Some (weak) evidence that pessimists tend to be more accurate (and hence communities that value truth highly would tend to have more pessimistic people):
Research shows that relative pessimists are more accurate at gauging success and failure rates at a simple laboratory task than optimists, who undercounted failures and overcounted successes, says Edward Chang, associate professor of psychology at the University of Michigan. Also, evidence shows that pessimism can be highly motivational, as what's called "defensive pessimism" drives people to achieve their goals.
Hello all,
This is sort of a random topic, but I've been looking at various online communities and was struck by how pessimistic and negative many are. I perceived this most notably on reddit, but some other places are like this too-- there seems to be a general aura of discontent, an attitude that society in general is corrupt, and so on. Does anyone know why?