What Can Cause Pessimism? 1. For some people, a pessimistic attitude serves as a source of sardonic humor and might even be a coping mechanism. They might feel they are actually warding off negativity by being prepared for the worst. They believe that "If you continually expect the worse, you are apt to be pleasantly surprised a lot. However, if you always expect the best, you may be disappointed frequently." This is considered a reasonable rationale for pessimists. In reality, this approach hurts them twofold: Once when they are mentally and emotionally preparing for the hardship and once again when it actually occurs. Either way, they're gonna feel bad whether misfortune strikes or not, as opposed to the optimist who has a 50-50 chance of not feeling bad at all. In the case of true optimists, they might not even feel bad when disaster does come their way. 2. Lack of organization is also an important factor. People get overwhelmed and stressed out in today's fast-paced world. When you don't realize just how many things are going on around you, it's hard to focus on how to put them back in order. So it's only logical that you're going to feel lost and everything's going to seem dark and gloomy. 3. Another cause of pessimistic thinking is that the people around us have a great impact on how we feel. Pessimistic people have a way of dragging those around them down to their level. So some people may become pessimistic because they hang out with pessimists. If you have ...