Some cultures, like America, value the positive affect that seems to signal internal happiness; (...) While we cannot assume that the "positive" experience is a censored, controlled, or less true event, the cultural reinforcement of "positive" demands that each insight gets a pink bow before it can be accepted as true.

Precisely because the positivity zeitgeist is so strong and compelling, we need to work to reframe the oversimplified picture that equates optimism with all that is good and pessimism with all that is evil. (...) to propose a positive attribute to negative thinking sounds almost heretical in American society, bastion of full glasses, silver linings and the ubiquitous yellow smiley face. However, "positive thinking" requires a selective perception (...).

(...) positive psychology's approval of 'positive illusions offer us a means to happiness and well-being (..) We've gone so far down this yellow brick road that "positive" seems to us not only normal but normative--the way you should be.