In response to failure, optimists believe they can succeed the next time by changing the approach, while pessimists use it to confirm negative expectations
Martin Seligman has led much of the research on optimistic versus pessimistic explanatory styles. He proposed that optimists differ from pessimists in how they perceive and explain their success and failure. When optimists fail, they think they can succeed the next time if they change their behavior or the situation appropriately. They use a rejection experience, failed job application, bad investment, or poor test result to figure out what they need to do to improve their chances on the next attempt. They then craft alternative plans and find other ways to reach their important goals, or seek needed advice until they can develop a better strategy.
While the optimists deal with failure constructively, the pessimists use the same experience to confirm their gloomy expectations, believing it’s their fault, and they try to avoid thinking about it, assuming there is nothing they can do. Seligman states, “College entrance exams measure talent, while explanatory style tells you who gives up. It is the combination of reasonable talent and the ability to keep going in the face of defeat that leads to success.… What you need to know about someone is whether they will keep going when things get frustrating.”
References
- Mischel, Walter. (2014). The Marshmallow Test Chapter 8 The Engine of Success I Think I Can (Epub p. 116) New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company.
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