Introduction / Overview
As William Arthur Ward puts it across best, the pessimist complains about the wind while the optimist expects it to change; the realist however adjusts the sails - the way we think influences how we act and as a result affects our productivity. The objective of this report is to explore the correlation between positive and negative thinking with productivity. Positive and negative thinking has always been polar opposites dependent on the perspective that one takes upon. With sales for self help books doubling in percentage compared to all other genres of books since the 1970 shows for an increasing popularity for self help books. This indicates a growing awareness amongst Singaporeans to maximise personal happiness
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For one, positive thinking will enable the person cope better. The other is that positive thinking increases the likelihood of a good outcome. Optimism has been shown to relate to higher levels of self reported vitality and mental health and lower levels of depression. There is also evidence that positive thinking may provide a sense of control in certain situations and reduce the incidence of depression.
Positive Thinking vs Negative thinking
Historically speaking, it is in human nature to favour all things positive. In schools, Singaporean students are always encouraged to end their narrative essays off on a positive note while it can also be observed in fairy tale movies produced by Disney - happy endings are a signature that proves to be popular with the masses (in fact it’s not until 2016 movie production Into the Woods that the mass media conglomerate dared to venture into an un-happy ending).
Positivity gives people hope and the motivation to keep going, therefore it is generally favoured over negative thinking (pessimism). In fact, there has been substantial scientific research done in various cultural contexts that proves that optimism, in its many myriad forms, is related to better outcomes with regards to coping, satisfaction and
Optimism was an attractive to many because it answered a profound philosophical question: if God is omnipotent and benevolent, then why is there so much evil in the world? Optimism provides an easy way out: God has made everything for the best, and even though one might experience personal misfortune, God (via your misfortune) is still helping the greater good.
Ever hear one say, “Sometimes I’m busy making others happy, that I forget to make sure I’m okay.”? After reading Barbara Ehrenreich’s Bright-Sided I have learned that balancing both positive and negative thinking is the single most important life lesson shown throughout the book. Ehrenreich tells readers that the power of positive thinking Is undermining America and how being too positive and too optimistic, can lead to trouble. One that knows how to balance the amount of positivity and negativity will create a proper outcome for their future.
Mary Atwood stated in her short story “Happy Endings,” “You’ll have to face it, the endings are the same however you slice it.” This quote reflects from a short story that gives the readers interest with several different scenarios with different plots that leads up to the same ending each time, death. This causes the title “Happy Ending” to become irony within itself because there is really no happy endings, just the same. The beginning even gives the readers the choice of starting with A to get the feel of what really is the true Happy ending. In many cases people choose the scenario A not because it provides a happy ending but because it is the first scenario on the list and it is only right to start with the first one. But as you read all of scenarios you’ll find some to be quite similar within the plots but different at same time. However, the most important factor is how it ends.
If someone thinks negatively towards something the outcome will not be good, and vice versa. Thinking you can achieve the American dream is a major key in doing so, and some Americans are already on the right track. In the U.S., a survey showed that 36 percent of Americans say they have achieved the dream, and another 46 percent believe they are on the path of achieving it. It is not so easy, though, to always look on the bright side. Sometimes it seems as if nothing is going right; that is when negativity occurs. People can argue that mindset has little impact on the outcome, or that it does not matter how positive a person is because some things are just not meant to be. An article, however, proves this wrong. The paper argues how negative emotions prevent humans from flourishing; it also states, “if your ratio of positive to negative emotions is greater than 2.9013 to one, you will flourish both physically and psychologically.” If a person believes in themselves, they are more likely to accomplish their
The importance dispositional optimism as a facilitator of well-being, positive health, flourishing, and quality of life has been documented in the positive psychology literature. Dispositional optimism evaluated by the LOT-R is a positive personality trait characterized by favorable personal future expectation (Scheier et al., 1994). It has been emphasized that optimism is a malleable personality trait and that pessimists can become optimists by utilizing techniques such as positive psychology interventions (Carver et al., 2009; Seligman, 2011). In contrast to traditional psychological interventions, positive psychology interventions have a strong focus on cultivating positive personality traits including dispositional optimism.
Lino (2017) clearly gave the definition of positive psychology and explained how it overall explained how it can impact our lives. Positive Psychology is important in the sense of how many time it has been seen that successful people have issues because of the lack of positive influence in their lives and that seeing ourselves in a positive way can help prevent or cure many mental illnesses like depression or anxiety. The basic idea of Positive Psychology is that this moment is better than the last and the next will be better than this one. There is a constant reminder that the past is in the past focus on being positive in the future instead of in the past.
Happy Endings is an oddly structured, metafictional story; a series of possible scenarios all leading the characters to the same ending. Atwood uses humour and practical wisdom to critique both romantic fiction and contemporary society, and to make the point that it is not the end that is important, it is the journey that truly matters in both life and writing.
Firstly, people who show an optimism bias feel more happy and satisfied with their life. These people are also more in control of and engaged in their life’s goal, they will not just think about happy thoughts and wait for life to pass, instead they will be engaged in a meaningful life and do whatever it takes to accomplish their goals. They are also less likely to give up on a difficult situation and will cope with it. These are people who will not wait for the rain to pass but who learn to dance in the rain in order to fulfil their life’s goal. Unrealistic optimism shows an increased well-being and happiness. With this increased well-being, unrealistically optimistic people are also more able to pick themselves up after a major life
Whether an individual has positive or negative attitude is not a major contributor to their happiness and a realistic attitude would be ideal for those trying to increase their
Everyone in life wants a happy ending. In “Happy Endings” by Margaret Atwood and Sure Thing by David Ives, there is a common theme of happy endings. In “Happy Endings,” the theme is referred back to the happy ending throughout the story; whereas, in Sure Thing, the characters are trying to reach a happy ending through multiple conversations. The characters in “Happy Endings” are all striving for a happy ending; however, in Sure Thing, the characters receive multiple chances at attaining their happy ending. The common theme throughout these two stories is a happy ending; however, in “Happy Endings” and Sure Thing, the faults and mistakes of the characters prove that a happy ending is not always possible or guaranteed.
...iage, traditionally associated with comedy and happy-endings, the audience is unsure whether the ending is happy or not.
The analyses tended to focus on the self; where depressed individuals were more likely to rate both future positive and negative events equally. Where analyses looked at judgments of the self and the unknown, again, depressed individuals provided balanced predictions. They stated that researchers in this field has attributed both illusory optimism and pessimism to similar empirical results, revealing difficulty in determining if anyone had made a cognitive
B. Cade Massey once said, “It 's gotten to the point where people really feel pressure to think and talk in an optimistic way” (Massey). Optimism is generally seen as healthy, while pessimism is generally seen as dangerous. The difference between optimism and pessimism is a difference in perspective and mindset. An optimist has a positive perspective and cheerful mindset, while a pessimist has a negative perspective and a gloomy mindset. There are consequences to both perspectives. But which has better consequences for one’s health? Assuming that it is moderated, pessimism is healthy for a person’s well-being. Pessimism is more realistic than optimism because it prepares people for an unpredictable and possibly negative life. Pessimism is also better for expectations compared to future surprises. Pessimists are either proven right or pleasantly surprised. Pessimism is a healthier mindset to have than optimism.
Not every story has a happy ending, not every story is like our fairy tales, there are stories in real life which has a sad ending when the love dies and feeling of sacrifices and ego develops between two partners.
These phycologists have wondered if there are more optimist or pessimists in the world. They have made an attempt to find out what approach is greater or better. There are some advantages to optimism because it makes people feel better about life, however, there are also some advantages to pessimism in that looking at the unfortunate side of things can help some pessimists cope better with the world. Both optimism and pessimism have important roles to play the lives of everybody. Being optimist permits people to go after their goals in a positive way, to dream bigger and better dreams, which they can strive to work towards. Optimist also tend to respond better to positive feedback, and a part of being an optimist may be producing this feedback for themselves, example, thinking positive thoughts. While on the other hand, being pessimistic may help people to better acknowledge negative feedback and reduce their natural anxiety to perform better. Once again, part of the reason why pessimist generates negative thoughts is that it helps them perform a lot better. People tend to utilize both optimism and pessimism in order for them gain out of their advantages. People who are mainly concerned with growth or advancement often manifest an optimistic view, whereas those who are concerned with safety and security, or avoiding negative outcomes, focus more on pessimism in order to improve their