Depending on the subject, people's natural state is optimism even if they think they are being realistic. [1] and [2] have a bunch of interesting references on this matter
Appearing smart to dumb people isn't hard, so it doesn't count as a negative about pessimism :)
I won't make a judgement about it being usually right, but being pessimistic can be a tool to counteract the standard optimistic stance if you know people are usually optimistic (aka their expectations overshoot reality) on the subject
Appearing smart to dumb people isn't hard, so it doesn't count as a negative about pessimism :)
I won't make a judgement about it being usually right, but being pessimistic can be a tool to counteract the standard optimistic stance if you know people are usually optimistic (aka their expectations overshoot reality) on the subject
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planning_fallacy
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optimism_bias