Optimism and pessimism in sport

«[fear of not being capable enough] Anytime I have that fear I’m willing to go to a darker place to make up for that.»

Mat Fraser – interview with Nutriforce

Is your glass half-empty or half-full? I know. It sounds cliché and its annoying for both optimists and pessimists but we can’t deny the fact that we all have a tendency. Popular belief is that optimism is the hero and pessimism is the villain but is the bad guy really that bad?

Before we go any further, introductions ensue. Optimism and pessimism are generalized stable tendencies to consider life events as either positive or negative – respectively – (Carver and Scheier, 1985). These two authors elevate these variables to the category of «personality trait» so we are born with one of these two labels.

Causal explanations we usually give to life events build a pattern. This pattern considers three main dimensions: permanence, amplitude and personalization (Abramson et. al, 1974). We define causes according to their time domain as permanente or circumstantial (permanence); as universal or specific according to their reach (amplitude); and as internal or external (personalization). There are many combinations but explanatory styles are relatively stable.

So, we have the athlete that puts on 10 more lbs although he missed his previous attempt because he knows he’ll get it this time – the optimist – and then we have the athlete that’s been doing assisted pull-ups for months because he doesn’t think he’s able to link kipping pull-ups without the band – the pessimist -.

If they fail, the optimist will tend to give a circumstantial, specific and external explanation of the situation. The pessimist, on the other hand, will consider this failure as permanent, universal and internal. Success would be considered permanent, universal and internal for the optimist; and circumstantial, specific and external for the pessimist.

Ergo, the optimist internalizes success and externalizes failure while the pessimist acts does the exact opposite.

What does science say about optimism and pessimism in sport?

Lately Positive Psychology is on the up and up in the scientific community. It’s been studied in an academic and sport setting to analyze its relationship with other health variables. Early findings suggest that cognitive style can predict pre-competitive anxiety both in men and women (Wilson, Raglin and Pritchard, 2002).

In relation to optimism, numerous studies have reached similar results when linked to sport performance. When athletes with higher scores in optimism receive negative feedback, they proceed to improve their performance when performing a given task a second time (Seligman, 1990; Martin-Krumm et. al, 2003 and Ortín et. al, 2011 in Ortín-Montero et. al, 2018).

Mental fortitude has been positively associated with higher scores in dispositional optimism and with active coping strategies (mental imagery, thought control, logical analysis) and negatively with avoidance strategies such as distancing, mental distraction or resignation (Nicholls et. al, 2008).

Pessimism, on the other hand, can be defined as defensive pessimism and depressive pessimism. Defensive pessimism appears as a strategy to avoid negative evaluation others may make about our performance in order to protect our self-worth.

Depressive pessimism is seen in individuals who establish «unrealistically low expectations in tasks that undergo some form of assessment» (Martin et. al, 2003). These low expectations allow for some advantages:

• more awareness of negative situations that may affect performance and better prepare these individuals against their appearance
• increased ability to persist in a task regardless of potential failure
• since advantages are so low, goals are more easily achieved allowing more personal satisfaction

Managing optimism and pessimism in CrossFit

As we’ve seen, both dispositional optimism and pessimism have advantages in sports. Now let’s see how the make the most out of our personal resources.

No more pessimism-phobia

Against our better judgement, science is pretty clear: pessimism is no villain. In fact, it can allow for rather successful and positive results. I’m sure you’ve heard a pessimist say they prefer to think everything’ll go bad so they’re mentally prepared for whatever outcome…turns out it works just as well as thinking life’s a prairie.

Keep in mind you should always stay away from extreme behaviors. Going too far with optimism can put you in situations where success rate is way too low and extreme pessimism can become an obstacle when trying to tap your true potential.

Set the challenge based off your own expectations

Attributional style shown by optimists and pessimists «can influence their confidence and persistence in seeking a goal or a challenge» (Ortín-Montero et. al, 2018). In this sense, optimists actively look for challenges in the box while pessimists settle for small and constant steps forward.

We all know what our cognitive style is so follow your instinct. If you like a good challenge, get after it! If you’d rather play it safe in case you crash and burn, go ahead! Both athletes will find the stimulus you’re looking for in your training session.

Careful with who you blame…

Once you finish the WOD, we all love to point fingers. Success or failure calls for a shitload of attributions; don’t go too far! Try to keep it real. Sometimes we’ll do 60 double unders unbroken without knowing how. Other days we won’t be able to string more than two double unders… and we won’t know why! No, it’s not the rope. It’s not the wind. It does no good to externalize the blame so concentrate on what you can control.

Gordon, R. A. (2008). Attributional style and athletic performance: Strategic optimism and defensive pessimism. Psychology of sport and exercise, 9(3), 336-350.

Martin, A. J., Marsh, H. W., Williamson, A., & Debus, R. L. (2003). Self-handicapping, defensive pessimism, and goal orientation: A qualitative study of university students. Journal of Educational Psychology, 95(3), 617.

Nicholls, A. R., Polman, R. C., Levy, A. R., & Backhouse, S. H. (2008). Mental toughness, optimism, pessimism, and coping among athletes. Personality and individual differences, 44(5), 1182-1192.

Ortin-Montero, F. J., Martínez-Rodríguez, A., Reche-García, C., de los Fayos, E. J. G., & González-Hernández, J. (2018). Relationship between optimism and athletic performance. Systematic review. Anales de psicología, 34(1), 153-161.

Wilson, G. S., Raglin, J. S., & Pritchard, M. E. (2002). Optimism, pessimism, and precompetition anxiety in college athletes. Personality and individual differences, 32(5), 893-902.