Optimism & pessimism

Prevailing beliefs and attitudes, particularly in the West, encourage researchers and lay people alike to think almost exclusively in terms of the costs of pessimism and the benefits of optimism. This volume provides a forum in which leading scholars, researchers, and practitioners involved with the study of optimism and pessimism are given the opportunity to express their beliefs. The result is a critical survey that enables readers to recognize the importance of "balance" in understanding the relative powers of both optimism and pessimism.