Optimism/Pessimism

BIBLIOGRAPHY

People differ in how they approach the world. Some individuals are optimistic and tend to be positive in their outlook and expectations for the future, whereas others are pessimistic and tend to have more negative expectations. Furthermore, these individual differences appear to be stable across time and context. The construct of optimism is in many ways rooted in folk wisdom, but scientific approaches have linked the concepts of optimism and pessimism to expectancy models of motivation. The optimism construct is therefore also grounded in decades of theory and research on motivation and on how such motivation is expressed through behavior.

One of the most recognized contemporary theories of optimism assumes expectancies to be dispositional, and refers to generalized expectancies that apply more or less across a person’s entire life span. Michael F. Scheier and Charles S. Carver developed the dispositional optimism concept in 1985, as well as one of the most popular measures used to assess optimism and pessimism, the Life Orientation Test (LOT). The LOT and its revised version, the LOT-R, contain items measuring both positive and negative expectancies (e.g., “In uncertain times, I usually expect the best” and “If something can go wrong for me, it will”). Both of these measures therefore provide the most direct assessment of optimism and pessimism as people usually understand these constructs.

Another approach to optimism, separate from the dispositional optimism approach, assumes that expectancies are based on individual interpretations of previous experiences. Often referred to as attributional or explanatory style, this approach is based on Martin E. P. Seligman’s work on learned helplessness. To account for human variation in responses to uncontrollability, the attributional reformulation of learned helplessness specifically focused on people’s explanations for events. Optimists interpret bad events as temporary, limited in scope, and not resulting from personal fault. Pessimists on the other hand, are more likely to interpret bad events as long lasting, pervasive in scope, and due to their own fault. Optimists’ tendency to attribute negative events to unstable, specific, and external causes contributes to their resiliency to negative experiences and helplessness.

Attributional style is measured with the Attributional Style Questionnaire (ASQ), which Chris Peterson and colleagues developed in 1982. The ASQ consists of six negative event items and six positive event items. For each event, the person gives one major cause for why the event occurred and rates the internality, stability, and globality of the cause. Attributional style can also be assessed through spoken or written material, using the content analysis of verbatim explanations (CAVE) method Peterson and colleagues developed in 1983. In this method, good and bad events are rated along three dimensions (internal, stable, global) using a seven-point continuum. On both of these scales, a person considering positive events to be happening due to internal, stable, and global events is considered to have an optimistic explanatory style. If a person considers negative events to be happening due to internal, stable, and global events, this individual is considered to have a pessimistic explanatory style.

Differences between optimists’ and pessimists’ attributional styles can account for different expectancies. In attributing causes to their own behavior rather than to external factors, optimists believe in their ability to influence event outcomes. On the other hand, pessimists often judge events as being caused by external factors and see no opportunity to influence the outcomes. When these attributions are stable and global, as they often are for pessimists, helplessness results.

Whereas attributional styles are generally based on interpretations of previous experiences, the construct of dispositional optimism arose from a general self-regulatory framework. Because optimists see positive outcomes as attainable, they are more likely to invest continued effort in order to achieve their goals, instead of disengaging and giving up, as pessimists might do. This tendency of optimists to expect positive outcomes and remain engaged in challenges creates a self-fulfilling prophecy in which positive outcomes and success can be actualized. For pessimists, on the other hand, the tendency to expect negative outcomes and give up on challenges creates a self-fulfilling prophesy of failure.

One of the mechanisms by which dispositional optimism and attributional style translate into better adjustment is through coping with stressors. Optimists appear to cope in active ways that help them adjust better to stressful situations. Optimists’ resilience to helplessness and effortful behaviors has been found to be positively associated with approach coping strategies aiming to eliminate, reduce, or manage stressors, and negatively associated with avoidance coping strategies aiming to avoid, ignore, or withdraw from stressors. High optimism may therefore led to approach coping, which again may lead to better adjustment to stressors.

Positive outcome expectancies and optimistic explanatory styles may also be protective factors contributing to resiliency, both psychologically and physiologically. For example, high dispositional optimism has been associated with less distress, anxiety, and depression in women with breast cancer and has been found to be protective of distress in women coping with in vitro fertilization failure. Pessimistic attributional style has also been associated with depression and distress. As for physiological well-being, dispositional optimism has been associated with a faster rate of physical recovery from coronary artery bypass surgery and has been linked to lower changes of rehospitalization for cardiac patients. Dispositional optimism has also been linked to longer survival in cancer patients and to better recovery and resistance to postsurgical infection in transplant patients. Optimistic attributional style has also been positively correlated with vigorous immune reaction to an antigen challenge as well as longer survival. Clearly, the link between positive outcome expectancies and well-being is pervasive.

Carver and Scheier’s pioneering research on generalized outcome expectancies and Seligman’s groundbreaking work on learned helplessness have led to an enhanced understanding of the significance of positive outcome expectancies. The positive psychology movement, initiated in 1998 by American Psychological Association president Seligman, emphasizes the focus in research on positive aspects of human behavior, such as dispositional optimism. The movement highlights the importance of studying not only the negative side of human experience such as disease and distress, but also recognizing the positive aspects of human behavior such as strength and virtue. Positive psychology focuses on people’s satisfaction with various aspects of their lives, and considers building positive qualities as equally important to mending the worst in life. Researchers in this area address questions relating to happiness, well-being, and human potential, among others. The positive psychology movement aims to advance the understanding of how human traits can serve to buffer against not only psychological, but also physical, ailments.

SEE ALSO Attribution; Depression, Psychological; Expectations; Positive Psychology; Psychoneuroendocrinology; Stress

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Carver, Charles S., and Michael F. Scheier. 1998. On the Self-Regulation of Behavior. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press.

Chang, Edward C. 2002. Optimism and Pessimism: Implications for Theory, Research, and Practice. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Diener, Ed, and Martin E. P. Seligman. 2002. Very Happy People. Psychological Science 13: 81–84.

Peterson, Chris, L. Luborsky, and Martin E. P. Seligman. 1983. Attributions and Depressive Mood Shifts: A Case Study Using the Symptom-Content Method. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 94: 165–169.

Peterson, Chris, et al. 1982. The Attributional Style Questionnaire. Cognitive Therapy and Research 6: 287–299.

Scheier, Michael F., and Charles S. Carver. 1985. Optimism, Coping, and Health: Assessment and Implications of Generalized Outcome Expectancies. Health Psychology 3: 219–247.

Scheier, Michael F., Charles S. Carver, and M. W. Bridges. 1994. Distinguishing Optimism from Neuroticism (and Trait Anxiety, Self-Mastery, and Self-Esteem): A Reevaluation of the Life Orientation Test. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 67: 1063–1078.

Seligman, Martin E. P. 1991. Learned Optimism. New York: Knopf.

Solberg Nes, Lise, and Suzanne C. Segerstrom. 2006. Dispositional Optimism and Coping: A Meta-Analytic Review. Personality and Social Psychology Review 10: 235–251.

Lise Solberg Nes

Abbey Roach