Are British People Optimistic Or Pessimistic?

Is your cup half empty or half full? In Britain, we are often described as being cynical. So it might come as a bit of a surprise that new research has suggested Britain is generally more of an optimistic country than we might expect; our glass is more likely to be half full in everyone’s favourite gastronomic optimism analogy.

A study, released by leading health and wellbeing mutual Benenden Health, found that despite the lingering economic problems, rising cost of living and a rather depressing housing market, the majority of us still have a positive outlook on life. The trend was examined in a large study that initially asked people to respond to the ‘glass half empty’ or ‘glass half full’ question, and then examined the reasons behind it.

In the survey, six out of ten claimed they felt that the term ‘glass half full’ suited their outlook on life the best. The research then looked at satisfaction levels across a number of aspects of modern life, with the average person rating themselves at 64 percent happy.

Men were actually more likely to adopt an optimistic perspective than women. They cited salary, career prospects and finances as primary reasons to be cheerful. Nevertheless, women were generally happy in regards to family life, overall health and the place that they live.

The results come as quite a surprise, as the less-than-inspiring economic outlook had been thought to have been a depressing factor for Britons’ overall optimism. What they seem to suggest is that despite the troubles that everyone is currently facing, British people still have their ‘stiff upper lip’ and the right kind of attitude to make it through difficult times. Let’s hope that we can hold onto this positivity and maybe even increase it.