Having a sunny attitude is not always a good thing
ALWAYS looking on the bright side of life can be bad for you, according to new research.
The discovery adds to increasing evidence that pressure is sometimes a good thing and sheds fresh light on depression.
Feeling under stress helps us cope better with bad news, say scientists.
Experiments in the laboratory and real world found stress combats the human tendency to be over-optimistic.
The findings published in the Journal of Neuroscience provide a potential mechanism by which levels of optimism are adapted to the relative safety or danger of the environment.
In general, people tend to be overly optimistic, but the opposite is true in psychiatric conditions.
Some patients with depression, for instance, place a premium on negative information.
In the first study of its kind, the US team showed the ability to flexibly shift between these two patterns can be a healthy, adaptive response to changing environmental demands.
They first induced stress in a controlled laboratory experiment by telling 36 young men and women they had to give a surprise public speech. They then asked them to estimate their likelihood of experiencing 40 different aversive events in their life – such as being involved in a car accident or becoming a victim of card fraud.
Participants were then given either good or bad news – being told their likelihood of experiencing these events was lower or higher than they had estimated, respectively.
When the volunteers provided new estimates, the control group showed the well-known optimism bias – a tendency to take more notice of good news compared to bad news.
In contrast, participants with higher levels of the stress hormone in cortisol in saliva samples showed no such bias and became better at processing bad news.
The researchers obtained similar results in a study of 28 Colorado firefighters who naturally experience fluctuating periods of stress as part of their job.
Lead author Dr Neil Garrett, a psychologist at University College London, said: “Humans are better at integrating desirable information into their beliefs than undesirable.
“This asymmetry poses an evolutionary puzzle, as it can lead to an underestimation of risk and thus failure to take precautionary action.
“Here, we suggest a mechanism that can speak to this conundrum.
“This pattern of results was observed in a controlled laboratory setting, where perceived threat was manipulated and in firefighters on duty where it naturally varied.
“Such flexibility in how individuals integrate information may enhance the likelihood of responding to warnings with caution in environments rife with threat while maintaining a positivity bias otherwise, a strategy that can increase well-being.”
Dr Garrett and colleagues said the tendency to be overly optimistic had mystified scholars and lay people for decades.
“Here, we demonstrate a mechanism generating the optimism bias, namely asymmetric information integration, evaporates under threat.
“Such flexibility could result in enhanced caution in dangerous environments while supporting an optimism bias otherwise – potentially increasing well-being.”
Stress is nothing new and in fact our body’s stress response is beneficial to us as it keeps us alert in times of danger.
This physiological response to stress is the same now as it was when our ancestors were hunting and gathering.
Stress is a good thing as it has helped us survive as a species.
But constant stress that pushes us beyond our limits can be bad for our health. – Daily Mail