How many times have you been told that something great will happen as long as you believe it is possible? From pop psychology books to self-improvement seminars and blogs, there’s a lot of hype ...

The first season of HBO’s True Detective stars Matthew McConaughey as a lithe, taciturn detective named Rust Cohle. In the series premiere, Cohle is asked by his partner (played by Woody Harrelson) ...

Having a pessimistic feeling regarding a specific matter is understandable, especially when there is good reason to doubt predicted outcomes. Depending on the situation, it can be helpful to consider ...

Sometimes it seems like eternal optimists get all the credit. Half-glass-full-thinking, good! Half-empty, bad, the prevailing wisdom goes. And there are, of course, extremely good arguments to be made ...

Many students experienced ‘optimism bias,’ which caused them to have higher expectations based on past performance Experts believe pessimism is a tactic for avoiding disappointment // It’s bad news ...

I have pretty low expectations for this article. Oh sure, I spent a lot of time on it, and I personally think it’s a great read. But I’m kind of worried that you will hate it. Worse yet, I’m afraid ...

My usual reaction is to scowl. I'm as happy as the next person (that is, moderately happy most of the time, psychologists report). But I don't like being commanded to be positive—all the time and no ...