Pessimism: Definition, Examples, & Characteristics

Kudos to you if you feel neutral or calm in a situation like this. Bonus self-confidence points if you think your supervisor wants to meet with you to compliment your talent and diligence with the project. However, if you are like the younger me, you’d be chewing your nails while sitting on the edge of your office chair, struggling to focus on anything until 10 am. That’s because I used to have a “glass is half empty, and the water is rapidly evaporating” mindset and would assume the worst possible reasons for being summoned to her office. In other words, I used to be overly pessimistic.

Does this sound like you or someone you care about? If so, read on to explore pessimism and the root causes of pessimistic tendencies. In this article, you’ll also discover how pessimism differs from other concepts, such as optimism and realism. Finally, you will learn practical strategies to keep your pessimism at bay to achieve optimal psychological health.

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We all experience life in unique ways as we pass every word and event through our minds’ filters. When we sift everything through the filter of pessimism, we absorb some information —mainly the negative things— while ignoring the other information, which makes us see mostly the dark side of things. Indeed, the American Psychological Association (APA) defines pessimism as “the attitude that things will go wrong and that people’s wishes or aims are unlikely to be fulfilled” (APA, 2022). 
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Pessimists typically have a gloomy or skeptical outlook. As a result, they may focus heavily on what can go wrong, be genuinely surprised when things work out in the end, or question the validity of the positive outcomes. Because they always expect the worst things to happen, they aren’t willing to take risks. Moreover, they may think that nothing good will last long and feel as if the rug will be pulled from under their feet at any moment. With this perceived lack of security, they may never feel confident in their successes or position in society. Since they tend to focus on their weaknesses and insecurities, they may have low self-esteem and confidence. But what kind of mental processing is associated with pessimism? Let’s discuss the psychology of pessimism in more detail.

A more psychology-focused definition of pessimism depicts it as a cognitive mode characterized by a negative outlook (Hecht, 2013). Another definition of pessimism is that it is an explanatory style in which a person tends to expect adverse outcomes (Lin & Peterson, 1990). Because our explanatory styles reflect how we process and explain the events in our lives, pessimistic individuals tend to explain everything in dim light, as they tend to unsee the bright side of events.

Psychological Consequences of Pessimism
Pessimism isn’t just being gloomy in general; it can have various psychological consequences. Research indicates that persistent pessimism is associated with long-term stress (Shields, Toussaint & Slavich, 2016). Given that long-term stress can keep the body in a perpetual fight-or-flight response, it may impact both physical and psychological well-being. Similarly, high levels of pessimism also seem to correlate with anxiety and depression (Zenger et al., 2011; Hu, Zhang & Yang, 2015). In other words, a person who is always pessimistic is more likely to be stressed out and anxious and has a greater risk of developing symptoms of depression.

Although most people think of pessimism as a personality trait or state of mind, pessimism is also a philosophical thought. In this context, pessimism refers to a worldview that argues that pain and adversities are fundamental to life and existence. 

The most prominent figure in philosophical pessimism is the 19th-century German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, who proposed that the human will had no purpose, and it was impossible to satisfy the will (Troxel, 2022). In other words, he believed that the essence of existence was striving toward the impossible, which only brought suffering (Troxel, 2022). What was Schopenhauer’s solution to this suffering?  He believed that renouncing all desires was key to salvation and contentment (Troxel, 2022). 

If you’d like to learn more about philosophical pessimism, I recommend the following video, which contains an excellent overview.

You might have heard the term pessimism bias and wondered what it meant. Simply, pessimism bias is a person’s tendency to overestimate the likelihood of adverse outcomes. This bias also means that the person underestimates positive outcomes. Therefore, a pessimist tends to exaggerate risks while minimizing or dismissing the benefits.

Pessimism bias can also have a cultural dimension. For instance, a study comparing cultural variations in pessimism and optimism found that pessimistic bias was more common in Eastern societies than in the West. Eastern subjects were more likely to expect to face future adversities than Western subjects did (Chang, Asakawa & Sanna, 2001).

We have discussed what pessimism is, but how does pessimism manifest in everyday life? Here are a few examples.
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• A student always expects difficult exams and bad grades.
• A worker expects to be laid off eventually.
• A job applicant expects to fail the job interview.
• A person on their way to meet their partner’s parents believes that the parents will hate them.
• A husband whose wife didn’t answer her phone worries that something terrible must have happened to her.
• On her way to her yearly doctor’s appointment, a woman expects to be diagnosed with a terminal illness.
• A person refuses to go out on dates because they don’t expect to find true love.
• A driver who hears a strange engine sound expects that their car will break soon, and the repairs will be extremely costly.
• A person who didn’t receive a response to their text message assumes that their friend must be mad at them for something.

Evidence suggests that genetic variations can affect how individuals interpret their experiences. For instance, a deletion variant of a receptor involved in the activity of the neurotransmitter norepinephrine is associated with pronounced negative emotional experiences and a pessimistic bias in memories (Todd et al., 2013). 

Although genetic predisposition may make an individual susceptible to pessimism, it doesn’t appear to be the sole reason why some people end up becoming pessimists. Traumatic experiences, abuse, or other adverse experiences may also cause a person to adopt a pessimistic attitude (Thompson et al., 2012; Bunce, Larson & Peterson, 1995). In other words, people who are not pessimistic in nature can still acquire this negative outlook upon experiencing a lot of adversity.

If we consider our explanatory styles as a spectrum, pessimism would be on one end, and optimism would be on the other. That’s because optimism is the opposite of pessimism. It is the sunny view through rosy lenses that is associated with the “glass is half full” attitude, and the “everything’s going to be alright” expectation. 

Although most people think optimism is healthier than pessimism, there is a catch. As with everything else, even optimism is unrealistic and unhealthy when it is too much. Therefore, it is crucial to strike a balance between optimism and pessimism in our lives.

Pessimism vs. Optimism Example
​Imagine three patients that are diagnosed with the same serious diagnosis. The pessimistic patient might expect the worst outcome, cause additional stress and anxiety, and believe that medications and lifestyle changes won’t help them. By focusing on every negative outcome during treatment, they may bring about a self-fulfilling prophecy and feel more ill over time.

The optimistic patient may expect the best recovery trajectory, even if they don’t maintain the healthy lifestyle changes recommended by their doctor. But when things don’t work out, and they become more ill, they may feel confused and disappointed.

​Finally, the third patient with balanced optimism and pessimism may have more realistic expectations for their recovery. They would understand their doctor’s recommendations and take the necessary steps to take charge of their recovery.

It might be hard to shake off pessimism, and it is okay to be a little pessimistic. After all, a healthy dose of pessimism can help us to be prepared for adversities and not get caught off-guard. However, if you want to overcome excessive pessimism, here are a few strategies that have worked for me. 

• Positive affirmations. One way to keep pessimism at bay is repeating positive statements to yourself. Try writing down a few simple positive affirmations somewhere within your reach and repeat them often. Here are a few suggestions.
  • Today will be a productive day.
  • Success is within my reach.
  • I am capable of doing great things.
  • I am prepared to do my best.
  • Things often turn out all right.
  • I am healthy.
  • I am successful.

 

• Practice gratitude. Pessimists tend to hold on to adverse experiences. Try flipping that script and write down a list of good things that have happened in the past and everything you appreciate. And when you recite your affirmations, also tell yourself things you are thankful for.

 

• Practice mindfulness. Mindfulness is being present without judgments. Thus, you avoid attaching a negative label to everything when you practice mindfulness and see things in a more neutral (or realistic) light.

 

• Reframe your thoughts. If you catch yourself expecting adverse outcomes, try to reframe your thoughts. For example, if you tell yourself, “I don’t want to go to this party because I won’t enjoy it,” try saying, “I may or may not enjoy the party, but I won’t know if I don’t go.”

 

• Do what you can and hope for the best. You may still expect the worst. When I’m thinking about a future event, I still come up with everything terrible that can happen. Yet, over the years, I learned that terrible things are actually rare. And if I put in enough effort and am prepared for the worst, great things do indeed happen.​

Are you looking for more insights? You may like the tips presented in this helpful video.

• “Pessimism never won any battle.” —Dwight D. Eisenhower
• “Pessimism, when you get used to it, is just as agreeable as optimism.” —Arnold Bennett
• “It is the hopeful, buoyant, cheerful attitude of mind that wins. Optimism is a success builder; pessimism an achievement killer.” —Orison Swett Marden
• “There is a real danger of unintended consequences, of encouraging people to give up. Pessimism, if it becomes a habit, can reinforce a narrative of unstoppable decline. If there is nothing we can do, that releases us from our obligations.” —David Grinspoon
• “I think it is a luxury and privilege to be sane and well and pessimistic. Because with depression, you have no other option. You don’t want that pessimism, because it is crushing you and keeping you down at the bottom of the well.” —Matt Haig
• “There’s nothing particularly wrong with being more pessimistic than optimistic. Optimism is broad-based, non-detail-oriented thinking; pessimism is detail-oriented thinking.” —David Rakoff
• “Young people have a right to optimism, and rightly so; human beings have grown and developed and accomplished wonderful feats in the world. But what mires me in pessimism is the fact that so much of life is pain and sorrow and willful ignorance and violence, and pushing back against that tide takes so much effort, so much steady fight. It’s tiring.” —Jesmyn Ward
• “Whether we like it or not, there are moments in history when pessimism is the appropriate response.” —David Olusoga
• “I wouldn’t say that I relax and enjoy anything. But I think my pessimism helps. I never really expect anything good to happen, so when it does, it’s a nice surprise.” —Rivers Cuomo
• “I think a certain degree of pessimism is actually helpful to love.” —Alain de Botton

​Want to learn more about pessimism? Check out these articles:​​​

• Negativity: Definition, Bias, & Tips to Stop It
• Positivity: The Psychology, Definition, and Examples
• Cognitive Dissonance: Definition, Theory, & Examples
• False Positivity: Definition, Examples, & Explanation
• ​Hopelessness: Definition, Examples, & Theory​​​​

• ​APA (2022). Pessimism. APA Dictionary of Psychology. Retrieved 19 May 2022.
• Bunce, S. C., Larson, R. J., & Peterson, C. (1995). Life after trauma: Personality and daily life experiences of traumatized people. Journal of Personality, 63(2), 165-188.
• Chang, E. C., Asakawa, K., & Sanna, L. J. (2001). Cultural variations in optimistic and pessimistic bias: Do Easterners really expect the worst and Westerners really expect the best when predicting future life events?. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81(3), 476.
• Hecht D. (2013). The neural basis of optimism and pessimism. Experimental neurobiology, 22(3), 173–199.
• Hu, T., Zhang, D., & Yang, Z. (2015). The relationship between attributional style for negative outcomes and depression: A meta-analysis. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 34(4), 304-321.
• Lin, E. H., & Peterson, C. (1990). Pessimistic explanatory style and response to illness. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 28(3), 243-248.
• Shields, G. S., Toussaint, L. L., & Slavich, G. M. (2016). Stress-related changes in personality: A longitudinal study of perceived stress and trait pessimism. Journal of research in personality, 64, 61-68.
• Thompson, R., Wiley, T. R., Lewis, T., English, D. J., Dubowitz, H., Litrownik, A. J., … & Block, S. (2012). Links between traumatic experiences and expectations about the future in high risk youth. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 4(3), 293.
• Todd, R. M., Müller, D. J., Lee, D. H., Robertson, A., Eaton, T., Freeman, N., … & Anderson, A. K. (2013). Genes for emotion-enhanced remembering are linked to enhanced perceiving. Psychological science, 24(11), 2244-2253.
• Troxel, M. (2022). Arthur Schopenhauer. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved 20 May 2022.
• Zenger, M., Glaesmer, H., Höckel, M., & Hinz, A. (2011). Pessimism predicts anxiety, depression and quality of life in female cancer patients. Japanese Journal of Clinical Oncology, 41(1), 87-94.