Running head: THE USES AND ABUSES OF

The Uses and Abuses of Pessimism and Optimism Kenrich Sloote Universidad Adventista de Centro Amrica

THE USES AND ABUSES OF

The Uses and Abuses of Optimism and Pessimism The article about the uses and abuses of optimism and pessimism was very interesting. I thought it was nice to actually learn about the different ways, people can actually use this mind set to achieve their goals. In my opinion, it really comes down to how to be optimistic about something that looks bad to achieve your goal, and how to be pessimistic about something that looks good, so you can motivate yourself to achieve the objective that you have set for yourself. However in the article there was not a section that really explained how a persons optimism or pessimism can be affected, by being optimistic or pessimistic about something that actually turned out to be a failure. Operant conditioning suggest that our attitude towards something tends to change when the rewarding stimuli does not present itself after having tried it for several times or even just one time. So where is the limit to staying optimistic about something that does not seem to work? Sometimes it all the success one needs is if one changes ones strategy. Sometimes people use optimism as a motivating drive to help them achieve their goals in life. However even if people have a positive attitude in the right situation, I believe that there are also other factors that influence how people do things. I believe that its not only a positive of negative mind set about something, but also the type of actions a person takes to get to their destination. Many times we have to use strategies that work for us. Each individual is unique with make each case a unique one. Something might work for one person in a particular situation, and not work for the other in that same situation.

THE USES AND ABUSES OF References American Psychological Association (2009). Publication Manual of the American Association (6th. Edition) Washinton, DC: American Psychological Association. Paul, A. M. (2011). The uses and abuses of pessimism and optimism. Psychology today, recoperado de http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/201110/the-uses-and-abusesoptimism-and-pessimism