Sumit Paul-Choudhury

People who are strongly optimistic tend to live longer, they tend to be healthier, they tend to be more successful. People who score high on pessimism, that associates quite strongly with depression, and depression is characterized, among other things, by an inability to see that there is any other way forward.

People who are strongly optimistic tend to live longer, they tend to be healthier, they tend to be more successful. People who score high on pessimism, that associates quite strongly with depression, and depression is characterized, among other things, by an inability to see that there is any other way forward.

People who are strongly optimistic tend to live longer, they tend to be healthier, they tend to be more successful. People who score high on pessimism, that associates quite strongly with depression, and depression is characterized, among other things, by an inability to see that there is any other way forward.

What is it? Well, one of the reasons I kind of started looking into this subject is because, actually, I think we all kind of think we know what optimism is. We kind of think it's this sort of general attitude that life will go all right and things will work themselves out. But when you start digging into it, you find there are actually kind of several distinct flavors of optimism.

What is it? Well, one of the reasons I kind of started looking into this subject is because, actually, I think we all kind of think we know what optimism is. We kind of think it's this sort of general attitude that life will go all right and things will work themselves out. But when you start digging into it, you find there are actually kind of several distinct flavors of optimism.

What is it? Well, one of the reasons I kind of started looking into this subject is because, actually, I think we all kind of think we know what optimism is. We kind of think it's this sort of general attitude that life will go all right and things will work themselves out. But when you start digging into it, you find there are actually kind of several distinct flavors of optimism.

There's a psychological version of optimism. There's a philosophical version of optimism. And then there's kind of a practical version of optimism. And they kind of flow on from each other. The psychological definition of it is essentially having expectations about the future that are not supportable by the available evidence.

There's a psychological version of optimism. There's a philosophical version of optimism. And then there's kind of a practical version of optimism. And they kind of flow on from each other. The psychological definition of it is essentially having expectations about the future that are not supportable by the available evidence.

There's a psychological version of optimism. There's a philosophical version of optimism. And then there's kind of a practical version of optimism. And they kind of flow on from each other. The psychological definition of it is essentially having expectations about the future that are not supportable by the available evidence.

So you think things are going to go well, even when you don't have evidence that testifies to that or demonstrates that's going to be true.

So you think things are going to go well, even when you don't have evidence that testifies to that or demonstrates that's going to be true.

So you think things are going to go well, even when you don't have evidence that testifies to that or demonstrates that's going to be true.

Is that a safe assumption? It's one of those things. It's a safe assumption except when it isn't. One of the things I dug into was the evolutionary origins of optimism and why it seems to be that we have this innate, very widespread tendency to look on the bright side and why that seems to be part of the human condition.

Is that a safe assumption? It's one of those things. It's a safe assumption except when it isn't. One of the things I dug into was the evolutionary origins of optimism and why it seems to be that we have this innate, very widespread tendency to look on the bright side and why that seems to be part of the human condition.

Is that a safe assumption? It's one of those things. It's a safe assumption except when it isn't. One of the things I dug into was the evolutionary origins of optimism and why it seems to be that we have this innate, very widespread tendency to look on the bright side and why that seems to be part of the human condition.

And actually goes beyond the human condition, because actually you also find that animals are optimistic or they express kind of biases in the way they look at the world that reflects what we would think of as optimism. So you can, for example, you can do an experiment with chickens in which you train basically chicks to associate, say, a black card with food and a white card with no food.

And actually goes beyond the human condition, because actually you also find that animals are optimistic or they express kind of biases in the way they look at the world that reflects what we would think of as optimism. So you can, for example, you can do an experiment with chickens in which you train basically chicks to associate, say, a black card with food and a white card with no food.

And actually goes beyond the human condition, because actually you also find that animals are optimistic or they express kind of biases in the way they look at the world that reflects what we would think of as optimism. So you can, for example, you can do an experiment with chickens in which you train basically chicks to associate, say, a black card with food and a white card with no food.

So, you know, if they move a black card, there'll be food behind it. If they move the white card, there won't be. And once they're trained to do this, you show them a grey card and you see what they do. And what happens is that most chickens tend to go for the grey card, which basically means they think, well, it's probably going to have food.

So, you know, if they move a black card, there'll be food behind it. If they move the white card, there won't be. And once they're trained to do this, you show them a grey card and you see what they do. And what happens is that most chickens tend to go for the grey card, which basically means they think, well, it's probably going to have food.