Are You an Optimist or a Pessimist?

Post Reply New Topic

I was having a discussion the other day with another WP member about optimism vs pessimism. I am the eternal optimist and he is somewhat of a pessimist and we both believed that most Aspies were more like ourselves. I believed that Aspies tended to be optimists because of our naive tendencies to be overtrusting, while he believed that Aspies tended to be pessimists due to our sad fate in life.

This is basically the same as the glass half full / glass half empty question, which I found posted about a year ago but with no poll. I thought this would make an interesting poll so here it is. Which are you?

I voted other, because I think were all much more optimistic than we should be. Nobody ever expects their car to get totaled, or their house to catch on fire, but yet everyone always has dreams of getting rich without actually having to work for it. People tend to imagine the glass being full in the future, whereas it's just as likely that the glass could be totally empty.

It depends on the situation. I can go either way.

I'm a very optimistic person. I like to think the best for my future.

Once I was an optimist. Then life showed me the folly of my ways.

I am a total pessimist. I am the most negative person there is. The saying is when something could go wrong it usually does. And in our life everything goes wrong. When something does go right, it is very short lived. Like last month for example was great for my art. The only good month. It only lasted a month and this month I haven't made anything with my art. Even last month while it was the most I ever made, it is still in the poverty range. I am a starving artist. My art is everywhere and I am still starving. Mom just had major surgery. I bet it totally disabled her. Someone wants to so called invest in my brother's failing company which was the last line of hope in our lives to save us. I don't think so though and I bet they want 50% and will kick my brother out of the company, that is if the money isn't stolen in the first place. The lawyer and my brother is highly suspicious of this whole thing that is it even real in the first place. Most likely a scam. I don't trust anyone. If something sounds too good to be true it usually is. The best thing this year is coming up and it is a cruise in September. That is if its not canceled. It better not be. We hardly go on vacations. The only reason why is that we are so desperate that grandpa sent us some money. That is how desperate we are otherwise we will NEVER go on another vacation again. See how negative I am? This is me and how I am. It is hard to think positively right now. I always have been a negative person.

Usually my mind explores all the possibilites especially the things like cars being totaled, houses burning ect.

You know how the phrase goes – I'm not a pessimist, I'm a realist. Optimism can get silly when people just assume that everything will work out for the best, without coming up with a plan. Having said that, I try not to be such a prick all the time and enjoy what I have going for me.

There's a difference between exploring the possibilities and expecting something. Nobody actually expects it to happen to them. Just wait until it does happen (if it does, I'm not saying it will), and you'll know what I mean.

Thinking "my house could catch on fire" and "HOLY S*** THERE'S A FORREST FIRE RIGHT OUTSIDE MY WINDOW" are two completely different things. If you ever find yourself thinking the latter, your next thought will probably be "I never would have thought this could actually happen to me."

Sometimes we think it can be amusing thinking about the worst, but for some reason there's always some doubt about it that "no, it won't really happen." Well, why wouldn't it happen?

All of this just shows us how our brains can be very tricky. We realize our thoughts are illogical, but we try to convince ourselves that they are not, just because that's not what we actually want to think. And, what's funny is that we usually buy into it, even though we know better. It's like some sort of paradox.

Well I actually do expect lots of fairly horrible things to happen, they don't always but sometimes they do, and when bad things happen I tend not to think 'I never would have thought this could happen' I am usually one of those 'I told you so' people. Normal people do not think this way but it is how I think, I have a feeling there are less pessimists then optimists.

I want to be an Optimist... it's just hard when everything you plan goes to hell.

Optimistic.

That's not the response I was expecting, but alright. Even if you have thought of just about every doomsday situation, of which there are infinite possibilities, how could you actually expect any specific one? You might predict a bad situation in the future, but knowing exactly in what way it will turn bad is, for most intents and purposes, impossible.

Pessimist. It is safer that way. If I think something good is going to happen, then it doesn't, I may have a panic attack, or worse. If I think the worse, then at least I can prepare myself if it is bad and be ecstatic if it is positive.

Re: Poll

Are you suggesting that cynicism is a more extreme pessimism?

Well i am not saying I can actually predict anything but I do usually assume the worst and sometimes my assumption proves to be right. I mean I used to think about various senerios involving people with guns taking place in my school....and when I was in 10th grade some seemingly random person(not a student) came into the school and ended up killing one of the students. I mean it was a coincidence I am sure but still it was not suprising to me after having thought about it. I mean I know the reality...but its hard not to feel like there was something I could have done to prevent it which is ridiculous.