Optimism

In his book, Optimism: The Biology of Hope, Lionel Tiger (Tiger, 1995) argues cogently that optimism is not an optional characteristic in humans; it is as 'natural to man as his eyes that see, and as irreplaceable as hair.' Through evolution we have developed a species-wide tendency to overestimate moderately, the odds in our favour. In other words, optimism is a biological phenomenon. It seems that optimism has been central to the process of evolution. It has greatly influenced the way humans think, work, play and respond to fundamental issues such as birth and death. It is a force that has been used as a lever in the hand of politicians and a weapon in the hands of dictators. Both groups use optimism as a way of controlling people and harnessing them to a cause. If indeed, Tiger's belief that optimism is a biological phenomenon rooted in the genes is true, then it gives us another technique to use in people management processes.

Optimism appears to be socially desirable in all communities. Purveyors of optimism are generally accepted whereas those who spread doom and gloom, panic and hysteria, are treated with contempt. Many of the world's religions are adherents to the doctrine of optimism. The sufferings of this world, the vicissitudes of life, the pain of disease and death are all mitigated by the expectancy of some future favorable outcome, maybe not in this world but certainly in some other. Religions allow communities to organize their fears and their futures by establishing a set of rules and beliefs for everyone to follow. In this way earthly fears are relegated to the arena of trivia and society becomes more manageable.

Seligman (1991) has spent many years researching the concept of optimism and pessimism through his work on attributional styles. He has found that people with an optimistic attributional style will attribute negative events differently to those with a pessimistic explanatory style. When setbacks occur, pessimists blame themselves. 'I am just no good,' or 'Nobody wants me,' are phrases that soon flow from the lips of such people. They believe the cause of their misfortune lies within them rather than being due to external or extenuating circumstances. Pessimists also believe that misfortune is long lasting ('Things will never get better') or repetitive ('If I have failed once, it will happen again'). It is also global or 'pervasive', that is, 'If misfortune befalls me in one part of my life, then it will happen to my whole life.' These three characteristics of the pessimistic explanatory style for negative events are known as the three Ps – Personal, Permanent and Pervasive.