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Optimistic, Pessimistic, and Emotional Thinking Styles Andrea Tracy University of Phoenix Abstract In critical thinking, one of the most important aspects to recognize is the influence of human factors in how thought processing occurs. Factors like enculturation, emotion, stress, ego, and bias all play a pivotal role in how human beings think. Critical thinking requires that a person identify possible factors involved in his or her information gathering and decision making processes to better understand how these factors might alter or affect the critical thinking process and results.
These three styles optimistic, pessimistic and emotional thinking involve different aspects that must be recognized by individuals in order to gather information, analyze it, and make a solid decision. The optimist fails to see the bad in everything and everyone, the pessimist fails to see the good, and the emotionalist sees neither. All three of these thinking styles are similar as that each is, to a certain extent, based on the personal feelings of the individual.
Each decision made in life will affect our future; the littlest factors of our personality can have extremely large consequences if individuals do not properly analyze inputs for critical thinking. Optimistic, Pessimistic, and Emotional Thinking Styles In critical thinking, one of the most important aspects to recognize is the influence of human factors in how thought processing occurs. Factors like enculturation, emotion, stress, ego, and bias all play a pivotal role in how human beings think.
Critical thinking requires that a person identify possible factors involved in his or her information gathering and decision making processes to better understand how these factors might alter or affect the critical thinking process and results. These factors have been studied and put into different categories called Thinking Styles. Each style bares different positive and negative results from the critical thinking process. Three of these Thinking Styles are optimistic, pessimistic, and emotional, each consisting of different ways to analyze everyday situations.
An optimistic person will generally find the good in all the things that come their way. They are the first to say that everything will work out in the end. They believe that they can find the good in most people and that everyone has good in them. In reality, most people are optimists to some point. Optimistic people like to think that no matter what happens our problems will work out. Being an optimist makes it difficult to make clear decisions because this person only sees the good and never the bad. They would think the people they deal with would be telling the truth and would not try to deceive them in order to get what they want.
This could prove to be difficult because people will do what it takes to get their way and therefore, the optimist could be easily deceived. Most people would like to have the recognition as being the optimist. In most cases they have been given an assignment or were told to do something and thought, wow, I truly do not know how the people I am working with could possibly get this done, but they roll up their sleeves and dive into that job saying it can and will be done right or they will die trying. This is as much an optimistic point of view as ever there was one.
I know that this sort of thing happens to most of us and yet they think of the optimistic person as being person they dislike sometimes because they say bring it on and do it. Just think if they were to say to their supervisor, I am so sorry my team could not possibly do that job it would be too hard on them. Would they still have their jobs after or would their supervisor say just have them do what they can. As much as they like to think they are not optimistic, I am finding that they all are to a point. They all have times when they have to look at the bright side and just do what needs to be done to be a good person.
What kind of out comes are there with emotional thinking? Being angry can cause a person to make a bad choice. This can lead to regrets and unnecessary anxiety and embarrassment. In business as well as home, decisions should be made after thinking about what the answer will be. For instance, if a coworker makes a statement or has a question that another person does not like, the remark could be devastating and/ or embarrassing. One of the reasons for this kind of thinking could be caused by waking up in a bad mood or getting upset on the drive into the office.
When this happens, a person should take a few minutes to cool down and clear their mind before reacting to whatever it was that made them upset. Tiger Woods, a professional golfer, made a choice about the way he reacts when he is not playing golf well. He only lets himself be upset for a minute then tells himself to “get over it”. He’s done letting the bad shot get to him and he goes on with his game. He does not let it affect the rest of his game. This is a good example of not letting emotional thinking get to a person.
The acquisition of Guidant by Boston Scientific is an example of emotional thinking (Harvard Business Review, May 2008), Johnson and Johnson wanted to purchase Guidant until the company had to recall 170,000 pacemakers Because of the competition between the two companies, Boston Scientific wanted to buy Guidant so J and J would not. It turned out to be a bad investment because of wanting to win no matter the cost. Decisions like the ones mentioned above have bad outcomes and some people and/or companies may not overcome the effects. Emotional thinking can have negative effects in business, relationships, and yourself.
Take a minute, think it over, and “get over it”. A key emotion to consider when analyzing critical thinking is pessimism. Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines pessimism as “An inclination to emphasize adverse aspects, conditions, and possibilities or to expect the worst possible outcome”. Pessimism is an emotion shared by a large percentage of the human population and has a defined effect on critical thinking. In looking at the emotion of pessimism, one can find many correlations between pessimism and depression as both emotions have similar impacts on an individual’s thinking process.
Both depression and excessive pessimism can directly interfere with a person’s ability to accurately and effectively interpret or analyze information In an article found on mindsportlive. com, the author indicates that although optimists are happier, live longer, and are typically more productive, a balance of optimism and an occasional pessimistic mindset produces the best results. This article implies that pessimists are better critical thinkers because they remain grounded in negativity, where optimists often tend to be dreamers and idealists.
In another article, author Price Pritchett indicates that, “Studies show that, in some situations, pessimism helps us see things more accurately. It actually sharpens our sense of troubling realities. Pessimism increases our perception of danger, sensitizes us to potential problems, and causes us to weigh the downside more carefully. ” (Pritchett, 2007). Although the article continues by stating that pessimists often have a more accurate view of reality, the drawbacks to pessimism outweigh the advantages.
Pessimists can often affect their critical thinking by allowing negative thoughts to prevent such thinking from occurring or quitting a task before its completion. The collective wisdom of scholars and researchers indicate that pessimism in limited amounts plays an effective role in critical thinking. Uncontrolled pessimism prohibits critical thinking and affects the emotional and physical health of the pessimist. In conclusion, these three styles optimistic, pessimistic and emotional thinking involve different aspects that must be recognized by individuals in order to gather information, analyze it, and make a solid decision.
The optimist fails to see the bad in everything and everyone, the pessimist fails to see the good and the emotionalist sees neither. All three of these thinking styles are similar as that each is, to a certain extent, based on the personal feelings of the individual. Each decision made in life will affect our future; the littlest factors of our personality can have extremely large consequences if individuals do not properly analyze inputs for critical thinking. References (2007). Optimism versus Pessimism. Retrieved October 1, 2008, from Mindsport Web site: http://mindsportlive. om/Articles/Article/? articleId=217 Malhotra, D. , Ku, G. , & Murnighan, J. (2008, May). WHEN WINNING IS EVERYTHING. Harvard Business Review, 86(5), 78-86. Retrieved October 2, 2008, from Business Source Complete database. Pessimism. (2008). In Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Retrieved September 30, 2008, from http://www. merriam-webster. com/dictionary/pessimism Pritchett, Price (2007, August 28). How pessimism can add value to our work. Hard Optimism, Retrieved October 1, 2008, from http://inhome. rediff. com/money/2007/aug/28book. htm