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If you have a doom-and-gloom outlook, the news only gets worse: The root of your glass-half-empty existence could be permanently etched in your genetic makeup.

Researchers from the University of British Columbia, Cornell University and Toronto’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health report in the journal Psychological Science that a gene variant can cause individuals to perceive the negative side of every situation.

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In the study, 200 participants with and without the gene variant were shown a series of words in rapid succession. The words were preclassified as either positive, negative or neutral.

Todd said all the participants tended to perceive the positive words better than the neutral words, but individuals with the gene variant tended to perceive the negative words better than those without the gene variant.

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"So you might say, 'Oh, look at that waterfall and the amazing view, and we can look over the edge of this cliff here...' and somebody who is a deletion variant carrier may look at the same scene and see dangerous rocks that might fall, or places snakes may lurk, or bears," Todd said.

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"So you might say, 'Oh, look this study digs into humanity, and really helps us unlock the mysteries of people's personalities.  ' and somebody who is a deletion variant carrier may look at the same study and see a pile of useless crap, wondering why resources are being wasted 'on this shit'" Todd said.