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Hope in a Time of Cynicism
America has become a country of cynics. At least, that’s what studies show. People don’t trust each other, the media or the government. Most Americans, about 80 percent, don’t feel confident their children’s lives will be better than theirs.
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Optimists Are Alike, but Pessimists Are Unique, Brain Scan Study Suggests
… Optimism and pessimism aren’t unchanging traits; they tend to shift with age, although the trajectories vary from culture to culture. Nor is optimism an unquestioned good. “Extreme optimism might not always be a good
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The Problem With Optimism in a Crisis
… Even better is a technique called mental contrasting, co-developed by the psychologist Gabriele Oettingen, who led the study on college students. The idea is to visualize an attainable goal (such as getting involved in
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How to Stick to Your New Year’s Resolutions
New year, new you. But before you start on your resolutions for 2025, think back on what you accomplished in 2024. … The start of a new year signifies a new start to many people
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Pessimism Is the One Thing Americans Can Agree On
Are Americans cockeyed optimists or incorrigible pessimists? Do they think that American society has improved or gotten worse in various ways—and how accurate are their views? You might imagine that the answer would be nuanced
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New Research in Psychological Science
A sample of research on optimism prescriptions, mental logout and social media, stress and cognitive effort, perceptual decision-making, the ego-depletion effect, the effect of replications on citations, scientific consensus and false beliefs, and anterograde amnesia.
