perform on an approaching exam, defensive pessimists predict they will do
significantly worse than most students (Norem & Cantor, 1986a, 1986b).
But why would anyone deliberately take this pessimistic approach? It ’s
not that defensive pessimists want to fail. On the contrary, it is the defensive
pessimists ’fear of failure that motivates them. Defensive pessimists appear to
take a dismal outlook for two reasons. First, one way these people prepare
themselves for failure is by setting low expectations in advance. The sting of
defeat is lessened for the defensive pessimist if it was expected all along. Andto actually succeed after such low expectations is probably all the sweeter.
Second, the real possibility (for them) that they might fail may actually push
defensive pessimists to try harder. In some ways, it ’s as if the pleasure that
comes from success is not enough to motivate these people. Rather, it is the
fear that they might do poorly that provides the incentive.
Are there really people who strategically expect the worst? Consider the
results of a study with college honors students (Cantor, Norem, Niedenthal,
Langston, & Brower, 1987). The researchers used a self-report inventory to
identify the defensive pessimists as well as some dispositional optimistsamong freshman students. Both groups had done equally well in high school.
The defensive pessimists had a mean grade point average (GPA) of 3.81,
which was comparable to the optimists ’GPA of 3.83. Yet when these stu-
dents were asked what grades they expected their first semester, the defensive
pessimists gave an average GPA estimate of 3.24, whereas the optimists
guessed 3.64. Clearly, the two kinds of students had different expectations
for how they would do in their classes.
How did these different expectations affect the students ’actual classroom
performance? On one hand, we might expect a kind of self-fulfilling prophecyto operate here. That is, psychologists find people sometimes do poorly on a
test because they expect a poor outcome. On the other hand, the defensive
pessimists ’strategy is not to fail but simply to prepare themselves for the
worst possible outcome. In fact, the defensive pessimists and the optimists de-
voted an equivalent amount of time to their schoolwork. Consequently, when
first semester grades arrived, the defensive pessimists had an average GPA of3.34, nearly identical to the optimists ’3.38. Their lowered expectations did
not appear to have hurt them after all.
Other studies confirm that defensive pessimists deliberately think about
the very things that make them anxious when facing a potential failure (del
Valle & Mateos, 2008; Gasper, Lozinski, & LeBeau, 2009; Norem &
Illingworth, 2004; Sanna, Chang, Carter, & Small, 2006). But do defensivepessimists actually benefit from focusing on the negative rather than the
positive? What would happen if defensive pessimists didn ’t engage in this
worrisome thinking? To find out, one team of investigators told defensive
pessimists they would soon be tested on a series of mental arithmetic pro-
blems (Norem & Illingworth, 1993). Half the participants were allowed to
do what defensive pessimists typically do when facing this kind of task. Theywere instructed to reflect on their thoughts and feelings about the upcoming
test and to list those thoughts for the experimenter. The remaining defensive
pessimists were given a proofreading exercise that effectively prevented themOptimism and Pessimism 217