Is There a Negativity in Being Positive?

Freeconomics host Stephen Fry says he has been paying attention to negativity and pessimism. But a dispositionally optimistic and joyful person has this attentional bias that explains the naivete finding, writes Fry. Research shows people get happier as they get older but not until close to the end of their lives. Older adults tend to selectively look at the pretty picture rather than the ugly one.