Psychometric Evaluation Of A New Measure Of Dispositional Optimism

In the words of Winston Churchill, "The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty." When we are optimistic that we can get a job done, or that we can find a cure for a disease, we are more motivated, and we work harder. A scientist who is pessimistic that they will never find a cure for a specific disease will have a mental mind block against finding a cure for a disease, making it considerably harder for them to find a cure. However, a scientist who is optimistic about finding a cure for a disease will be motivated and more focused on their dedication to discovering a cure for a disease such as cancer. When you are optimistic, you are more motivated, and when you are motivated, you are more productive, consequently making optimism a particularly important priority in everyday

Notwithstanding the numerous advantages of pessimism, proven by studies, society continues to condemn it. This is particularly due to the fact that optimism is viewed as more superior, compared to pessimism. Author, Jon Gordon, reports, “‘Whether we feed ourselves each day with negative fuel or positive fuel … our optimism has a big impact on our day’” (Gordon). Gordon conveys the fact that, ultimately, optimism determines success, not pessimism. Additionally, Adam Sinicki, a psychology graduate, comments that remaining optimistic during strenuous times will help alleviate the situation because an individual is believing that matters will only mend (Sinicki). While there may be research to support these claims, the truth is, they fail to shed

An article written by Kendra Cherry states, “By nurturing positive emotions, even in the face of terrible events, people can reap both short-term and long-term rewards, including managing stress levels, lessening depression, and building coping skills that will serve them well in the future” (Cherry). Optimism has allowed for people to deal with conflicts in a healthy way. Neuroscientist Tali Sharot in her book The Science of Optimism: Why We’re Hard-Wired for Hope argues that optimism provides an adaptive advantage. According to her, “Expecting our future to be good reduces stress and anxiety, which is good for our health. Researchers studying heart attack patients have found that optimists were more likely than nonoptimistic patients to take vitamins, eat low-fat diets, and exercise, thereby reducing their overall coronary risk” (Popova). Dealing with conflicts positively is better for your health and it decreases bad health

planned behavior, if we want to predict a behavior we need to know three things: (1) attitude

In this Ted Talk cognitive neuroscientist Tali Sharot shared with us the concept of optimism bias and the research that she has been doing on the very topic. She spoke about it as being an illusion. Her description of optimism bias is that we tend to think we will have more positive things happen in our life than bad one. We overestimate the good and underestimate the bad. Optimism bias is something that people throughout the world experience from young to old people. She gave marriage as an example of this kind of bias and stated that forty percent of people that get married will get a divorce but people who just got married will say that there it is unlikely they will end up divorcing. Despite the facts people

We don’t try hard enough or sacrifice ourselves to reach at our highest level of achievement. This is where the characteristic optimism comes useful to important situations or decisions in our lives. In one word, it’s best described as the predictor of success, which is

What is optimism? Optimism is reaching deep down and finding the confidence and hopefulness in yourself to overcome whatever may be holding your back. Challenges are constantly being thrusted into one’s life, and the difficulty of them is what makes us strive to get through it. Whether the challenge be big or small, there is always something to look forward to in life.

So, people frequently recognize their prosperity to having an advantageous demeanor. I speculate this postulation because it is acceptable to necessitate a willingness onto myself for the benediction of myself and others. But, pressurizing positivity too much can establish abasement in me. If I was in the mainstream of a project, then I am more presumably to resist it when I am contented. If I am pessimistic, then I will brood around and get nothing done. Furthermore, administrators and supervisors will want to appoint a sanguine, peppy person to get the work done because melancholy, moping people will not complete anything. Therefore, I believe that having an exceptional predilection will benefit me in gaining accomplishments, whether it is obtaining a job, doing a hobby, or just learning how to ride a bike.

This is untrue due to the research conducted. It was found that people with higher expectations are happier. When they succeed they are happier and when they fail they strive to do better next time to get to their goal(s). The people who set lower expectations will not feel the same amount of happiness when they finish goal because of it being a low expectation. Another reason low expectations don’t work well is because they usually lack the anticipation of succeeding. The anticipation will make people generally happier and Dr. Sharot talks about Friday being the best day of the work week because of the anticipation of the weekend. She concludes with optimism being good because it makes you try harder and lowers stress and anxiety. Overconfidence while similar to optimism bias has its own effect on decision making. Overconfidence will usually make us think we are capable of completing tasks quickly that should take multiple days/hours. This overconfidence it what makes students say they think they can get the assignment done in one class period even though they haven't done that worksheet before. Belief perseverance is also a way our beliefs neglect the facts because of what we

The tool used to measure optimism / pessimism was the Life Orientation Model (LOT) (Scheier & Carver, 1985), which consists of eight questions: four suggesting optimism and four suggesting pessimism. The tool is graded on a scale that calculates the degree of optimism vs. pessimism assuming the two traits are bi-polar opposites. This study hypothesized that optimism and pessimism are not bi-polar opposites, but rather separate constructs to be viewed individually, similar to previous studies (Kubzansky, Kubzansky, & Maselko, 2004).

Cambridge Dictionary (2016) defines Optimism as “the quality of being full of hope and emphasizing the good parts of a situation, or a belief that something good will happen” Cambridge Dictionary, 2016. To me, being optimistic can help any situation. For example, I work around 25 hours per week whilst studying full time, which results in me being stressed. Having a more positive behaviour towards my studies and work has helped me immensely with reducing my stress levels. Being a student, it can be very hard to deal with getting bad feedback or not finding the resources you need to complete a great assignment. I use my optimism to

The previous section has shown that previous study had yielded contradictory results. To account for the inconsistent findings, we have to first understand the inner mechanisms of the effects of optimism on cancer survival rate. Salovey (2000) has proposed various potential casual pathways from dispositional optimism to cancer survival outcomes. One of the potential mediators of optimism and survival outcome might be immune system. In other words, optimism tends to enhance the immune system which in turn enhance cancer survival rate. Indeed, Ah (2007) examines the intimate connections among social support, optimism, and immune response. Ah hypothesized that optimism plays a mediating role for immune response and cancer outcome. 54 cancer patients participated in the study. They completed questionnaires regarding stress level, optimism, and satisfaction social support. Participants’ blood was assessed to measure the immune system (ex., white blood cell such as natural killer cell. The results showed that only optimism is associated with immune response and cancer prognosis, while perceived satisfaction of social support was not associated immune response.

Being optimistic is the main principle for most people. We may often hear the statement about “be an optimist, not a pessimist!” shouted by people. Sometimes you do it for yourself too. When facing such a failure or problem, this will not only help to relieve your heart. Being optimistic will help someone to be healthy in physical and mental. An optimist will find the best way in any circumstance and hope for every good thing can come to him/her. You may have gone through thousands of hard times. However, if you are a born optimist then you will not care of anything destructing you.

Optimism is another trait or attribute displayed by Type Bs, Cs, and hardy personalities (see below). Optimists are more inclined to appraise situations as challenging, whereas Type A personalities will appraise the same situation as a threat. Optimists tend to focus on what they can do to change or improve a stressful situation, rather than what they are unable to do. They are content in what they do accomplish, and do not focus on their failures (Schafer, 2000; Morris & Maisto, 2005).

Optimistic and pessimistic attitudes constantly affect the outcome of people's lives. In my life, I try to keep an optimistic attitude about the things I do because I know it will help lead me to more desirable ends. There have been many situations in which optimism has helped me through difficult times. Two areas in particular have provided me optimistic experiences: athletics