HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_030284.jpg

17

savings account, and more likely to bet the farm on a bad investment.
But the bias also protects and inspires us: it keeps us moving forward
rather than to the nearest high-rise ledge. Without optimism, our
ancestors might never have ventured far from their tribes and we
might all be cave dwellers, still huddled together and dreaming of
light and heat.
To make progress, we need to be able to imagine alternative realities —
better ones — and we need to believe that we can achieve them. Such
faith helps motivate us to pursue our goals. Optimists in general work
longer hours and tend to earn more. Economists at Duke University
found that optimists even save more. And although they are not less
likely to divorce, they are more likely to remarry — an act that is, as
Samuel Johnson wrote, the triumph of hope over experience. Even if
that better future is often an illusion, optimism has clear benefits in
the present. Hope keeps our minds at ease, lowers stress and
improves physical health. Researchers studying heart-disease patients
found that optimists were more likely than nonoptimistic patients to
take vitamins, eat low-fat diets and exercise, thereby reducing their
overall coronary risk. A study of cancer patients revealed that
pessimistic patients under the age of 60 were more likely to die
within eight months than nonpessimistic patients of the same initial
health, status and age.
In fact, a growing body of scientific evidence points to the conclusion
that optimism may be hardwired by evolution into the human brain.
The science of optimism, once scorned as an intellectually suspect
province of pep rallies and smiley faces, is opening a new window on
the workings of human consciousness. What it shows could fuel a
revolution in psychology, as the field comes to grips with
accumulating evidence that our brains aren't just stamped by the past.
They are constantly being shaped by the future.

HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_030284