Coping With Uncertainty

"Re-Wire Your Brain for Weight Loss (Part III)." AskGeorgie.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2014.

N.p., n.d. Web.

Uncertainty is something everyone deals with, but for some people coping is easier than others. Professor Kate Sweeny of the psychology department at University of California Riverside did research on what kind of personality types cope with waiting best. Sweeny was surprised to find that self-esteem was in fact not a personality type that helps, but rather optimism is. 

Sweeny and a colleague studied 50 law school graduates who were waiting for the results of the California bar exam in 2011. They gave the lawyers personality questioners to see what types of personality types cope best with uncertainty. She was very surprised to find that those who claim to have high self-esteem don’t cope any better than those who do not. “I was surprised, since plenty of other research suggested that high self-esteem should help people get through difficult periods when their ego is threatened,” says Sweeny. Unsurprisingly the best way to cope is with optimism, seeing the world through positive eyes can help give you confidence that thing went well. 

Sweeny also found that waiting has a sort of dynamic climb, the closer to the results you get the more pessimistic you get. Even the most optimistic can’t help but have their doubts. 

She also found some interesting things about people’s own coping mechanisms. One way is to try and distract yourself and not think about the anxiety, this proved unsuccessful, “The fact that they are trying so hard to not feel so anxious actually backfires, because it anything it keeps the uncertainty in mind,” she says. One interesting method is to prepare yourself for the worst, while it does nothing to help ease the anxiety during the waiting period it does help a lot when the news itself actually comes. Another method that proves useful is to distance your self-worth from the test, “If you convince yourself the bar exam is not that important, and that it’s just a silly exam you have to take and doesn’t reflect on your or your abilities, that space might help you not have a crushing blow to your ego if the news is bad,” Sweeny says.

She says another interesting thing she found is that those who have a tougher waiting period usually fare better after getting the results, those who had a tough time and get a bad score are more likely to turn around and start studying harder. Plus if they pass the relief is so much sweeter, nothing is better than a nice cup of icy cold relief after such a long run to get there. 

Sweeny is now studying the effects of mindfulness meditation to help make the waits easier.