"... the optimist sees the rose and not its thorns; the pessimist stares at the thorns, oblivious to the rose,” Kahlil Gibran.
Optimists enjoy better health, more success, more happiness, and longer lives,
than pessimists. No surprise, then, that psychologists are taking an
increasing interest in our outlook on life. An unresolved issue is
whether optimism and pessimism are two ends of the same spectrum, or if
they're separate. If the traits are separate, then in principle, some
people could be highly optimistic and pessimistic – to borrow the poet
Gibran's analogy, they would be keenly aware of both the rose and its
thorns.
Timothy Bates
at the University of Edinburgh has turned to behavioural genetics to
help settle this question. He's analysed data on optimism and pessimism
gathered from hundreds of pairs of identical and non-identical twins.
These were participants from a US survey and their average age was 54.
The twins rated their agreement with various statements as a way to
reveal their optimism and pessimism such as "In uncertain times, I
usually expect the best" and "I rarely count on good things happening to
me." They also completed a measure of the "Big Five" personality
traits: extraversion, neuroticism etc.
The reasoning behind twin studies like this is that if optimism and
pessimism are highly heritable (i.e. influenced by inherited genetic
factors), then these traits should correlate more highly between pairs
of identical twins, who share all their genes, than between
non-identical twins, who share approximately half their genes. And if
optimism was found to be more heritable than pessimism, or vice versa,
this would indicate different genetic influences on optimism and
pessimism.
Another insight from twin studies is to disentangle the relative
influence of shared and unique environmental factors – these are the
aspects of a twin's upbringing that they share with their sibling, such
as parenting style, and those that are unique, such as the friends they
keep.
Bates' analysis indicates that optimism and pessimism are subject to
shared genetic influences (with each other, and with other personality
traits), but also to independent genetic influences, thus supporting the
notion that optimism and pessimism are distinct traits, not simply two
sides of the same coin.
"Optimism and pessimism are at least partially biologically distinct,
resulting in two distinct psychological tendencies," Bates said. He
added that this dovetails with neuroscience evidence that's indicated
there are separate neural systems underlying optimism and pessimism.
The new findings also suggested there is a "substantial" influence of
upbringing on optimism and pessimism (i.e. increasing one and lowering
the other, and/or vice versa). This raises the intriguing possibility
that optimism might to be some extent a malleable trait that can be
encouraged through a child's upbringing.
http://digest.bps.org.uk/2015/04/optimism-and-pessimism-are-distinct.html
Research demonstrates cold fighting power of hugging
During my final semester of undergrad, I made two signs that read,
“Feeling stressed about exams? Have a free hug!” Then I recruited a
friend and we stood in the entrance of the campus library, held up the
signs, and waited. Passerbys had one of two reactions: Either they
quickly looked down at their phones and awkwardly shuffled by, or their
faces lit up as they embraced us. Most people were enthusiastic. Some
exclaimed, “You made my day!” or “Thank you. I needed this.” One leapt
into my arms, nearly toppling me over. After two hours of warm
interactions, my friend and I couldn’t believe how energized and happy
we felt.
A study
published earlier this month suggests that, in addition to making us
feel connected with others, all those hugs may have prevented us from
getting sick. At first, this finding probably seems counterintuitive
(not to mention bizarre). You might think, like I did, that hugging
hundreds of strangers would increase your exposure to germs and
therefore the likelihood of falling ill. But the new research out of
Carnegie Mellon indicates that feeling connected to others, especially
through physical touch, protects us from stress-induced sickness. This
research adds to a large amount of evidence for the positive influence
of social support on health.
Social support can broadly be defined as the perception of meaningful
relationships that serve as a psychological resource during tough
times. More specifically, this means emotional support, such as
expressions of compassion, and may include access to information or
other assistance. The researchers measured social support by giving out a questionnaire
in which participants rated different statements (e.g. “I feel that
there is no one I can share my most private worries and fears with.”).
Then, they conducted interviews every night for two weeks to find out
how often participants experienced conflict with others and how often
they received hugs. Finally, the researchers infected participants with a
common cold virus and observed what happened.
Several interesting results emerged. Encouragingly, people overall
had a strong sense of social support, as shown by a high median score on
the questionnaire. Similarly, they were more likely to be hugged (which
happened on an average of 68% of days during the two-week interview
period) than to experience conflict (7% of days).
The most important results, however, were what the researchers deemed
a “stress-buffering effect.” Keep in mind that interpersonal conflict
can cause people a lot of stress and thereby weaken their immune
systems. Yet regardless of how much conflict they endured, participants
with a strong sense of social support developed less severe cold
symptoms than those who felt socially deprived. Likewise, the more often
people hugged, the less likely they were to get sick, even among
individuals who frequently had tense interactions. In other words, both
social support and hugging prevented against illness.
The same lead researcher has previously shown
that the more diverse types of social ties a person has, such as with
friends, family, coworkers, and community, the less susceptible to colds
they are. But relationships impact more than a runny nose. On the
extreme end, social connectedness seems to play a role in preventing
against death. For instance, researchers
in Sweden found that the otherwise robust association between job
strain and mortality risk disappeared among men high in social support.
In fact, low levels of social support can increase the risk for
premature death more than commonly known factors like smoking or alcohol
consumption, according to a review paper that examined data for over 300,000 people around the world. It’s no surprise, then, that the World Health Organization identifies social networks as a primary determinant of health.
Interestingly, social support may be beneficial for the giver as well as the receiver. Researchers
at UCLA scanned participants’ brains while their romantic partners were
receiving electric shocks next to them. If the participants held their
partners’ hand during the experiment, their brain regions associated
with fear attenuation were activated. This finding indicates that
offering social support through physical touch better enabled them to
cope with the stressful experience.
On the flip side, loneliness and having a small social network correspond with a lower antibody response
to the influenza vaccine, compared to feeling a strong sense of social
connection. Socially isolated patients with coronary artery disease have
lower survival rates
than socially connected patients, even after controlling for
demographics, disease severity, and psychological distress. One in three
individuals is chronically lonely and therefore twice as likely to say they have poor health. This is especially alarming given that the number of people who have no one to confide in tripled between 1985 and 2004, putting a large portion of the population at risk for poor health.
Evidently, just as we prioritize exercise and nutrition, we ought to
prioritize quality time with loved ones; just as we avoid unhealthy
habits like smoking, we should make effort to avoid isolation and to
counter social exclusion. And even if you don’t want to hug hundreds of
strangers (although I recommend trying it), don’t underestimate the
healing power of touch.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-hug-a-day-keeps-the-doctor-away/
