Behavioral researchers call for more study on human strengths

At a recent conference, scientists shared their findings about the unique personalities, coping styles and general well-being of optimists.

By Scott Sleek
Monitor staff

Optimists may often be stereotyped as naive, quixotic and in a persistent state of denial. But researchers who study people with a cheerful, confident mind-set find them to be rather prudent, realistic and highly attentive to their health and safety.

Those researchers were among 200 people who gathered in Philadelphia on Feb. 10 for an unprecedented symposium on the science of optimism and hope. The John Templeton Foundation, which strives to draw stronger links between science and religion, sponsored the event as part of its effort to support the study of optimism, hope and personal control.

More than a dozen social and behavioral scientists shared their various findings about the unique personalities, coping styles and general well-being of optimists compared with pessimists. They also discussed the need for psychology to complement its focus on psychopathology with the study of nurturing optimism, altruism and other human strengths.

'Science has managed to ignore the fact that undesirable events often produce extraordinary strength, growth and creativity,' said APA President Martin E.P. Seligman, PhD, one of the nation?s foremost authorities on optimism and the guest of honor at the symposium. 'How have we come to ignore that?'

In fact, the psychological literature on optimism, joy and virtue pales in size when compared with studies of depression, anxiety and other mental disorders, Seligman said during his keynote address. And many social scientists 'have come to view courage, perseverance and good cheer as illusory, defensive and inauthentic negative states, while weaknesses like depression, greed and lust are genuine,' he said.

But the psychologists who attended the Philadelphia symposium have found both positive and negative states to be legitimate objects of science and practice, and offered up their knowledge of the people who best cope with adversity and enjoy life. They?ve found that optimistic people not only face a lower risk of depression during their lifetimes, but have better overall health and strong emotional coping skills compared with pessimists.

Their research shows, for example, that:

? Optimists have healthy eating habits and avoid alcohol and tobacco use, said Christopher Peterson, PhD, a University of Michigan psychologist who studies cognitive influences on stress, coping, achievement and health. When they become ill, they stay home and take care of themselves instead of pushing themselves into work, Peterson concludes from his various studies. And they stay away from perilous places, even eschewing raucous parties and bars. Pessimists, on the other hand, tend to prefer potentially dangerous situations, and are more likely to become ill or be involved in accidents, Peterson said.

? Optimism helps soften the hardship of bereavement, according to research by Susan Nolen-Hoeksema, PhD, associate professor of psychology at the University of Michigan. In her study of 240 people in the San Francisco Bay area who had lost a spouse, child or other loved one to a terminal illness, 65 percent reported that they found something positive in the loss. Some, for example, said it helped them learn patience. Others said they developed a new sense of independence and recognized the importance of personal relationships. (Widows tended to cope better than widowers.)

? People who are heavily involved in their religion, to the point of being fundamentalists, appear to be more optimistic than people who are less devout, says Sheena Sethi-Iyengar, PhD, an assistant professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology?s Sloan School of Management. In her research, Sethi-Iyengar and her colleagues divided religious affiliation into three categories?fundamentalist, moderate and liberal. She found that fundamentalists?those who spend more time being involved in prayer and other religious activities?are more optimistic than moderates, who are more optimistic than liberals. Fundamentalists may develop a sort of immunity to depressive symptoms because they?re less likely to blame themselves for misfortunes in their lives, she posited.

And optimism appears to be anything but denial or illusion. Lisa Apinwall, PhD, found in her studies that optimistic students were more likely to pay attention to risks to their health, rather than deny them, compared with their pessimistic peers.

'Optimists are more likely to detect potential problems, make more accurate appraisals,' says Apinwall, a University of Maryland psychologist.

A call to action

The push for a positive psychology faces some barriers, Barry Schwartz, PhD, a Swarthmore College psychology professor, said at the symposium. For example, psychologists must avoid erecting a nation of Pollyannas, he says.

'Sometimes people are miserable for very good reasons,' Schwartz says. 'A psychology of hope might mean people are happy for no good reason.'

And although social science has identified religious practice, close family ties and other lifestyle factors as buffers to depression, society?s emphasis on individuality and independence may discourage psychologists from encouraging those lifestyle choices, he said.

'To [develop a positive psychology], we need a positive conception of a good human life,' he said. 'And modern culture is very reluctant to tell people how they should live. Social scientists don?t want to do it, but eventually it?s got to be what you do.'

But Seligman says he?s hopeful that psychology will be able to complement its focus on repairing damage with a 'psychology of hope'?to identify ways to nurture courage, honesty, altruism and hope as a way of preventing the proliferation of depression and other mental disorders. He noted that NIMH is leaning in that direction, voicing its desire to put more money into the research on preventing mental illness.

'The positive psychology, the positive social science we envision for the 21st century may not only prevent mental illness,' Seligman said, 'but may lead to scientific understanding of how to build personal strength and civic virtue?the best things in human life.'