised, surely, not to expect too much from MPs, bankers, or indeed from humanity in general. Pessimism’s cousin, cynicism, also has much to recommend it. Better perhaps not to trust anyone, gods included. It is kinder, arguably, to teach the young to be mentally and physically ready for pain, failure, and loss: don’t get your hopes up, be careful whom you love, and be doubly careful what you worship. We all know that into each life a little rain must fall, and that some unfortunate people will experience a monsoon of misery.Ī philosophy that expects good things from life can be seen as simply waiting for a fall. Pessimism also seems to make psychological sense: better to be surprised by joy than crushed by disappointment. Pessimistic thinking is precautionary, reminding us of Murphy’s law that things go wrong, and often at an inconvenient time. We are best advised to insure our homes against a fire, even if it never happens. It is better, surely, to expect the worst than to waltz unprepared into a disaster, no matter how improbable. On the face of it, pessimists have the most pragmatic arguments. “All manner of things shall be well,” said Julian of Norwich. “There is grievous evil under the sun,” warned the author of Ecclesiastes. The argument between optimists and pessimists is as old as faith itself. But pessimists will tell us that optimism is a delusion that there is every reason to suppose that the coming year will have just as much gloom as the last. Any pain and sadness in the previous 12 months seems less powerful than the prospect of happiness and success in the year to come. The year ahead feels hopeful - a fresh start. THE START of a New Year tends to bring out the optimist in us.
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