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Aren't people that are richer, with the exception of those who achieve existential angst through lack of meaning, more optimistic? :P If you can't get medical
by tehjoker 7y ago
Aren't people that are richer, with the exception of those who achieve existential angst through lack of meaning, more optimistic? :P
If you can't get medical care, I imagine you're both more likely to die and pretty pessimistic about the state of the world.
It's easy to be optimistic when you have a feeling of control over your circumstances.
- neonate 7y agoThat finding was independent of other factors thought to influence life's length — such as "socioeconomic status, health conditions, depression, social integration, and health behaviors"
- ummonk 7y agoIt's a little weird to see a study about the effects of optimism control for depression...
- stkdump 7y agoOnly if you think that depression is a lack of optimism.
- V-2 7y agoAnd then - as one of the possible explanations behind the correlation - they speculate that "optimistic people might be more motivated to try to maintain good health — such as maintaining a decent diet, engaging in regular exercise and not smoking". Surely this would have been controlled for already, as maintaining diet and exercising falls under the category of "health behaviors"? This is self-contradictory
- rectang 7y agoAnd it's easy to condemn unfortunate people for their pessimism, because haven't they caused their own circumstances by "choosing" pessimism? Optimism: the conceit of the fortunate.