Brain 'rejects negative thoughts'

wotsthat

It's not just Ken Dodd who knows that being optimistic is tittyfilarious.

Bobby McFerrin.....

In every life we have some trouble
When you worry you make it double
Don't worry, be happy......

abaxas

Really2 wrote: »

???? proof
Are mixing hope and optimism?

Optimism = positive thinking.

So wanting bad things to happen would not be optimism would it?

Could you give me an example of wishing for bad = being optimistic?

It depends on point of reference.

Homeowner 1 - when the market goes down any more we will be in negative equity. What will we do?

Renter 1 - when the housing market goes down a little further we can buy.

The renter is positive about an outcome while the homeowner is not.

Also there are situation where people dont see the larger picture. Something may be positive on the surface but in reality it isnt.

Eg smoking ban.

People were very positive and optimistic about being able to go into pubs and not smell of smoke. Ironically the opposite happened as pubs shut. Their optimism turned out to be for something which was negative via unintended consequence.

Dan:_4

abaxas wrote: »

It depends on point of reference.

Homeowner 1 - when the market goes down any more we will be in negative equity. What will we do?

Renter 1 - when the housing market goes down a little further we can buy.

The renter is positive about an outcome while the homeowner is not.

Also there are situation where people dont see the larger picture. Something may be positive on the surface but in reality it isnt.

Eg smoking ban.

People were very positive and optimistic about being able to go into pubs and not smell of smoke. Ironically the opposite happened as pubs shut. Their optimism turned out to be for something which was negative via unintended consequence.

I do get your points and understand where your coming from.

Homewoner 1 probarly won't be too bothered about being in NE unless they want to sell.

Renter 1 They can either wait for the housingmarket go down a little or spend the time saving to make up the difference. If they are relying on massive falls as their only option to enter the housingmarket they are probalry gonna be gutted.

As for the smoking ban - worse thing ever to happen in this country (and im a non-smoker)

wotsthat

abaxas wrote: »

Renter 1 - when the housing market goes down a little further we can buy.

The renter is positive about an outcome while the homeowner is not.

Waiting for markets to fall is negative stress - the renter doesn't have any control. Every month that the cost of houses doesn't fall means that the falls if/ when they do come they need to be bigger by another months rent - more negative stress.

Saving for a deposit is stressful but positive as it's under the saver's control.

abaxas

wotsthat wrote: »

Waiting for markets to fall is negative stress - the renter doesn't have any control. Every month that the cost of houses doesn't fall means that the falls if/ when they do come they need to be bigger by another months rent - more negative stress.

Saving for a deposit is stressful but positive as it's under the saver's control.

It depends how you look at it.

Which is and always be my point.


I'm optimistic that 1000's of useless public sector workers will get sacked. However this optimism might be misplaced.

Graham_Devon

I think the main issue here is on this forum it's seen as optimistic = price rised for houses. Pessimistic = price falls for housing.

This is extremely simplistic.

Optimism itself can be seen both in falls and rises in prices.

If you own a BTL or other form of property investment, you want to be optimistic that prices will rise and you will do well on your investment.

if you are saving a deposit and want a house at the current time, you want to be optimistic that prices will fall and you will do well in your house buying.

This is more Vested interests than it is positive of negative views. Postive depends on your position in the firts place.

The only thing we do have from the article, is a hell of a lot of people intent on using pure ignorance to win an internet argument.

michaels

I wonder if this relates to asset price bubbles - I would have thought you would just need to add a term for asymmetric upside perception to an efficient market model to generate a bubble.

wotsthat

Graham_Devon wrote: »

I think the main issue here is on this forum it's seen as optimistic = price rised for houses. Pessimistic = price falls for housing.

This is extremely simplistic.

Optimism itself can be seen both in falls and rises in prices.

If you own a NTL or other form of property investment, you want to be optimistic that prices will rise and you will do well on your investment.

if you are saving a deposit and want a house at the current time, you want to be optimistic that prices will fall and you will do well in your house buying.

This is more Vested interests than it is positive of negative views. Postive depends on your position in the firts place.

The only thing we do have from the article, is a hell of a lot of people intent on using pure ignorance to win an internet argument.

To most, I hope, it's just an interesting article that tells us what we already knew - being optimistic is probably some sort of protective mechanism.

To take it and use it as proof that lots of people are intent on using ignorance to win internet arguments is, like you say, extremely simplistic.

Graham_Devon

wotsthat wrote: »

To most, I hope, it's just an interesting article that tells us what we already knew - being optimistic is probably some sort of protective mechanism.

To take it and use it as proof that lots of people are intent on using ignorance to win internet arguments is, like you say, extremely simplistic.

Might be simplisitc, but your reply which ignores everything I said and homes in on one point to try and outdo the poster, kinda proves my point.

wotsthat

Graham_Devon wrote: »

Might be simplisitc, but your reply which ignores everything I said and homes in on one point to try and outdo the poster, kinda proves my point.

Not really.

Optimism is "a disposition or tendency to look on the more favorable side of events or conditions and to expect the most favorable outcome."

That's quite different to optimism = house prices up and pessimism = house prices down.

Take two people on a flight. The VI for both is to survive. The optimist doesn't expect a problem. The pessimist worries about the small chance of crashing. The outcomes are the same. If there's a safe arrival the pessimist has just spent a few hours worrying about things out of their control for nothing. If the plane crashes then the pessimist has the satisfaction of being correct. However, they are both toast.