Which is better: Optimism or pessimism?

CrowdScience

BBC

Science

4.8 • 985 Ratings

🗓️ 26 November 2021

⏱️ 33 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In most cultures, the soundtrack to our lives is one of optimism. We are told to aim for the stars, dream big and believe that tomorrow will definitely be a better day. But why do so many people subscribe to the cult of 'glass half full' when life’s hardships should make any reasonable person a bit more wary?

Listener Hannah from Germany - a self-described pessimist - is intrigued as to whether the optimistic way of life is really the best way to be. Taking on the challenge is Marnie Chesterton, who finds out why 80% of the population have an optimism bias and how the ability to hope and take risks may have helped the human species get where it is today. She also meets a man who pushes the optimistic outlook to its very limits - Base jumping world champion, Espen Fadnes. Listener Hannah on the other hand looks into the psychology of pessimism to find out if there are any advantages to her less rose-tinted view on life - and whether the culture we grow up in shapes how realistically we see the world.

Producer: Caroline Steel Presentet: Marnie Chesterton

Contributors: Espen Fadnes – Freefall professional Tali Sharot – Professor of neuroscience, UCL Julie Norem - Professor of psychology, Wellesley College Jeanne Tsai - Professor of psychology, Stanford

(Image: Two arrows, one with a sad smiley and the other with happy smiley, pointing in opposite directions. Credit: Getty Images)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Take some time for yourself with soothing classical music from the mindful mix, the Science of
0:07.0	Happiness Podcast.
0:08.0	For the last 20 years I've dedicated my career to exploring the science of living a happier more meaningful life and I want
0:14.4	to share that science with you.
0:16.1	And just one thing, deep calm with Michael Mosley.
0:19.4	I want to help you tap in to your hidden relaxation response system and open the door to that
0:25.4	calmer place within. Listen on BBC Sounds. When I get up to the top it's often a vast beautiful steep landscape on the west coast of Norway and it has
0:46.0	almost a breathtaking view
0:48.7	Sipping up on tightening all the straps and putting on the helmet the goggles and then when I'm ready it's
0:56.2	time to just walk down to the edge and then we lean forward and there is no way back.
1:04.0	It's a very interesting situation to be in,
1:08.0	to lean forward on top of a mountain,
1:10.0	because in the second I lean so much forward that I can't go back, then I'm leaving normality.
1:18.0	That is Espen Fadness, world record holding bass jumper, about to throw himself off the side of a mountain
1:26.3	on the west coast of Norway.
1:28.0	From this point I'm stepping into something very, very strange with these to fall off, just fall off a mountain.
1:36.0	One, three, two, and... Now one person's extreme sport is another person's idea of a death wish and I've looked at how many people die doing this.
1:55.0	It averages out at one death every 2,300 jumps.
1:59.6	Espen has already done about 8,000 jumps. So does he think he's lucky or bulletproof or is he
2:08.4	just an optimist? I'm Marnie Chesterton and this is Crowd Science from the BBC World Service, the show that answers your science questions.
2:17.0	I've introduced an optimist character Espin and we'll be hearing more from him later on in the show.
2:23.0	It's also a hint as to this week's question.
	...

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