What is defensive pessimism in simple terms?

Expecting things might go wrong and preparing thoroughly so anxiety turns into good performance.

Is negative thinking always bad?

For anxious people, this strategy can work better than forced positivity.

Defensive Pessimism

🧠 Psychology By CampusDown Wiki Editorial Team Last updated October 27, 2026

Defensive pessimism is a cognitive strategy in which people set deliberately low expectations for upcoming events, despite past success, and mentally rehearse what could go wrong. This helps them manage anxiety and channel it into preparation. Julie Norem and Nancy Cantor introduced it in 1986.

Contents

1. Origins
2. How it works
3. Relation to optimism
4. FAQ
5. References

Origins

Norem and Cantor (1986) studied high-achieving students who expected to do badly yet performed well. Unlike self-handicapping, the strategy increases rather than reduces effort.

How it works

Showers (1992) found considering negative possibilities improved pessimists' performance. Norem and Illingworth (1993) showed disrupting the strategy hurt pessimists, and Cantor and Norem (1989) treated it as a coping style.

Relation to optimism

Norem (2001) and Norem and Chang (2002) argued positive thinking is not best for everyone, in contrast to optimism bias. Norem (2008) noted long-term costs make evaluation complex.

FAQ

What is defensive pessimism in simple terms?: Expecting things might go wrong and preparing thoroughly so anxiety turns into good performance.
Is negative thinking always bad?: For anxious people, this strategy can work better than forced positivity.

Sources reviewed: 2026-10-26

References

Norem, J. K., & Cantor, N. (1986). Defensive pessimism: Harnessing anxiety as motivation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51(6), 1208–1217. The founding paper.
Cantor, N., & Norem, J. K. (1989). Defensive pessimism and stress and coping. Social Cognition, 7(2), 92–112. Defensive pessimism as a way of coping.
Showers, C. (1992). The motivational and emotional consequences of considering positive or negative possibilities for an upcoming event. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63(3), 474–484. Considering negative outcomes helps pessimists.
Norem, J. K., & Illingworth, K. S. S. (1993). Strategy-dependent effects of reflecting on self and tasks: Some implications of optimism and defensive pessimism. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65(4), 822–835. Disrupting the strategy hurts performance.
Norem, J. K. (2001). The positive power of negative thinking. Basic Books. An accessible book on the research.
Norem, J. K., & Chang, E. C. (2002). The positive psychology of negative thinking. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 58(9), 993–1001. Negative thinking within positive psychology.
Norem, J. K. (2008). Defensive pessimism, anxiety, and the complexity of evaluating self-regulation. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 2(1), 121–134. A review of the research.

Reports and materials that use this theory (Korean)

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This article was last updated on October 27, 2026. It is based on widely recognized original works and textbooks; when citing it in a paper, please check the original sources listed in the references.