The Upside of Defensive Pessimism: The Potential Benefit Anxiety

When comparing defensive pessimists to anxious people who do not practice defensive pessimism, the defensive pessimists show these benefits:

• Their self-esteem and satisfaction increase over time.
• They perform better academically
• They form more supportive friendship networks,
• They make more progress in their personal goals.

• Research found that defensive pessimists will do best when they can think through possible negative outcomes.
• Strategic optimists will do best when they avoid thinking about possible negative outcomes.

Pessimism can have positive effects. If you are an anxious person, try both strategies and see what works best for you.

• Pessimists only expect bad things to happen. And this leads to increased anxiety and decreased perceived goal importance.
• Defensive pessimists tend to reflect about, or plan for, their performance. This leads to increased perceived goal importance, increased levels of effort, hope and personal goal initiative.