▲ Extroverting Pessimism ▼

Paula Bloom's Evangelical Pessimism:

Have you had the experience of someone telling you how bad his or her life is? You might listen for a while and then try to point out the bright side, silver lining or what is going right in their life, which is then met with “See, you just don’t get me.” Not only do they want to tell you how bad it all is they want to convince you to see it their way.

and,

A client was recently listing all the reasons why her misery and hopelessness is realistic “the world is filled with terrorists, people are selfish and don’t care..all men cheat.” We spent some time confronting some of her beliefs. She got irritated with me and said, “you can’t get it, Dr. Sunshine, you are just a happy person.”

It's all about exposure:

Just as you can be surrounded by junk food and choose not to eat it, you can do the same with negative attitudes. However, prolonged exposure to junk food will make you more likely to eat it. The same is true for pessimism.

Her discussion reminds me of the dark side of:

It's What You Learn, Not What You Think