It’s laborious to inform if a hen is an optimist. In any case, you possibly can’t ask it if a glass of water is half full or half empty. However you possibly can repeatedly present it a white card in entrance of a bowl of tasty mealworms and a black card in entrance of an empty bowl. As soon as a chick has discovered to reliably select the white card, you present it a gray card. Chicks that head instantly for this card apparently surmise that it’s extra white than black, and thus in all probability incorporates meals – the equal of deeming a glass half full. On this foundation, most chickens do certainly transform “optimistic”.
You may take a look at optimism-like behaviour in lots of animals – and even fine-tune it. European starlings develop into extra “optimistic” if they will take a shower at any time when they need. Bottlenose dolphins present extra optimistic behaviour if they’ve been swimming in synchrony with one another. Bumblebees make extra optimistic decisions after being given an surprising candy deal with.
These findings may appear eccentric, however the truth that optimism, of a kind, seems in such a variety of animals suggests {that a} constructive outlook could be vital in our personal lives – and that it’s deeply related to our well-being. In recent times, these and different insights into how a glass-half-full mind-set can have an effect on our well being have begun to assist us distinguish several types of optimism. This, in flip, has allowed us to establish sorts which are good for us, and…
