Pessimistic personality: what 6 traits characterize it?

The different personality types that our species boasts show just how different each human being is. However, not all these variants of ways of thinking and acting are equally recognized. For example, in Western countries extraversion is valued higher than introversion.

But, if there is a way of being that receives negative evaluations, that is the pessimistic personality, very associated with sadness in an erroneous way.

What is the pessimistic personality?

The pessimistic personality is a way of thinking and behaving characterized by the person judging him to be gifted in the worst possible way, in the sense that makes negative interpretations of what is happening and what is going to happen.

In other words, people with pessimistic personalities believe that they live in the worst possible world, or almost.

Pessimism and sadness

It is true that the pessimistic personality is linked to sadness, but not all individuals who think this way feel some kind of emotional pain or depressive symptoms.

On the one hand, interpreting reality in a pessimistic way can make you lose hope of improving the situation and this produces sadness, uneasiness and can even go hand in hand with learned helplessness, in which the person stops fighting and striving to progress.

What's more, not all types of pessimism are the same, and some of its forms leave a door open to hope. For example, it may be believed that everything is much worse than the rest of humanity believes when injustice or oppressive situations are emphasized, but It is also possible to believe that keeping in mind those problems that most ignore is a way to start building a better future and that, otherwise, they would continue existing.

The characteristics of pessimistic people

The pessimistic personality relies on a series of characteristics that define it:

1. The search of the truth

People who present this personality form prefer to accept unpleasant and uncomfortable truths to embrace beliefs that comfort and that do not explain reality faithfully.

However, this does not mean that they are better at understanding what is going on; they simply believe that much of the popular and widespread beliefs are based on convenient falsehoods.

2. They focus their attention on the bad

In the pessimistic personality what causes pain or discomfort is emphasized, since it is assumed that everything that works correctly falls within what one would expect and, therefore, does not attract attention. In this way, pessimism can be an element that predisposes to social denunciation and to draw attention to problems that go unnoticed or that are normalized.

3. They keep expectations low

Pessimism also acts as a shield against frustration. Because these types of people expect few good things in the future, they do not take for granted that things will get better automatically or without sacrifices.

That is why it is rarer for them to be disappointed., and that usually means that accidents or unexpected problems do not produce a great emotional alteration in them (compared to what happens with other people).

4. More resistant to duel

Loss processes, defined as grieving processes (and that they not only understand cases in which death is present), they are experienced differently by people with pessimistic personalities. As they have been anticipating for a long time a good part of the bad things that happen to them, the effect of these is cushioned. Somehow, shows greater emotional stability.

5. It does not have to be pathological

Pessimistic personality is not a mental disorder, it is simply a psychological pattern far removed from what characterizes most people, which is not particularly pessimistic or optimistic.

However, certain pathologies do go hand in hand with the pessimistic way of thinking, such as depressive disorders when they are manifested through its symptoms.

6. Can become hidden

Pessimism is not valued socially well, and that causes some people to hide it so that their relationships do not deteriorate. This, in turn, can be a problem, since behaving unnaturally for a long time time is stressful, always keeping your guard up so that what you think is not revealed.

One more form of personality

Ultimately, the pessimistic personality is neither pathological nor does it have to amount to living in a constant state of sadness. In certain cases it may include certain predictions of hopeful situations and in other cases no, but in any case there are also some positive characteristics that are inherent to this way of being.

Among them is the honesty that one maintains with oneself and the emotional stability that it offers before certain grieving processes, as well as the constructive and claim-prone spirit with which it is associated in many cases.

That is why, although it sounds paradoxical, the pessimistic personality, characterized by interpreting almost everything in the worst possible way, can serve to build a better future in which optimism gains ground and conditions of well-being are enjoyed by more people. That is why this personality type he encloses his own denial and is able to contribute to society.