“We didn’t get into 9/11 because of too much pessimism,” says Barry N. Wish Professor of Psychology and Social Studies Barbara Held in an article profiling Martin Seligman, said to be the father of positive psychology. Held, who wrote Stop Smiling, Start Kvetching: A 5-Step Guide to Creative Complaining, is often tapped for counterpoint in explorations of the power of positive thinking. “We didn’t have the Great Recession because of too much pessimism. These catastrophes didn’t happen because too many people were thinking about what could go wrong.”