The bright side of life | prof. dr. Madelon Peters

Is it better to be an optimist or a pessimist? One thing is clear: optimism can have a positive impact on your health, both mental and physical.

For some people, the glass is always half empty; for some, it’s half full. Are we simply born that way? In this lecture, Prof. Madelon Peters discusses scientific insights on optimism and the influence of positive thinking on our health and explains if and how positive thinking could be learned.

Prof. dr. Madelon Peters is a professor in experimental health psychology and Chair of the section Experimental Health Psychology at Maastricht University. She studies the influence of optimism and other resiliency factors on health, particularly in relation to developing and coping with chronic pain symptoms. Together with her research group, she seeks to identify mechanisms by which positive thinking provides protection against illness.

𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲
"𝘝𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘢𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴 𝘱𝘩𝘺𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭-𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨."

"𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸𝘯."

"𝘐𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘰𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘮 𝘢𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘰𝘭."