I agree that it felt counter-intuitive, at first, to assign counting up to the pessimists and counting down to the optimists. I think really what this points at is that, for me at least, “optimists” and “pessimists” are terms that aren’t really cutting reality at the joints.
I think it’s a sort of fundamentally pessimistic move to start at zero, but then there’s optimism and enthusiasm for each step up. And I think it’s sort of fundamentally optimistic to start at 100, but then there’s pessimism and holding-to-a-standard with each point knocked off. So I weaken my claim that either strategy is heavily one or the other.
Counting up sounds more like what optimists would do to me—focus on identifying good qualities.
Counting down sounds more like what pessimists would do to me—focus on identifying flaws.
More specifically, it seems to capture a specific element of optimism/pessimism:
Do you focus on the good elements or the bad elements?
If I had to break it up into other components, I’d probably say:
Do you overestimate or underestimate probabilities of good things happening (reverse for bad things)?
Are you confident with you ability to cope with the bad?
I agree that it felt counter-intuitive, at first, to assign counting up to the pessimists and counting down to the optimists. I think really what this points at is that, for me at least, “optimists” and “pessimists” are terms that aren’t really cutting reality at the joints.
I think it’s a sort of fundamentally pessimistic move to start at zero, but then there’s optimism and enthusiasm for each step up. And I think it’s sort of fundamentally optimistic to start at 100, but then there’s pessimism and holding-to-a-standard with each point knocked off. So I weaken my claim that either strategy is heavily one or the other.