Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdY6NklR7iQ

03-08-2012 07:00 CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE LATEST UPDATED VIDEO THAT CAME OUT TODAY Subscribe To Get Notified Of The Latest Releases As They Come Out Date: 08-02-12 Host: George Noory Guests: Elaine Fox, Sam Kean In the first half, experimental psychologist and neuroscientist, Elaine Fox, spoke about her work finding the roots of optimism and pessimism, and how we can retrain our brains to be more optimistic. In spite of the economic downturn, she reported that internationally, the vast majority of people are optimistic about the future, and tend to underestimate the chances of bad things happening to them. She characterized optimism in broader terms than just positive thinking, and suggested it has several components including taking positive actions, persistence, and having a sense of control. Surrounding yourself with negative or positive influences or people can make your brain pathways become more entrenched in those outlooks, she noted. Studies involving the so-called "optimism gene" found that those with this genetic marker were less inclined to fall into a depression when a number of negative events befell them, as compared to those without the genetic variant, who had an equal number of bad events occur. Though ultimately we need a balance of what she calls the "rainy" and "sunny" brain, to become more optimistic, she suggested challenging one's irrational negative beliefs, and practicing mindfulness-based meditation. She also pointed out that those ...

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