Is optimism any good?

Does it achieve any good, produce any discernible benefit whatsoever? If a situation (correctly) warrants optimism, then the odds are that things will turn out alright regardless of one's attitude. If the situation does not warrant it, then optimism isn't going to change the situation anyway. So, is there ever a point to optimism, or being optimistic?

 

We are seeing first hand how great hope and change are.

 

I think it helps people persevere in the face of adversity. However, I imagine it is best tempered with a modicum of reality.

 

If I am pessimistic about a situation I find that I dont put the effort in to trying to make it work, like i would if i was optimistic about what the outcome could be. If i wasnt optimistic about being able to make good money as a trader, i would have never put in the necessary effort needed to achieve the results I have today.

So i would say optimism is a good thing, most pessimists you meet got that why from a lifetime of failure, like optional777 or Thundergayfly1.

 

The one-trick pony has neighed. Have a sugar cube.

 

I'd like to see any overt evidence of my pessimism. (Or are you just lying again? You will recall I already caught you at it before.) So until you find such evidence, I suggest you spend more time posting photoshopped blotters. And try to get your mind off my sexuality. I say this only to protect you from bitter disappointment later.

 

Don't worry. Its almost the 15th. You will be recieving your government check soon. Loser.

 

People Who Wear Rose-Colored Glasses See More, Study Shows

People who wear rose-coloured glasses see more. (Credit: Image courtesy of University of Toronto)

ScienceDaily (June 6, 2009) — A University of Toronto study provides the first direct evidence that our mood literally changes the way our visual system filters our perceptual experience suggesting that seeing the world through rose-coloured glasses is more biological reality than metaphor.

“Good and bad moods literally change the way our visual cortex operates and how we see,” says Adam Anderson, a U of T professor of psychology. “Specifically our study shows that when in a positive mood, our visual cortex takes in more information, while negative moods result in tunnel vision. The study appears in the Journal of Neuroscience.

The U of T team used functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine how our visual cortex processes sensory information when in good, bad, and neutral moods. They found that donning the rose-coloured glasses of a good mood is less about the colour and more about the expansiveness of the view.

The researchers first showed subjects a series images designed to generate a good, bad or neutral mood. Subjects were then shown a composite image, featuring a face in the centre, surrounded by “place” images, such as a house. To focus their attention on the central image, subjects were asked to identify the gender of the person’s face. When in a bad mood, the subjects did not process the images of places in the surrounding background.

However, when viewing the same images in a good mood, they actually took in more information — they saw the central image of the face as well as the surrounding pictures of houses. The discovery came from looking at specific parts of the brain — the parahippocampal “place area” — that are known to process places and how this area relates to primary visual cortical responses, the first part of the cortex related to vision.

“Under positive moods, people may process a greater number of objects in their environment, which sounds like a good thing, but it also can result in distraction,” says Taylor Schmitz, a graduate student of Anderson’s and lead author of the study. “Good moods enhance the literal size of the window through which we see the world. The upside of this is that we can see things from a more global, or integrative perspective. The downside is that this can lead to distraction on critical tasks that require narrow focus, such as operating dangerous machinery or airport screening of passenger baggage. Bad moods, on the other hand, may keep us more narrowly focused, preventing us from integrating information outside of our direct attentional focus.”

The research is supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Canada Research Chairs program.

 

There are a large number of foreigners on government aid, is that why you know the day?

 

Yes, do tell me all about losers. Let's start with self-righteous functional illiterates.