ABSTRACT
Optimists think more positively about life, seeing the good in situations and minimizing the bad. Pessimists think that optimists are foolish and optimists think that pessimists are depressing. Some people hold negative beliefs about themselves. People whose life rules are about over-achieving as a way of fending off beliefs of failure tend to feel good only when they are achieving. Some people use 'shoulds' and 'musts' as a way of thinking about other people in a punishing way. A person who believes that she is only safe from her beliefs about failure if she avoids situations may find herself feeling very anxious if she is faced with a situation where she needs to prove herself in some way. Some people believe they are bad people and that if people really knew them, rather than the mask they present to the world, they would be disliked and seen as a fraud.
