In these recessionary times, it's appropriate to dust off a 2007 study and ponder it a bit. The study says that while for the most part optimists do better in life, the opposite is true for lawyers, at least in law school where pessimism correlates with success, as measured by better grades and better job offers. The study was first reported in the Wall Street Journal reports (sub. req.) The study's author, positive psychology guru Martin Seligman, speculates that "In law, pessimism is considered prudence."
Now comes a colleague of Seligman's, Dan Bowling, who is launching a three-year study of law students to test his hypothesis that the least happy lawyers are associates in big law firms, and that the law students with the best sense of well-being understand their own personalities and character strengths, and pursue careers that will tap those strengths.
HT: ABA Journal
