Research Finds Overly Positive Thinking May Not Have More Positive Outcomes

Are you an eternal optimistic? A bit of a pessimist? According to new research, the best may be somewhere in the middle: having more realistic expectations.

For 18 years, the researchers annually checked in with 1,600 participants in the U.K., digging into which kind of mindset resulted in the most favorable outcomes. To do this, they asked questions about the subjects' overall life satisfaction and mental health. They also tracked the subjects' finances over the course of the study, alongside their expectations of said finances, as a way to measure their expectations and how their expectations were related to their well-being.

Based on these findings, it would seem that being realistic with your expectations (and actions) will lead to even more positive outcomes than being positive all the time.

The problem arises for optimists when disappointment sinks in after their hopes are not realized and, for pessimists, when they can't recognize things going well. But for realists, their expectations don't set them up for either.

"I think for many people, research that shows you don't have to spend your days striving to think positively might come as a relief," explains study co-author and professor Chris Dawson, Ph.D., in a news release. "We see that being realistic about your future and making sound decisions based on evidence can bring a sense of well-being, without having to immerse yourself in relentless positivity."