Quintessence of pessimism

Abstract

This paper is an attempt to understand that pessimism is not always appalling. There is always another side of the coin which is largely obscure. The age old definition of optimists and pessimists in psychology is based on the question: ‘Do you see the glass as half full or half empty’? All those who choose half full are termed as ‘Optimists’ or ‘Positive people’ whereas all those who choose the glass as half empty are termed as ‘Pessimist’ or ‘Negative people’. Pessimism is equipollent to optimistic thinking and is conditional to an individual’s perception. This classification might have started with Victorian philosopher William James’s “As if Theory” which states that, it’s our actions that influence our feeling rather than our thinking which may not be applicable on those who are bairn pessimists.