pessimism

Also known as negativism

thumb|220px|An optimist and a pessimist, Vladimir Makovsky, 1893

AI overview

Pessimism is the tendency to expect negative outcomes or to focus on the worst aspects of situations rather than the best. It matters because how pessimistic or optimistic we are can influence our decisions, mental health, and how we respond to challenges in life.

AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.

Research

2,439 papers

Optimism, pessimism, and physical health among youth: a scoping review.Journal of pediatric psychology · 2024Fairbank EJ, Borenstein-Laurie J, Alberts NM et al.DOI: 10.1093/jpepsy/jsae045
Association of pessimism with cardiovascular events and all-cause mortality.Progress in cardiovascular diseases · 2023Krittanawong C, Maitra NS, Khawaja M et al.DOI: 10.1016/j.pcad.2022.11.018
Optimism and pessimism: a concept for behavioural ecology.ReviewBiological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2025Siewert V, Kaiser S, Sachser N et al.DOI: 10.1111/brv.13178
Optimism, pessimism and judgement bias in animals: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2020Lagisz M, Zidar J, Nakagawa S et al.DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.07.012
Optimism versus pessimism as predictors of physical health: A comprehensive reanalysis of dispositional optimism research.The American psychologist · 2021Scheier MF, Swanson JD, Barlow MA et al.DOI: 10.1037/amp0000666
Optimism and pessimism in optimised replay.PLoS computational biology · 2022Antonov G, Gagne C, Eldar E et al.DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009634
Optimism Verses Pessimism: The Choice is Yours.World neurosurgery · 2020Benzel EDOI: 10.1016/j.wneu.2020.09.133
Power, paradox and pessimism: On the unintended consequences of digital health technologies in primary care.ReviewSocial science & medicine (1982) · 2021Ziebland S, Hyde E, Powell JDOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.114419

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Commons category: Pessimism

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Article

14 sections

Contents

Etymology
As a psychological disposition
Criticism
Pragmatic criticism
Other forms of pessimism
Philosophical pessimism
Political and cultural
Technological and environmental
Entropy pessimism
Legal
See also
Notes
Further reading
External links

thumb|220px|An optimist and a pessimist, Vladimir Makovsky, 1893

Pessimism is a mental attitude in which an undesirable outcome is anticipated from a given situation. Pessimists tend to focus on the negatives of life in general. A common question asked to test for pessimism is "Is the glass half empty or half full?"; in this situation, a pessimist is said to see the glass as half empty, or in extreme cases completely empty, while an optimist is said to see the glass as half full. Throughout history, the pessimistic disposition has had effects on all major areas of thinking.