Are you optimistic or pessimistic about the near-term (two-year) prospects of the American economy and stock markets?

FORBES: Dow 13,000?

Just keep in mind that an optimistic or pessimistic attitude expressed in a survey does not necessarily equate with action.

FORBES: How Much Should You Rely On Sentiment Surveys?

The Consumer Confidence Index, a survey of how optimistic or pessimistic people feel about the economy, has been up and down in 2010, and consumers still feel pessimistic about the job market.

FORBES: Eight Signs Of A Real Estate Rebound

Are you optimistic or pessimistic about stocks now?

FORBES: Worry Wall Grows Higher

In other words, if we train our brains to be optimistic or pessimistic -- to navigate, intentionally or not, the streets and avenues of positive or negative feelings -- we change (just as cab drivers do with their spatial circuits) the emotional circuits in our brains that determine how we respond to the things that happen around us.

CNN: Make your 'rainy brain' sunnier

But, in the real world, investors periodically become too optimistic or too pessimistic and the market becomes mispriced.

FORBES: Alan, Ben, My Fed Model, And Why Stocks Are Cheap

Don't get too optimistic or too pessimistic.

CNN: IS ASIA BOTTOMING OUT?

Some may disagree with me on my basic assumptions, either viewing them as over optimistic or over pessimistic, but I think a discussion centered on growth, profitability and the cost of growth is not only a healthy one but one that we should be having about all young, growth companies.

FORBES: Facebook's IPO: Thoughts On Momentum, Pricing And Valuation (It's Still No Buy)

There are valid reasons to be either pessimistic or optimistic.

FORBES: Quiet Week for Stocks; Gold Declines