negative emotions, pessimists tend to have higher blood pressure, and this can
have an impact on their health (Raikkonen & Matthews, 2008).
Perhaps the most likely reason that optimists are healthier than pessimists
is that an optimistic outlook leads to the kinds of attitudes and behaviors that
contribute to good health. One team of researchers looked at patients in a
cardiac rehabilitation program (Shepperd, Maroto, & Pbert, 1996). Each par-
ticipant entered the program after suffering a heart attack or having been di-
agnosed with some other cardiovascular problem. Compared to the pessimistsin the program, the optimistic patients were more successful in reducing satu-
rated fat from their diet, decreasing body fat, and increasing their aerobic ca-
pacity. These optimistic patients apparently decided they could reach theirrehabilitation goals and did what it took to succeed. Other studies find that
optimists pay more attention to relevant health information than do pessi-
mists (Aspinwall & Brunhart, 1996), are more physically active, eat healthierfoods (Giltay, Geleijnse, Zitman, Buijsse, & Kromhout, 2007), and are less
prone to health-destructive habits, such as substance abuse (Carvajal, Clair,
Nash, & Evans, 1998). In addition, the fatalistic view taken by pessimistsmay prevent them from practicing reasonable safety and health precautions,
such as wearing a seat belt or using a designated driver. One team of investi-
gators found pessimists —particularly those who expect bad events to occur in
a wide range of situations —were more likely than optimists to be involved in
fatal accidents (Peterson, Seligman, Yurko, Martin, & Friedman, 1998).
Defensive Pessimism
The research discussed thus far makes it clear that an optimistic outlook is more
likely to lead to happiness and success than a pessimistic approach. But thenhow do we account for Sparky Anderson? Sparky Anderson was one of the
most successful baseball managers in the history of the game. He was a major
league manager for more than a quarter of a century, led his teams to more vic-
tories than all but two managers in baseball history, and was the first person to
manage a World Series champion in both the American and National Leagues.
We might guess that Sparky Anderson was as confident and optimistic as any-one ever hired to manage a sports team. But we would be wrong. Something
else motivated Sparky every time he put on his uniform —he was terrified of los-
ing. Although he managed nearly 4,000 games, he still became nervous the
morning of a game and stayed that way all day. He considered all the things
that could go wrong, all the ways his team might lose. After all his experience
and all his success, just thinking about an upcoming game could make SparkyAnderson ’s hands shake enough to spill his cup of coffee (Antonen, 1993).
Sparky Anderson represents another type of strategy some people use
when approaching a task. Researchers refer to these people as defensive pessi-
mists (Norem, 2001, 2008). Unlike pessimists who simply expect the worst,
defensive pessimists generate their gloomy expectations as part of a deliberate
strategy for dealing with upcoming events. Defensive pessimists think about
failure. Not only do they worry and fret over what may be a worst-case out-
come, they even tell themselves that they probably won ’t do well on the up-
coming task. When researchers ask students to estimate how they will216 CHAPTER 8 The Trait Approach