Optimists are delusional

Jennifer Senior of NY Magazine wrote a great article on positive psychology and the study of happiness. My favorite part is the conclusion where Jennifer calls into question the goal of being happy, and gives strong support to the theory that depressives are the sane ones. After all, isn't the real goal to live a good life, not necessarily a happy one?

There is a well establish study showing that people who identify themselves as optimists tend to be mildly delusional:)

"One of the most interesting bits of American research to surface repeatedly in books about happiness is a study that shows depressives are far more likely to be realists, while happy people are more likely to walk around in a mild state of delusion. The study itself was fairly simple: A group of undergraduates was given varying degrees of control over turning on a green light. Some members of the group had perfect control; others had none the light went on and off of its own accord. The depressives accurately predicted, in each instance, whether they were in control of the situation or not. The nondepressives, on the other hand, thought they had control about 35 percent of the time over the situation in which they were, in fact, 100 percent helpless."

It's a fascinating finding with a hell of a lot of implications. New marketing campaigns for optimists, anyone? Check out the article for more details.

If you're a positive minded professional, who just wants the happiness action items, then read Happiness: A User's Manual.