The Mindset of Optimism

Learned optimism more useful than truth

From an Omni interview with Martin Seligman, monitored for the Institute by Roger Knights.

'High scores for optimism are predictive of excellence in everything from sports to life-insurance sales'

Martin Seligman, researcher and director of clinical training at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and author of 'Learned Optimism', has developed an Attributional Style Questionnaire (ASQ) which ranks individuals on an optimism-pessimism scale. In a longitudinal study of school children, those scoring highest for pessimism were most likely later to suffer depression. High scores for optimism are predictive of excellence in everything from sports to life-insurance sales (a finding that saved Metropolitan Life millions of dollars in personnel selection).

'Analysing campaign speeches for the prevalence of optimism, Seligman predicted the election winners'

Optimism wins votes as well. Analysing campaign speeches for the prevalence of optimism, Seligman predicted the winners of the 1988 presidential and Senate elections more accurately than veteran political forecasters.
'I used to be an agent of both truth and happiness,' says Seligman. 'That's still a central premise of most therapists. But research in our lab and others is increasingly challenging that view. Even when offered a monetary incentive for accuracy, optimists consistently overestimate their ability. Optimists have a set of self-serving illusions that enable them to maintain good cheer and health in a universe essentially indifferent to their welfare.

'Optimists are more resistant to infectious illness and are better at fending off chronic diseases of middle age'

Optimists are more resistant to infectious illness and are better at fending off chronic diseases of middle age. In one study, we looked at 96 men who had their first heart attack in 1980. Within eight years, 15 of the 16 most pessimistic men died of a second heart attack, but only five of the 16 most optimistic men died.
Good therapy for depression may entail bolstering a set of benign illusions. Depressed people may need to adopt the same self-serving illusions that most normal people hold. We can choose how we think. Styles of thinking can become habits. We can control our thoughts as we can our muscles.

'My goal would be to get that person to speak to him- or herself more kindly, the way a loving friend might'

Specifically, if something goes wrong, pessimists tend to have hopeless thoughts. They tell themselves, 'I'll never get it right,' or 'I always screw up,' or worse, they stamp themselves with a negative label - 'I'm a jerk.' My goal would be to get that person to speak to him- or herself more kindly, the way a loving friend might. The person might learn to say, 'Things didn't go well today, but I learned a lot from the experience, and I'll do better tomorrow.' Instead of negative labels like 'jerk', the pessimist would learn to say, 'Sometimes I'm not as considerate as I'd like to be, but overall, I'm a kind person.'

'My recommendation is to do something pleasurable that will distract you from your troubles'

My other advice for overcoming pessimism is not to ruminate about bad events that happen to you, at least not immediately afterwards. If your boss fires you or you fail an important exam, my recommendation is to do something pleasurable that will distract you from your troubles. I recommend fun distractions because studies show, if you think about problems in a negative frame of mind, you come up with fewer solutions. And you're likely to spiral into deeper depression. By boosting mood and self-esteem, people with pessimistic tendencies can break that cycle and free themselves to think more creatively.It takes most people a few weeks to get the knack, but once the technique is learned, the less likely they are to relapse. That's well documented.

A 'pathologically optimistic' genius

'Mozart was almost pathologically optimistic'

A psychological analysis of Mozart's correspondence shows that he was almost pathologically optimistic, with an exuberant self-confidence. Optimistic people who suffer setbacks tend to attribute them to external causes that are temporary and can be changed. Writing in The Psychologist, Professor Andrew Steptoe of St George's Hospital Medical School says that towards the end of Mozart's short life, when he suffered the deaths of four children, serious illnesses and repeated professional and financial disasters, his optimism actually rose.
This last paragraph is based on an item by Jeremy Laurance in The Times.