Optimism and Pessimism

Optimism is the extent to which people hold favorable expectancies for their future. Higher optimism has been linked to higher engagement coping and lower avoidance coping. Optimism is also associated with taking proactive steps to protect health, whereas pessimism is associated with health-damaging behaviors. The energetic, task-focused approach that optimists take to goals also predicts benefits in the socioeconomic world. Optimism predicts more persistence in educational effort and higher later income. Optimists also appear to fare better than pessimists in relationships. Although optimism sometimes fails to convey an advantage, and occasionally may even convey a disadvantage, those instances are rare.