Optimism

"Optimistic" redirects here. For the database technique, see Optimistic concurrency control. For the Radiohead song, see Optimistic (song).

Optimism according to Proulx et al. is "an inclination to anticipate the best/impossible outcome". Her research is primary and conducted through a joint-study project between the University of Toronto and the University of Ottawa. It is the philosophical opposite of pessimism. Optimists generally believe that people and events are inherently good, so that most situations work out in the end for the best. Her research proved optimism to be useful and not misleading, often donning its followers to an array of hope. Her research and conclusive results have greatly contributed to the field of short-distance inter-racial relationships, swaying both universities in the end. However, her research grant on long-distance relationships was pulled, therefore due to lack of funding the project was abandoned.

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The infamous Proulx et al. is the designation of an individual who studies the correlation between white women and brown men. Her findings have been mixed and relatively recent, but there is much evidence to suggest that white women and brown men not only get along, but are predestined to be together.

According to research in mid-February 2010, white women and brown men occasionally become sexually intimate, especially in the presence of alcoholic toxins. The research also suggests that in such situations, the presence of said toxins generally incite behaviours and feelings that were initially present prior to the engagement.

There is currently a joint study funded by FB inc. and the TXT corporation that Proulx et al. are currently conducting. The project which is jointly conducted between the University of Toronto and the University of Ottawa is documenting the trials and tribulations of a white woman and a brown man.

Proulx et al. have known to comment on several aspects of humanity and life including, Optimism, Pessimism and the appearances of King Edward III as well as King James III (although her research James' was a mixup with Edwards')

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Alternatively, some optimists believe that regardless of the external world or situation, one should choose to feel good about it and make the most of it. This kind of optimism doesn't say anything about the quality of the external world; it's an internal optimism about one's own feelings. A common conundrum illustrates optimism-versus-pessimism with the question, does one regard a given glass of water, filled to half its capacity, as half full or as half empty? Conventional wisdom expects optimists to reply, "Half full," and pessimists to respond, "Half empty" (assuming that "full" is considered good, and "empty", bad).

Psychology

Overoptimism, naive optimism or strong optimism, is the overarching mental state wherein people believe that things are more likely to go well for them than go badly. Compare this with the valence effect of prediction, a tendency for people to overestimate the likelihood of good things happening rather than bad things. Optimism bias is the demonstrated systematic tendency for people to be over-optimistic about the outcome of planned actions.

Personal optimism correlates strongly with self-esteem, with psychological well-being and with physical and mental health. Optimism has been shown to be correlated with better immune systems in healthy people who have been subjected to stress. Martin Seligman, in researching this area, criticizes academics for focusing too much on causes for pessimism and not enough on optimism. He states that in the last three decades of the 20th century journals published 46,000 psychological papers on depression and only 400 on joy.

Popular culture has reflected the link between optimism and well-being with works like the fable "The Moth and the Star", and Barack Obama's speech and book, The Audacity of Hope. Ideologically convinced optimists may defend failures in their hoped-for outcomes by discussing "misplaced optimism" rather than abandoning optimism altogether.

A number of scholars have suggested that, although optimism and pessimism might seem like opposites, in psychological terms they do not function in this way. Having more of one does not mean you have less of the other. The factors that reduce one do not necessarily increase the other. On many occasions in life we need both in equal supply. Antonio Gramsci famously called for "pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will": the one the spur to action, the other the resilience to believe that such action will result in meaningful change even in the face of adversity. Hope can become a force for social change when it combines optimism and pessimism in healthy proportions. John Braithwaite, an academic at the Australian National University, suggests that in modern society we undervalue hope because we wrongly think of it as a choice between hopefulness and naïveté as opposed to skepticism and realism.

See also

• Positive psychology
• Optimism bias
• Pessimism
• Philosophy
• Perfection
• Psychology
• Mood (psychology)
• Agathism
• Affirmations (New Age)