Select the correct text in the passage.
Read the sentence below.
Optimistic people tend to have optimistic friends and family.
Which sentence in the passage best supports this statement?
Look on the Bright Side
How do you react when something you try to do goes wrong? Do you find yourself getting upset or angry because you will never improve or get it right? Or do you tend to think in a more positive way, knowing that you tried your best and that you will improve the next time? How you react to difficult situations has a lot to do with your personality and outlook on life. If you identify more with the second option, you are probably an optimist.
Optimism is a positive mental attitude. Optimistic people have confidence in the future. People who are optimistic tend to believe or expect that things will turn out well. They interpret events with a hopeful and positive outlook. Optimists are often described as cheerful and happy. Optimism is different from idealism. Idealists can set unreasonable expectations about future events.
Pessimism is the opposite of optimism. A pessimistic person sees events more negatively. They often believe that the worst will happen. They do not look forward to the future, and they sometimes even dread it. They believe that the bad in life outweighs the good. Sometimes they don't have a very good opinion of their peers.
Psychologists have created special personality tests to determine if people are optimists. One of these tests is called the Life Orientation Test. People who take the test answer a series of questions about how they view certain events. Scientists believe that optimism may be caused in part by genetics, but a person’s environment is mostly responsible for his or her outlook.
There are many benefits to being an optimist. Optimism is related to overall well-being. People who are optimistic are less likely to develop certain health issues, such as heart disease, and more likely to report feeling happy and satisfied. Optimists tend to face problems and deal with them directly, which leads to lower levels of stress. Optimists are more likely to be successful at achieving goals. They also tend to live longer than pessimists.