Business Opportunities Weblog

November 7, 2007 by Rich Whittle | 1 Comment

Newsweek:

We humans tend to be an optimistic bunch. In fact, it’s long been established by psychologists that most people tend to be irrationally positive.

The optimism bias, as it’s called, accounts for the fact that we expect to live longer and be more successful than the average and we tend to underestimate the likelihood of getting a serious disease or a divorce.

This tendency is adaptive—many researchers have claimed that a positive outlook motivates us to plan for our future and may even have an effect on our long-term physical health.

Optimism may be so necessary to our survival that it’s hardwired in our brains.

A new study published in the journal Nature further confirms the idea that having a rosy outlook is a personality trait with deep, neurological roots.

Researchers found that the brains of optimistic people actually light up differently on a scan than those who tend to be more pessimistic when they think about future events.

While we can’t say for certain why some people respond more positively to life’s events, it’s increasingly clear that your mental outlook can have a big effect on your physical health.

Optimism motivates individuals to take control of their lives, while depression has been found to have the opposite effect. It is often linked to a sense of hopelessness. ”

Photo by starvalleydrug.

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Tags: Health, Operations, Success