On the partial independence of optimism and pessimism

Hummer, Mary K.; Dember, William N.; Melton, Richard S.; Schefft, Bruce K.

doi:10.1007/bf02686826

Cited by 30 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…When compared to the internal consistency of the single scales, these correlations are relatively weak and support the experimenters' decision to distinguish separate scales for optimism and pessimism (cf. Hummer, Dember, Melton, & Schefft, 1992).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The relative benefits of being optimistic: Optimism as a coping resource in multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's disease

Ridder

Schreurs

Bensing

2000

British J Health Psychol

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Objective. To explore two issues involving the relationship between optimism and adaptation in chronically ill patients. The rst issue involves the question whether the impact of optimism on adjustment is disease-speci c, that is whether patients who are confronted with extreme levels of uncontrollability and unpredictability generated by their condition bene t more from an optimistic attitude than those who are confronted with less high levels of those disease characteristics. The second issue relates to the question whether greater optimism produces better adjustment or whether, in contrast, a medium level of optimism plays a more adaptive role. Design. The cross-sectional design involves 166 patients with Parkinson' s disease (PD) or multiple sclerosis (MS) recruited from patient' s organizations.Method. Regression analyses were employed to test for a disease-speci c effect of dispositional optimism (measured by the Life Orientation Test) on coping (measured by the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations) and adjustment (measured by the Sickness Impact Pro le) by introducing interactions between optimism and disease in the analysis. Curvilinear effects were tested by introducing a squared optimism variable.Results. These show that optimism has a disease-speci c effect on physical adjustment and on the use of emotion-oriented and avoidant coping strategies. Although the study's cross-sectional design does not allow for causal inferences, these data suggest that MS patients may bene t more from optimism than PD patients and also that, in comparison with PD patients, optimism in MS patients does not necessarily promote avoidant and emotion-oriented coping. The results also show a medium level of optimism to promote the application of task-oriented and avoidant coping strategies. Conclusion.It is concluded that context-speci c constraints associated with type of disease may affect the assumed bene cial role of optimism on adjustment.Chronic illness confronts patients with numerous threats and challenges: the need to preserve a reasonable emotional balance and a satisfactory self-image; the need to maintain a sense of competence and mastery; the need to deal with pain, fatigue, and other symptoms of the disease; and the need to prepare for an uncertain future (Moos &

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The relative benefits of being optimistic: Optimism as a coping resource in multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's disease

Ridder

Schreurs

Bensing

2000

British J Health Psychol

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“…Thus, optimism and pessimism could be, and typically are, considered to lie at opposite poles of a single dimension. But empirically, optimism and pessimism, when separately assessed, are only moderately, negatively correlated (Dember et al, 1989;Hummer et al, 1992). Nevertheless, for the purposes of the present paper, especially to facilitate data analysis, an optimist will be considered as someone with high positive expectations and low negative expectations and a pessimist as someone with high negative expectations and low positive expectations; that is, an extreme-groups approach will be followed.…”

mentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Optimism and pessimism are personality constructs of increasing interest to the psychological and lay community (Hummer et al, 1992). Optimism is a disposition inclining one to positive expectations; pessimism inclines one to negative expectations.…”

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confidence: 99%

Optimism, pessimism, and false failure feedback: Effects on vigilance performance

et al. 1999

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Following the logic of a prior experiment (Seligman et al., 1990) with varsity collegiate swimmers, sixty student volunteers performed a brief, but highly stressful vigilance task. Half were then given false feedback indicating poor performance; the others experienced a non-evaluative display at that point. All were then asked to repeat the vigil. Half the observers were assessed as high optimists and half as high pessimists. The pessimists showed a steeper vigilance decrement than the optimists, consistent with a model (Scheier and Carver, 1987) that proposes that pessimists are more emotion-focused under stress than optimists, and hence would be less attentive to the vigilance display, regardless of feedback condition. The false negative feedback actually turned out to be ineffective; hence, based on Seligman's account of the swimmer study, which requires effective negative feedback, there should have been no vigilance performance difference between optimists and pessimists, either pre-or post-feedback.

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“…The O/P, developed by , treats optimism and pessimism as separate though related constructs, a conception which has received considerable empirical support (Dember & Brooks, 1989;Geers et al, 1996;Hummer, Dember, Melton, & Schefft, 1992;McConnell, Bill, Dember, & Grasha, 1993). The O/P consists of fifty-six Likert-type items, each rated on a four-point scale.…”

Section: Instrumentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimism, Pessimism, and Friendship

1998

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Peterson and Bossio (1991) have proposed that pessimistic people, by default, will have predominantly pessimistic friends. We tested that notion by examining the correlation between the scores of close friends on both separate and direct measures of optimism and pessimism (via the O/P instrument) and a measure of explanatory style (EASQ), which purports to tap optimistic-pessimistic tendencies as a bipolar dimension. In two studies, only pairs of male friends yielded significant correlations, and only on the direct optimism measure (r= .65, both studies). Another significant correlation (r=-.37) was found in Study 2 between sensation seeking scores of mixed-sex friends. No between-friend correlations were found in Study 2 for loneliness and assertiveness. Finally, both pessimism, as directly measured, and loneliness were correlated with typical friendship duration (r= -.24 and -.32 respectively), while none of the personality measures were correlated with number of reported friends.The possession of social networks is predictive of physical health, psychological health, and mortality (for reviews see Cobb,

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On the partial independence of optimism and pessimism

Cited by 30 publications

References 19 publications

The relative benefits of being optimistic: Optimism as a coping resource in multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's disease

The relative benefits of being optimistic: Optimism as a coping resource in multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's disease

Optimism, pessimism, and false failure feedback: Effects on vigilance performance

Optimism, Pessimism, and Friendship

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