Negative thoughts are good for us

Psychologies: Optimist, pessimist – what determines our personal choice of view of the world?

Marina Kholodnaya, cognitive psychologist: The measure of positive and negative in our view of the world, in forecasting the future is largely determined by how the basic functions of the intellect manifest themselves: how much we tend to analyze our own capabilities and abilities, whether we take into account our past experience, how realistically we assess the situation that has developed at the moment .

Without such intellectual control, optimism, for example, turns into an illusory picture of the world and becomes simply dangerous – it can be called thoughtless optimism. It is often combined with conforming human behavior, irresponsible attitude to the situation, and dependency. And in this sense, a pessimist is more responsible than a thoughtless optimist. Because he makes real intellectual efforts to make the situation more comfortable for him.

“So we are mistaken in believing that negative thoughts prevent us from living?”

“The belief that negative thoughts are always bad and positive thoughts are always good is fundamentally wrong. Moreover, only an enlightened pessimist can be a true optimist, and there is no paradox in this. A pessimist, not trusting the future, not building illusions, considers options for behavior, looking for possible means of protection, that is, he tries to spread straws in advance, to secure himself.

He soberly perceives what is happening, thinking about the situation, notices various details and facets of the event, and as a result, he has a clear vision of the situation. He may, for example, come to the conclusion that he lacks his own capacity to change it. And as a result, he connects friends, consults with professionals, or decides to just get a good night’s sleep. And when the future comes, with all the good and bad surprises, then he is more ready for them, he has the ability to cope with what happened.

– How does the thoughtless optimist behave in this case?

– In any situation, he tends to convince himself that everything is fine, everything will be fine: my husband (wife) will never leave me, my child is a child prodigy and will always be successful … And if the husband (wife) leaves for another (th), and the child worries some failure, the thoughtless optimist is lost, he does not know how to react to it. He is not ready for such a turn of affairs, because he did not analyze the situation and his capabilities in it, did not predict the consequences, and as a result, he did not have the resources to cope with it.

– That is, optimism is not always a uniquely effective strategy, and pessimism is a guarantee of defeat?

“In a person, everything is ambiguous, we do not have rigid schemes. Optimism and pessimism are characteristics of expectations, not sentiment. For example, if a person is prone to negative experiences (due to the innate characteristics of the nervous system), often feels melancholy and despondency, if he is an introvert and deep in himself, it is highly likely that he will take a pessimistic life position.

Conversely, an extroverted, outward-facing, life-loving person is more likely to take an optimistic stance. And yet it is a big convention. Because an introvert, having begun to analyze, truly assesses a difficult situation and finds a way out. And an extrovert, confident that everything will be fine, can begin to act thoughtlessly and find no way out.

Is there such a thing as thoughtless pessimism?

– Any tendency to extremes, like “I can do absolutely everything” or “I can’t influence anything at all”, indicates that a sense of subjective control over the situation has not been formed in a person since childhood. He does not know how to distinguish what he can influence himself from what should simply be accepted.

Some people think: there is complete chaos around me, everything happens out of control, nothing depends on me, I can’t do anything. And they become pessimists. Others are sure that no matter what happens, I can somehow influence, I will intervene and do what I can, and I already have such experience, I coped. And they become optimists.

This is real, reasonable optimism, connected not with external factors, but with internal ones, with a personal position. Pessimism – as a critical view of things – helps us carefully analyze the circumstances and think through the consequences. Optimism also allows you to rely on the already existing positive experience. Therefore, one must accustom oneself both to intellectual control over the situation and to accumulating the experience of overcoming and achieving.

Is there an optimal balance between pessimism and optimism?

— When we are actively involved in a situation, analyze it and our capabilities in it, as a result of such intellectual work, a positive or negative expectation naturally arises — we don’t need to invent it or force ourselves to think one way and not another. The balance of optimism and pessimism develops just as organically and naturally.

These are two sides of the same coin, and they should not be strictly distinguished: in each of us there is some optimism and some pessimism. A person with an intense intellectual life is always in motion along this axis: he is able to be both a pessimist and an optimist, depending on how his opportunities and situation are combined.

And yet: objective advantages

According to numerous scientific studies, optimism increases our physical and intellectual abilities. Several significant examples.

More life expectancy

Optimists live 7 years longer than other people. This was shown by a study published in the American journal The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology in August 2002.

less pain

5,5 thousand adults participated in a survey on toothache. The analysis showed that the subjective sensation of pain is inversely proportional to the level of optimism. This was reported by the Scandinavian magazine Acta Odontologica Scandinavica in June 2006.

Better brain health

The American Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine in 2001 published the results of a study showing that in optimistic older people, cerebrovascular accidents are much less common.

Constructive attitude to difficulties

Optimists are quicker to recognize and accept changes that are happening to them, more clearly describe the obstacles they encounter, and are less likely to step back from solving problems than those who are pessimistic. This conclusion was made by American psychologists Michael Scheyer and Charles Carver, after analyzing several major studies on stress management strategies, and published it in their book Coping: The psychology of what works.

More bright emotions

A group of scientists led by C psychology professor Richard Snyder from the University of Kansas (USA) invited different people to read stories with a good ending. Optimistic participants in the study, empathizing with the heroes of these stories, experienced more vivid and strong emotions than other subjects.

Higher economic activity

Swedish psychologist Esgeir Juliusson invited students to play on an imaginary exchange. Some participants in the experiment received optimistic forecasts for the development of events, while others received only pessimistic information. Players from the first group were more active and won more on average. The Scandinavian Journal of Psychology published this study in June 2006.

Prepared by: Alla Leontieva, Daria Mikheeva