It’s arduous to inform if a hen is an optimist. In spite of everything, 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 realized 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 most likely incorporates meals – the equal of deeming a glass half full. On this foundation, most chickens do certainly develop into “optimistic”.
You may take a look at optimism-like behaviour in lots of animals – and even fine-tune it. European starlings grow to be 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 selections after being given an sudden candy deal with.
These findings might sound eccentric, however the truth that optimism, of a kind, seems in such a variety of animals suggests {that a} optimistic outlook may be vital in our personal lives – and that it’s deeply linked 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 various kinds of optimism. This, in flip, has allowed us to determine sorts which can be good for us, and…
