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Optimism can be defined as a mental attitude in which one hopes or believes that the outcome of a specific situation will be positive and desirable. If someone is optimistic, they tend to expect the best possible outcome from any situation. On the other hand, pessimism is the tendency to believe that the worst is going to happen in a situation or to focus on the worst aspects of things. Optimism is when the glass is seen as half full, whereas pessimism is seeing a glass as half empty and to focus on what is missing. This essay will look at the differences between two approaches which look at optimism as a dispositional trait (Carver and Scheier) and optimism as an explanatory style (Seligman and Peterson). This essay will also look at the disadvantages of being optimistic.
Segerstrom (2006) states that around 80% of people are classified as being optimistic. Studies show that positive and negative expectations about the future are linked to measures of well-being. Research has found that optimism is correlated with being more successful at work, better mental and general health, increased life expectancy and better ways of coping when faced with difficulties.
The dispositional optimism approach by Carver and Scheier is the idea that optimism is a cognitive construct. An individual’s goals in life motivates their behavior. The more important the goals set are to the individual, the more that individual will be motivated in trying to achieve them. Based on this approach, optimistic people generally expect that their actions will lead to a positive outcome so the drive and motivation to get there is greater, resulting in exerting effort with positive actions. Pessimistic people tend to expect negative outcomes such as failing in achieving things in life which decreases motivation and often withdraw from making effort with their actions. Carver et al. (1994) used the Life Orientation Test to assess individual differences in general optimism v pessimism. Their findings show optimism to be positively correlated with self-esteem and self-control. Conversely, pessimism was found to be negatively correlated with neuroticism and mental health issues, such as anxiety and depression.
Studies on young adults have found optimism to be associated with greater life satisfaction, less anxiety in adjusting to new tasks, more health promoting behaviors and may live longer, whereas pessimism associated with increased depressive symptoms (Change et al., 1997). Carver and Scheier also found that optimistic people had better health habits, reported fewer physical symptoms and were able to cope with difficulties better. A study looking at a group of people who had been diagnosed with breast cancer found that individuals that were optimistic engaged in more active coping and were less likely to engage in behaviors of denial and avoidance resulting in less distress (Carver et al., 1997). Furthermore, it was found that optimistic attitudes correlated with lower anxiety levels during pregnancy and may offer protection to post-partum depression (Park et al., 2007).
Explanatory style is the second major approach to optimism, developed by Martin Seligman. Explanatory style can be described as the different ways in which people describe negative situations in their lives. Based on this approach, individuals who explain bad situations with internal (caused by themselves), stable (will continue to happen and global (will happen in other aspects of their life) causes are defined as pessimistic. On the other hand, individuals who choose external (caused by others), unstable (one off situation) and specific (relates to one aspect) causes are defined as optimistic (Buchanan & Seligman, 1995). There are two main measures to assess optimism as an explanatory style. The first measure is attributional style questionnaire where participants have to measure certain positive and negative situations and describe their causes. The second measure is content analysis of verbatim explanations where written documents such as essays and autobiographies are coded using the explanatory style. Studies that have used these measures have found that explanatory style for negative events are a better predictor of behavior than for positive events.
To compare, dispositional optimism views optimism as a broad, stable personality trait whereas the explanatory style focuses on the immediate explanations and judgements to everyday events from an optimistic or pessimistic point of view. According to the explanatory style, there appears to be a link with learned optimism which is seen more as a strategy that can be acquired when cognitive distortions are challenged and changed. Optimism interventions can improve an individual’s optimism significantly (Meevissen et al., 2011). However, findings suggest that optimism and pessimism may change with age and may work differently across cultures. Norem and Chang (2002) suggest that optimism and pessimism work differently in the younger than the older adults.
The idea of the glass being half full appears to have some benefits as being optimistic allows individuals to grow. It allows individuals to turn failures into lessons and encourages confidence and passion within an individual. However, there appears to be a dark side to optimism as well. Research suggests that individuals that are not in complete control of their emotions, if they are optimistic it may backfire on them. If an individual is too optimistic, negative emotions may be ignored which are a key part of human nature and a certain level of negative emotion appears to be beneficial for human growth. Feeling optimistic may lead to false conclusions which could make an individual overestimate their capabilities when dealing with an issue resulting in poor outcomes. Alison Ledgewood suggests that the glass situation can be viewed as a fixed approach. Individuals either see it as a ‘loss’ or a ‘gain’. She states that individuals are capable of seeing both the positives and negatives in every situation. However, as humans, we have a natural tendency to focus more on the negative side of things also known as the negativity bias. This is further supported as research suggests that negative events are stronger and become more negative quicker than positive events. Negative events have a heavier weighting when comparing to positive events, therefore, negative events can be more contagious (Rozin & Royzman, 2001).
Seeing the glass from an optimistic point of view requires more effort than a pessimistic point of view. Individuals that are optimistic can make poor decisions as they are less likely to seek out new information and generally pay less attention to detail. They see the world through ‘rose tinted’ glasses. According to the optimism bias, individuals overestimate the chance of experiencing positive situations and underestimate the chance of experiencing negative events. This also seems to be the case with estimating how capable an individual is as optimistic people may overestimate their abilities. Research has found people who were optimistic had increased positive expectations for gambling in comparison to pessimists. They were also less likely to reduce or stop betting after poor consequences. Optimistic way of thinking appears to be linked with underestimating potential risks (Peterson & Park, 2005). The ‘won’t happen to me’ way of thinking may lead to a failure in attending important health related appointments and other risks such as not using contraception etc. People that underestimate risks resulted in less action. They were less likely to engage in risk reducing behaviors such as stopping smoking. Finally, research also suggests that people that are optimistic may not react and deal well with the occurrence of traumatic events. However, studies have found pessimism to also work as an advantage to individuals. Norem and Cantor (1989) state that defense pessimism can be used as a coping mechanism. It is negative thinking that uses the anxiety regarding a potential failure into achieving something. An example of this would be failing an exam leads to more effort with revising which then leads to better grades on the next exam. This suggests that pessimism isn’t always necessarily a negative thing and optimism isn’t always a positive thing.
To conclude, dispositional optimism is the belief that good things will generally happen in the future whereas explanatory style focuses on an individual’s automatic thought process regarding specific negative events. Learned optimism is the idea that optimism can be increased in an individual and therefore it is not fixed and can be changed. Furthermore, research has found that although optimism, the idea of seeing the glass as half full is beneficial in numerous ways, there also appears to be a dark side to optimism resulting in negative thoughts and consequences.
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