The Relationship Between Depositional Optimism And Environmental Attitudes

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

Optimism in some cases is a desirable trait due to its fundamental nature. Being optimistic allows people to keep their head high and keep moving, even through the most dire situations that they may face. Optimism is a priority because it helps people in various ways and, also a very prominent trait in some people. In life, optimism is often viewed as a desirable trait, and something that can benefit somebody’s life.

Chasing optimism in the face of challenges is a requirement that mankind must conform to in order to live a fulfilled life. Studies prove that optimists tend to have the best attitudes through the hardships they face no matter how severe. Even when in the face of challenges, being optimistic will lead you to be more successful in every aspect. Not only will you be more successful mentally, optimists have a much higher chance of being successful physically and in life. This essay will outline the why you must always chase optimism even in challenges face. 96

In Michael Pollan’s article “Why Bother?”, he addresses the issue of climate change and the inner reasoning behind those who don’t acknowledge or bother with the crisis. Pollan intertwines a discussion of the rising danger of global warming with a psychological discussion of personal virtue. He emphasis his main point of climate crisis by providing examples and data stating, “we have only ten years left to start cutting—not just slowing—the amount of carbon we’re emitting…So:eight years left and a great deal to do.” (117). His discussion of personal reasoning to the problem of people not responding to global warming is intertwined through the direct question that is the title and by other experiences such as Wendell Berry’s comments on the

This Ted Talk is about optimism bias which is the tendency to think more positively about a person’s life than to think negatively. We have these high expectations that good things would happen than bad ones. It is a positive bias towards an event before the event actually happens. The optimism bias is a naturally occurring phenomenon that seems to become part of human nature because it is an overall tendency to bring upon good things in life over a pessimistic bias (Sharot, 2011).

1. Background – Positive and negative beliefs play a major role in much of society’s thinking processes, decision-making, attitude and outlook on life. These beliefs contribute to trait

The optimism bias pushes people towards positive change because most people want positive change and according to Tali Sharot to make changes in our life we must believe that the changes are possible. Even rather pessimistic people want to change there for they believe it is possible. When a person believes in change and anticipates the change it releases serotonin in the brain and brings about a happy feeling, there for improving their overall wellbeing.

Seeing climate change as an emergency doesn't always make people make actions because of many psychological barriers that limit the mitigation of climate change. Frantz and Mayer in their article" The Emergency of Climate Change: Why are We Failing to Take action? "Published in Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy (2009) and Gifford in " The Dragons of Inaction. Psychological Barriers That Limit Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation" published in American Psychology (2011), discussed the reasons why the American public are failing to take action to Climate Change even though they know that it is a grave issue. They also offered some suggestions that help in getting over those barriers.

I have never been the most optimistic person. Although I can find positivity in virtuous situations, I can also nitpick at minor negative aspects of substandard ones. As I read

Further, the literature review suffers from an additional lack of clarity in the paragraph on the bottom of page 634. Here, the authors begin to delve into the theory and rationalization behind including uncertainty as an appropriate measure. The authors write, “Uncertainty can affect an individuals willingness to act on environmental beliefs in several ways” signaling to the reader that a laundry list of factors is to follow. However, they only make mention of one tangentially linked evidence based factor, that an increase in the complexity of issues leads to increased uncertainty in the scientific community. No further examples in support of uncertainty follow this one. Instead, the authors pivot towards unfounded speculation about uncertainties role in individuals willingness to take environmental action, and then they abruptly transition to their discussion of trust. The issue of uncertainty persists in the manner with which the authors have chosen to operationalize their research question.

Most people agree that climate change and environmental sustainability are important issues, but not many take action to mitigate the increasing flow of greenhouse gasses and other environmental problems (CITATION290). This publication explores why. Structural barriers that are beyond an individual’s reasonable control are part of the answer, but psychological barriers also hinder behavioral choices that would facilitate mitigation, adaptation and environmental sustainability (CITATION290).

The author published this article with hopes to motivate current and future psychologists to become more active is seeking strategies encouraging sustainable behavior. Psychology is a diverse field that uniquely integrates with other disciplines, making it paramount that it helps resolve the wicked problem of climate change. Wicked problems are complex, extensive, abstract, and have cascading effects. Additionally, they are not quickly or easily fixed, requiring continuous creative attention to elude. Numerous solutions have been proposed to resolve some of these wicked problems; however, psychologists are needed to discover ways of fostering the behaviors required for the implementation of these solutions. Changing human behavior is unfortunately

As time goes by, Earth is becoming more at risk of climate change effects (Commoner, 1990, as cited in Schultz and Stone, 1994). Nearly all scientists agree that the change is caused by the acts of humans (Intergovernmental, 2007 as cited in Hakkinen and Akarami 2014). Though, with this being said, it seems that people are not that worried and it is not being discussed as much as it should be. (Maibach, Feinberg & Howe 2013, as cited in Hakkinen and Akarami 2014). Within this study I am going to be investigating the relationship between right wing authoritarianism and climate change beliefs. In previous studies such as Peterrson et all (1993), their data showed that with high levels of right wing authoritarianism can lead to negative social issues, but within the study there was nothing significant when it came to climate change beliefs. Following this was an investigation done by Shultz and Stone (1994). This study showed that there was data to suggest that there was a negative relationship between RWA and CC beliefs. In 2014, Hakkinen and Akrami’s study also found a negative relationship between the two but also found that when shown a news cast before answering can change a person’s answers about environmental issues. After looking over these readings, my hypothesis is that there will be a negative relationship between right wing authoritarianism and climate change beliefs. This

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