Ever since I was a child, it seemed like I was a pessimist. Positive events in my life felt like they were random and unpredictable, while negative events were usually more reliable to occur and always something I was unable to stop. Though the words “pessimism” and “optimism” were tossed around a bit at home and at school, it wasn’t until I was taking psychology courses in college that I truly understood what it meant to be more inclined to these explanatory styles. I especially had a negative perspective on my health, believing that I was probably destined to eventually go through some health problem in my life because they seem to be so prevalent in my family tree. However, learning about pessimism through both this course and through the research in this blog, I have come to realize that this mindset might not be the healthiest, and this made me wonder if this explanatory style of change was doing more harm in this area of my life than I initially gave it credit for. The discussion on pessimism in this course, as well as others that I have taken this semester, piques my curiosity as to how optimism and pessimism can have an effect of health. Though the book briefly mentions some of the effects that optimism can have on health, my interest in how pessimism can affect health only grew. I wanted to know more about how pessimism could affect my health.
The first source of information that I found was an abstract for a study conducted by Emily Lin and Christopher Peterson. This study involved how an optimistic or pessimistic explanation for illness could correlate with the subjects’ health, and seemed to find that those who thought pessimistically about their illness became sick more often. However, Lin and Peterson also state that “When ill, the pessimistic subjects were less likely than their optimistic counterparts to take active steps to combat their illness.” I think this result from the study makes sense, as there have been members of my family that, due to seeing negative aspects of their life as a constant, unstoppable force, were less motivated to act against it. If they saw illness as an inevitable part of life, then they might not use much effort to combat or prevent further illness.
The next source that I found does not mention a specific type of illness, but seems to indicate that pessimism does have an effect on health. This research, conducted by Benita Jackson, Robert Sellers, and Christopher Peterson, seems to hypothesize that “stress coupled with a pessimistic explanatory style leads to negative outcomes, including physical illness, among at-risk individuals.” Though not much more detail about the results of their study, only further including that it was a longitudinal study on college students to see how a pessimistic explanatory style and stress can predict illness, Jackson et al.’s study did conclude that “results confirmed this hypothesis.” This seems to indicate that pessimism, coupled with stress, can lead to illness, though the reason as to why this connection exists isn’t as clear as the study conducted by Lin and Peterson. However, considering the results of the first study I discussed, I can assume that, possibly, the perception of stressors as constant and beyond one’s power to change can lead to results of illness seen in Lin and Peterson’s study.
Seeing these articles, I realized how a pessimistic mindset could be harmful to my health. I know I am still quite young, but my mind also has been filled with anxiety over the knowledge of my family’s history with cancer and heart problems. I used to think that a decline in my health like what has happened to my relatives before me was inevitable, and that there was nothing I could really do to prevent it. However, these studies showed me that this way of thinking can be harmful as it deprives me of my motivation to improve my health.
References:
Jackson, B., Sellers, R. M., & Peterson, C. (2001, December 20). Pessimistic explanatory style moderates the effect of stress on physical illness. Retrieved April 12, 2020, from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0191886901000617
Lin, E. H., & Peterson, C. (2002, May 24). Pessimistic explanatory style and response to illness. Retrieved April 12, 2020, from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0005796790900076