The Costs and Benefits of Optimistic Explanations and Dispositional Optimism

Abstract

Explanatory style and dispositional optimism have been linked to physical health. In this issue, Peterson and Seligman and Carver and Scheier review an impressive series of studies which together suggest that there may be health risks associated with attributing bad outcomes to internal, stable, and global causes and with failing to maintain a generalized expectancy for good outcomes. We attempt to broaden the scope of these studies by describing the situational constraints on the observed relations and by presenting evidence that there may be health risks, as well as benefits, associated with dispositional optimism and an optimistic explanatory style.

How does optimism suppress immunity? Evaluation of three affective pathways.

“…The disappointment model states that optimists experience distress when their positive expectancies are disconfirmed by difficult stressors and that this distress suppresses immunity (F. Cohen et al, 1999;Sieber et al, 1992;Tennen & Affleck, 1987), whereas the engagement model states that because optimists tend to engage difficult stressors, they may experience greater effort, fatigue, and physiological stress than their more pessimistic counterparts (Baumeister et al, 1998;Peters et al, 1999;Segerstrom, 2001;Solberg Nes, Segerstrom, & Sephton, 2005). The present study suggests that affective differences between these models -distress in the disappointment model and engaged affect or fatigue in the engagement model -are not sufficient to explain the interaction.…”

“…F. Cohen et al (1999) and Sieber et al (1992) posited that although optimists are typically less distressed than pessimists, optimists who encounter difficult stressors might be more disappointed, distressed, and demoralized than their pessimistic counterparts because such stressors violate their positive expectancies (c.f., Tennen & Affleck, 1987). In this disappointment model, optimism leads to negative affect that subsequently decreases immune parameters.…”

A Prospective Study of Hope, Optimism, and Health

“…Writers from a variety of disciplines have suggested that while emotional states such as hope and optimism can facilitate coping, there may be costs associated with "positive illusions" (Snyder, 1989;Tennen & Affleck, 1987). A century ago, Neitzche (cited in Menninger, 1959) referred to hope as the worst of evils for it prolonged the torment of man", referring to those instances where false hopes promote wishful thinking, denial, and a maladaptive delay in confronting reality.…”

Discrete Heterogeneity in the Impact of Health Shocks on Labour Market Outcomes

“…Tennen and Affleck (1987) argue that the problem-focused strategies employed by optimists suggests that they experience a sense of personal control.…”