We often take a dismal view of the future. A recent Pew poll, for example, showed that Americans were more pessimistic than optimistic about a whole range of issues, including the country’s moral and ethical standards, education system, marriage and the family, and ability to ensure racial equality. Such negativity is usually lamented, seen as a cause for concern. But have we been too down on pessimism? In our haste to look on the bright side, have we overlooked some of pessimism’s benefits?
In western culture, optimism is valorised more than pessimism. At its extreme, the positive power of optimism is seen as supernatural. New Age ideas like “manifestation” and the law of attraction maintain that if you believe in something enough, it will happen. More commonly, optimism is revered for its power to motivate. “When we expect a reward, we’re more likely to act,” the cognitive neuroscientist Tali Sharot said when we spoke to her. “And when we expect bad things, we’re actually more likely not to act. That’s how the brain works.”
There are several ways in which human beings are drawn to the optimistic view. One is the well-replicated “better-than-average effect”. When asked to rate how good we are at any number of things, a large majority rank themselves above most others, which is statistically impossible. But for Sharot, the fact that optimism is, by definition, not realism doesn’t matter. “Our ability to see things not really as they are at all times is a blessing,” she says. “If we really were fully accepting of the truth of our condition and the world, I think it would be very hard for us and for society to function.”