Thursday, September 6, 2012

The Positives of Pessimism


This article outlines some of the positives of being a pessimist in our society where positive thinking is thought to have almost mystical powers.  But the point that I thought was most interesting was this (the point is emboldened.)  I have found that it's a fine line between cheering yourself on and having a backlash.  Likewise, it's possible to arouse your inner brat by having a "to do" list that's too long or involved.  So I found this article to be validating in that regard.  Please click through if you want to read the whole thing.

. You undermine yourself.

A study from the University of Waterloo divided participants into two groups, those with high self-esteem and those with low self-esteem, using a scale from 0 to 35. After repeating positive affirmations like the ones above, participants with high self-esteem saw their self-esteem score rise seven points. On the flip side, the participants with low self-esteem who repeated affirmations saw their score drop seven points.
The researchers found that when people with low self-esteem repeated the affirmations, it actually sparked “resistance,” or a snarky inner voice that debated the truthfulness of those affirmations, which effectively lowered self-esteem

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