Are you an optimist or pessimist????

[sandra16]

This is just to analyse yourself!

Think for a minitue and than vote!

I am eager to know whose percentage is more.....

I am an OPTIMIST!

[globalhostinggroup]

I always plan for the worst and hope for the beast does this just make me a realist

[ldyguique]

I could be called a rationalist, or a realist, or a pragmatist. I long ago left the fairly simplistic polarized world of optimist versus pessimist. It doesn't matter to me whether a glass is half full or half empty -- it matters more: a) what is it? b) how did it get there? c) when will I get another half anything? d) are there any bigger containers? . . .and so it goes.

Life and people make it impossible to stay for long in either the optimist or pessimist camps as neither one fulfills the needs of coping in a complex world. Humans are resistant to change and yet are forced to contantly undergo change. Change isn't necessarily good or bad, it simply happens, and one must adapt and adjust the best way that one can. Some changes are easier to adapt to, and some are to be resisted at all levels.

I don't expect either the best nor the worst from others or the world around me. As Neil Diamond sang, "somedays are diamonds, and somedays are dust." One has to be willing to accept what one perceives and then figure out how to deal with it.

[mikmik]

I could be called a rationalist, or a realist, or a pragmatist.
That is how you deal with situations, but that is necessary for survival, of course.

But optimism is an attitude, not a behavior.

I would suggest that not only is it a point of view, but an attitude that is corelated with happiness. Therefore, optimistic people are better able to deal with change and stress, and see more opportunity in every situation.

Well being equals optimistic.

Judgements about change being good or bad are always made, you wouldn't choose to resist a change completely otherwise. I don't even know that that would be productive, and in any event, is a purely hypothetical situation that may never arise. I think the serenity prayer fits in somewhere about here, LOL.

Optimism means that you have confidence you can handle most anything, and even make positive decisions no matter what.

Common sense and optimism are definitely not mutually exclusive. I would even argue that being optimistic is a result of common sense, for deciding to be optimistic and hopeful is desireable, therefore it makes sense to facilitate that mindset.

There is no inherent law of nature that makes anything at all good or bad, it just is. Only we give meaning to events and change, and therefore whether that change is good or bad is entirely dependent upon our values, attitude, and resultant viewpoint.

Optimism arises from reliance on internal processes, not external events.

Isn't just keeping living a form of optimism?

[ldyguique]

mikmik said:
Isn't just keeping living a form of optimism?

If optimism equates to remaining alive, I don't see how there can be a discussion about optimism vs pessimism.


But optimism is an attitude, not a behavior.

How can one separate an attitude out from behavior? We express our attitudes through behavior.

[JMuncy]

I would say I'm a pessimist...

[mikmik]

If optimism equates to remaining alive, I don't see how there can be a discussion about optimism vs pessimism.
Why not? On the most basic level, you are optimistic that it is worth staying alive. But I never said it 'equates'. I said it is a form of optimism, and is not limited to just keeping alive but that would be the lowest extreme.


How can one separate an attitude out from behavior? We express our attitudes through behavior.
Attitude is a thought process, or a set 'class' of thinking and feeling. It can be manifest when you are doing nothing.
And that is my point, we do express our attitudes through our behavior.
But behavior is a physical event.
A person may be in traction, or completely paralyzed and unable to move, yet be optimistic that they will recover, or continue to enjoy life.

Main Entry: op·ti·mism
Pronunciation: 'äp-t&-"miz-&m
Function: noun
: an inclination to put the most favorable construction upon actions and events or to anticipate the best possible outcome

2. A disposition to take the most hopeful view;

optimism

n 1: the optimistic feeling that all is going to turn out well [ant: pessimism] 2: a general disposition to expect the best in all things [ant: pessimism]

And:

1. <psychology> One who holds the opinion that all events are ordered for the best.

2. One who looks on the bright side of things, or takes hopeful views; opposed to pessimist.

These are all descriptions of mindset, not behavior, but this mindset most definitely influences behavior.

I adamantly assert that well being and optismism are part and parcel of happiness. In fact, self pity and martyrdom are the anticedents of such.

There would be no purpose in any undertaking if you didn't have hope that something beneficial would result.
No matter what we do, it is a choice, we are never 'forced' to do anything. We could always just quit living.

There is a payoff for every endeavor, whether to try for success, or expect and get failure, this still is a goal. If you want to feel put upon, and unhappy, and many people do, they are actually optimistic that things will go bad. If they don't, they are deprived of feeling sorry for themselves.

Now, I just love this though, I am always optimistic for some intelligent reparte when you are around :O)

If you make good points in rebuttal, I am always expecting to learn...you always do make good points.

If you are half compensated for your skill in the 49th state, you may take me to the 50th.
Or maybe I will be half compensated for mine, and go visit you when I see mushroom.

[eightfifteen]

Remember, an optimist cannot be pleasantly surprised.

[mikmik]

Aren't you supposed to be at work? LOL

Why not? Thinking in general that there is always a good side to things doesn't mean specific outcomes are always expected.
If I go to a baseball game, and I expect I will have fun, then Randy Johnson strikes out 23 of 27 batters and then the beer girl is so happy she jumps in my lap and kisses me, that would be a pleasant surprise.

[ldyguique]

LOL --mikmik, you are such a sweet talker :)

If one researches social-psychology, one is quickly drawn into the quagmire of attitude versus behavior controversy and arguments. However, one site defines attitude as an association between an act or object and an evaluation and that it involves positive or negative impressions and includes three components:

Cognitive: “Marijuana is a gateway drug”
Emotional: “Marijuana is extremely dangerous”
Behavioral: “I will not smoke marijuana”

Perhaps, this demonstrates the intertwining of attitude and behavior best. It is impossible to completely separate them.

I fail to see how viewing the world through a dispassionate paradigm of "wait and see" or of acceptance that it will include both positive and negative elements is "only" behavioral. The longer that one is alive, the less black and white the world appears -- the more that shades of gray intrude.

They say that a cynic is a dissolutioned idealist. One might say that a cynic is a pessimist; however, most cynics would love to be proved wrong.

[esiegel]

I would say I'm a realistic optimist.

[mikmik]

"Learned Optimism" Yields Health Benefits
http://health.discovery.com/centers/mental/articles/optimism/optimism.html
People who learn to maintain an optimistic attitude may not only avoid depression, they may actually improve their physical health, according to a controlled study by the University of Pennsylvania's Martin Seligman, Ph.D., and Gregory Buchanan, Ph.D.

The study shows that university freshmen who participated in a workshop on cognitive coping skills reported fewer adverse physical problems and took a more active role in maintaining their healthIt is all over the internet, it is not even a question, it is a fact that we choose to be optimistic or pessimistic.

I will stand more solid than ever that if you are being, feeling, acting, pessimistic, you are feeling sorry for yourself, and that is a choice.

Ask Ivan Ivanesovich, ask people who live in utter poverty and despair, yet still laugh and smile, and look forward to the challenges each day.. It is not a p[roduct of your enviornment, it is how you choose to act with it.
Attitude plus action = behavior.

How you believe, is how you think, How you think is how you act. How you act has consequences, and how you view those consequeces is up to you.

If you don't control your own thoughts and feelings, who does?
If you don't, then you are a victim, and if all your reasons are excuses because of this, that, or the other, you will be a sorry - ersed bitter person eventually.
It is yur choice. There is no doubt, it is not a debate, i am actually surprised that anyone would has admitted to being pessimistic.

Depressed people are pessimistic. It is a mental health issue, not a sign of being properly adapted.

I can get hundreds of links, from the New Englanf Journal of mMedicine, To the DMV to my first year psych books, to every counsellor I have ever talked to.

It is not an issue for speculations, even your example, ldyguique, starts of with 'cognitive'. That is before any situations or external events have taken place, and the final decision a person makes is always based on what they want, because they are optimistic that it will turn out how they need it to.(reinforsing their state of mind - self fulfilling prophecy - I told you so - why me LOL)

[mikmik]

It is not "being prepared" to expect negative, it is fear that you won't be able to cope if you don't prepare.

But optimistic people are being realistic because they know they can cope with any outcome.

It is optimism that is realistic, not pessimism.

;oP