Optimism vs Pessimism vs Realism
Which mode of thinking is the most conducive to living a happy life?
Why?
No shitposts.
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Been thinking about this a fair bit recently. I'm tending to think some hybrid of pessimism and realism is best.
Optimism just seems cruel. The world is not a happy-go-lucky perfect utopia, as advertising and your friends' 'social masks' on Facebook would lead you to believe. If you're always viewing things as an optimist, expecting things to turn out well, you get crushed when your expectations are subverted and things don't go your way.
If we take pessimism, then we think that things won't go our way. Our expectations are low. When these expectations get subverted, we are elated.
If we take realism, then we rationally calibrate our expectations based on the situation at hand. Because our expectations are in line with reality, they don't often get subverted. If they do get subverted, then rather than elation or disappointed, what do we get... Surprised? Take realism if you like surprises I guess.
Happiness has been conceptionalised before as reality minus expectations. If this is the case, then that equation can be solved pretty quickly. We can say reality = 1, realism = 1, optimism (must be higher than reality) = 1.5 and pessimism = 0.5.
Realism gives us nothing. You get 0.
Optimism gives us a negative value. You get -0.5
Only pessimism gives us a positive number. 0.5
It's probably (definitely) not as simple that, but we can use this common conceptualisation of a 'happiness formula' to explain how low/negative expectations can actually result in something positive.
I'm not saying be a negative nelly/party pooper all the time. Seneca and the rest of the stoics of the time would start their days with a chant/meditation on how horrible the day ahead would be (so when it ain't bad, they're all g - and if it is bad, well they expected that). I ain't saying that.
If you're negative all the time, always looking for the worst in things, I bet you could delude yourself into depression. I wouldn't want to hang around thinking the world is so horrible and awful all the time, and I bet no-one else would wanna hang around with me either. It definitely doesn't seem healthy. So I ain't saying that.
I just reckon that, when facing 'big' situations, I think it might be best to approach it pessimistically, so as to avoid 'big' disappointment (and engender
fantastic elation if the negative expectation does get subverted). For most other situations, probably be best to take a realist approach. I expect there'll be places where sprinkling in some optimism would be appropriate (supporting people/giving them confidence).
As I said at the start, these are just my current thoughts about it. They've very malleable right now - Not committed to anything yet. What do you think?
Last edited by Ele; Feb 10, 2020 at 07:34 PM.