I’m not optimistic about this
Research shows that human beings are not innately optimistic.
Well, I never thought they were. Somehow, I’d missed the news of research that seemed to indicate that optimism was innate. Now they say that such research showing “optimism bias” was “little more than a statistical quirk.”
Here’s something that seems interesting:
…[I]t has been claimed that people fail to learn from bad news, such as being told their chance of getting cancer.
But the researchers said they also failed to learn from good news, such as being told they had a higher chance of living to 90 than they had thought.
They also created a computer program designed to behave in a completely rational way in psychological tests that had been used to apparently show evidence of innate human optimism. This program responded in much the same way that humans did.
Does that mean that humans fail to learn from anything, and yet are completely rational? Sounds a bit irrational to me.
I believe the engineer’s answer to the chart is, “The glass is too big.”
For a long time I’ve believed that optimism is essentially a pessimistic philosophy. For example, optimists look for, hope for, expect the best. How often does the best occur? Infrequently.
A pessimist, OTH, look for, fear, expect the very worst to happen. How often doesthat the very worst occur? Again, infrequently.
So, IMO, optimists navigate life being mostly disappointed because their expectations are infrequently met, while pessimists go through life being often pleasantly surprised for exactly the same reason.
Brian Swisher,
I’ve always responded that the glass is simply the wrong size; I think that slight difference allows for a broader variety of responses. Who knows? There may be times that we want the glass to be larger and less than half full.
Does that mean that humans fail to learn from anything, and yet are completely rational? Sounds a bit irrational to me.
“Seething cranium spill on aisle 3. Send in the fire extinguishers. “
Overall, I’m an optimistic realist.
“The optimist is often as wrong as the pessimist, but he is far happier.”
As for the researchers; “most ‘scientists’ are button sorters and button pushers” R.A. Heinlein
“Overall, I’m an optimistic realist. “ – GB
Now that blows me away.
“I believe the engineer’s answer to the chart is, “The glass is too big.” ”
Nope. The engineer’s answer is “Half the water is in a redundant glass…”
I was taught prepare for the worst and keep a positive attitude .That still makes sense to me.
Based on my own life experiences, it really doesn’t matter how much water is actually in the glass because, when you least expect it, some SOB will come out of nowhere and kick the glass over.
The optimist thinks this is the best of all possible worlds. The pessimist is afraid the optimist is correct.
geokstr:
But how much water is in the glass affects how soaked you get.
Big Maq Says:
August 17th, 2016 at 5:36 pm
“Overall, I’m an optimistic realist. “ — GB
Now that blows me away.
If you had been here when GB was talking about how some Leftists or moderate Democrats would find it in their heart to defend American freedoms to the death, you might not be so surprised.
The Democrat dogma, that many of us here converted from, is surprisingly optimistic with their Utopian promises of man made glory. But no matter at what time or era people here converted from the Leftist alliance, there is still a spark of that something which drew the original personality to the Democrat religion and doctrine.