221. Why Are We So Pessimistic?

No Stupid Questions

Are things really as bad as they seem? Has Gen Z given up hope for the world? And why was the father of positive psychology a lifelong pessimist?

• SOURCES:
  • Albert Bandura, professor of psychology at Stanford University.
  • David Brooks, author and opinion columnist.
  • Andrew Grove, former C.E.O. and chairman of Intel Corporation.
  • Kalev Leetaru, founder of the GDELT Project.
  • Steven Maier, professor of behavioral neuroscience at the University of Colorado Boulder.
  • Michelle Obama, attorney, author, and former first lady of the United States.
  • Steven Pinker, professor of psychology at Harvard University.
  • Amanda Ripley, journalist and author.
  • Martin Seligman, professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania.
  • Jean Twenge, professor of psychology at San Diego State University.
  • Edward Zigler, professor emeritus of psychology at Yale University.

• RESOURCES:
  • "Chicken Littles Are Ruining America," by David Brooks (The Atlantic, 2024).
  • Generations, by Jean Twenge (2023).
  • Enlightenment Now, by Steven Pinker (2018).
  • "The Short History of Global Living Conditions and Why It Matters That We Know It," by Max Roser (Our World in Data, 2016).
  • "Learned Helplessness at Fifty: Insights from Neuroscience," by Steven F. Maier and Martin E. P. Seligman (Psychological Review, 2016).
  • "Short- and Long-Term Consequences of Stressor Controllability in Adolescent Rats," by Kenneth H. Kubala, John P. Christianson, Steven F. Maier, et al. (Behavioural Brain Research, 2012).
  • The Better Angels of Our Nature, by Steven Pinker (2011).
  • "Forecasting Large-Scale Human Behavior Using Global News Media Tone in Time and Space," by Kalev Leetaru (First Monday, 2011).
  • "Motivational Aspects of Changes in IQ Test Performance of Culturally Deprived Nursery School Children," by Edward Zigler and Earl C. Butterfield (Child Development, 1968).
  • "Failure to Escape Traumatic Shock," by Martin E. P. Seligman and Steven F. Maier (Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1967).
  • Upworthy.

• EXTRAS:
  • "Why Is U.S. Media So Negative?" by Freakonomics Radio (2021).