The capacity of a person's brain to throw away negative thoughts is one of the major reasons for people to hang on to a positive attitude despite adversities in life.

A research study that was published in Nature Neuroscience described that the brain is responsible for processing good news although some people pay no attention to negative things because of their optimistic outlook, according to reports from BBC news.

Some business course professors from the U.S opined that "dispositional optimism is a personality trait associated with individuals who believe, either rightly or wrongly, that good things tend to happen more often than bad things.

A unique longitudinal data that follows the job search performance of students taking up a degree in Masters in Business Administration demonstrated that dispositional optimists experienced better results in job searches compared to pessimists with comparable talents.

Sources of the study declared that optimism has essential health benefits.

A research survey of 99 Harvard students by Martin Seligman showed that "those who were optimists at age 25 were significantly healthier at ages 45 and 60 than those who were pessimists. Other studies have linked a pessimistic explanatory style with higher rates of infectious disease, poor health, and earlier mortality."

Some benefits of optimism include improved health, greater achievement, perseverance, less stress, longer life and better emotional health.

Scientific experts from London's University College said 805 of people are considered optimists even if they do not want to be given that tag.

On the other hand, experts say pessimism is an apparent indication of progressive depression. It characterizes a "mental state that is detrimental to the current perspective and has a lot to do with future outcomes."

The study indicated that "when the news was positive, all people had more activity in the brain's frontal lobes, which are associated with processing errors. With negative information, the most optimistic people had the least activity in the frontal lobes, while the least optimistic had the most."

Optimism seems to be good for your health. A study on nearly 100,000 women suggested a lower risk of heart disease and death in optimists.