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optimism

·July 21, 2025·5 min read

Optimists’ Brains “Think Alike” When Imagining the Future

Optimists’ brains show strikingly similar patterns when imagining the future, while pessimists’ brains display more individual variability, a new study reveals. Using fMRI, researchers found that optimists process positive and negative scenarios in distinct, shared ways, which may explain their greater social connectedness.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·February 22, 2025·5 min read

Optimism and Pessimism Shape Resilience and Risk

Researchers examined how optimism and pessimism influenced well-being and behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic. Analyzing data from a large-scale study of older adults, they found that optimism was linked to lower stress and greater resilience, while lower pessimism was associated with safer health behaviors.

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Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·October 8, 2024·3 min read

Optimism Boosted by Psilocybin, Hinting at Depression Relief

Researchers have discovered that psilocybin, a psychedelic compound in magic mushrooms, increases optimism and motivation in rats, suggesting potential therapeutic benefits for treating depression. Using computational modeling, scientists observed that rats given psilocybin were more likely to engage in reward-based tasks, indicating enhanced optimism.

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Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·June 10, 2024·5 min read

Optimism Reduces Procrastination

People with an optimistic view of their future are less likely to be severe procrastinators. Researchers found that those who believe their stress levels will decrease over time tend to procrastinate less, while views on personal well-being had no significant effect. The study surveyed nearly 300 young adults and highlighted the importance of future outlook in managing procrastination. The findings suggest that fostering a positive future perspective could help reduce procrastination and stress.

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Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·March 28, 2024·5 min read

Anxiety Drives Wishful Thinking to Risky Levels

Individuals tend to become overly optimistic in situations marked by insecurity and anxiety, potentially to their detriment. The research, involving more than 1,700 participants, demonstrated that people are less accurate in recognizing patterns linked to negative outcomes, like electrical shocks or monetary loss, indicating a clear bias towards wishful thinking.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·December 4, 2023·4 min read

Optimism Linked to Poor Decision-Making and Lower Cognitive Skills

While optimism is often celebrated, a new study reveals that excessive optimism can lead to poor decision-making, particularly in financial matters. The research shows that individuals with high cognitive ability tend to be more realistic and pessimistic in their future expectations, while those with lower cognitive ability lean towards excessive optimism.

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Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·August 20, 2022·5 min read

Stop Dissing Pessimism, It’s Part of Being Human

Pessimism is a fundamental part of the human experience. Researchers say refusing to subscribe entirely to the social drive for the pursuit of happiness and embracing your pessimistic side may be the most reasonable attitude.

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Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·July 2, 2022·4 min read

For Dreamers, Optimism Rules

While popular culture encourages us all to "dream big", researchers say it is important to ground those dreams with a dose of reality.

Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·June 8, 2022·2 min read

Do Optimists Live Longer?

People who are more optimistic tend to live longer than those who are more pessimistic, a new study reports.

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Featured Neuroscience Psychology

·February 21, 2022·3 min read

Why Young Children Are Hyper-Optimistic

Researchers say young children tend to be hyper-optimistic because they learn much less from bad outcomes than older children.

This shows two fingers, one has a smiley face drawn on it, the other has a frowning face

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·July 28, 2020·4 min read

Pessimistic Outlook on Life Linked to Life Expectancy

Pessimistic people are more likely to die earlier from cardiovascular disease and other causes, but not from cancer than those who have a more optimistic outlook on life. However, optimists did not have a greater than average life expectancy.