The past is not what it used to be: Optimists’ use of retroactive pessimism to diminish the sting of failure

Two studies tested whether optimists regulate moods by making the past seem inevitable in the case of failures. This retroactive pessimism effect on the part of optimists may appear to be particularly ironic and occurred both in response to a variety of imagined situations in comparison with predictions and successes when inevitability was measured on a constrained rating scale (Study 1) and in response to immediately experienced failures on a laboratory task when open-ended probability judgments were assessed (Study 2). The strategy was associated with positive moods for optimists and appears due to a few easily generated external reasons (Study 2). Pessimists did not use this retroactive strategy. Implications for timing of strategies, mental simulations, and hindsight biases are discussed.

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