If you’ve ever taken an introductory psychology class, one thing that you’re bound to encounter is ‘the cup’. Now, this cup is unique in the fact that scholars and non scholars alike seem to wage a fierce debate over the contents of said cup. One side says that this proverbial cup is half empty, and the opposition adamantly argues that the cup is, in fact, half full.
The exercise of viewing the glass within these parameters is said to tell you something about your personality. If you see the cup as half empty, you’re generally considered a pessimist. Viewing the glass as half full, then, makes you an optimist.
For many years it was thought that a person’s perception of events as optimistic or pessimistic was hardwired, meaning people had to deal with what they had because there was no way to change it. However, contemporary science says otherwise.
Why are we the way we are?
To understand how it works, it’s important to understand why people turn out the way they do. Cognitive psychology, a branch of psychology that deals with people’s thoughts and perceptions, also known as cognitions, holds explanations to why we have the orientation we do.
One such theory suggests that one way people learn is via social learning. That is, people emulate and duplicate behaviors that they observe in their environment. While this might not seem important to people who have developed identities, people who do not have a strong character, like children, are highly impressionable to social learning. If their parents do not cope with stress in an optimistic manner, the children are likely to copy the pessimistic attitudes and behaviors.
If such habits persist into the long term, people are at an increased risk for learning the opposite of learned optimism, learned helplessness. Learned helplessness is detrimental to optimistic thought patterns, as it perpetuates an attitude of apathy. Helpless people believe that whatever is going on in their life is out of their control, so it doesn’t matter what they do. Fortunately, this works in the opposite direction, too.
If parents show their children positive, or optimistic, ways to cope with their stressors, then those children are more likely to combat helpless behaviors. The more positive regard you show your child, then more they’re going to replicate it. Now it’s time for the big reveal. The following section will cover how learned optimism is used to change people’s perspective.