"It is possible that older people have come to a more definite conclusion about their expectations from life, whether for good or ill, and this is reflected in higher scores." Although research has not tended to find gender difference with regard to optimistic and pessimistic perspectives, some cultural differences have been noted between Asian Americans and Caucasian Americans and should be further explored.
As a consequence it can be a challenge to compare and contrast the findings across studies, which have used different measures of optimism and pessimism. Consider, for example, the disastrous outcome for an individual who decides to spend forthcoming winnings after buying a lottery ticket because the person felt so optimistic about winning and thus neglected to think about the dismal odds. The positive effects for optimism tend to be explained by the type of coping strategies typically embraced by those with an optimistic perspective. Individuals with an optimistic explanatory style believe positive things happen to them because of internal, stable, and global factors. The terms optimism and pessimism refer to the tendencies of people to expect that good things will happen and to expect that bad things will happen, respectively. Whether it is dealing with a sudden change in procedures; an irate customer, coworker, or boss; or an accidentally deleted important e-mail, it is estimated that the average employee can face up to 23 adversities in just one day.
Do you tend to see the proverbial glass as half-full or half-empty? In a study that used the ASQ, life insurance agents with an optimistic explanatory style sold more life insurance and reported a lower likelihood of quitting their jobs than did agents with a pessimistic style. 13 Surprising Scientific Findings About Crying Dream Sleep Helps Older and Younger Brains in Different WaysAs the title infers, the researchers found that people who are extremely pessimistic about the future based on scores from the Life Orientation Test (LOT) were at greater risk of dying prematurely than their less pessimistic peers. Persons who believe that their goals can be achieved despite the difficulties they might encounter are said to hold an optimistic view. The distinctions among the instruments stem mainly from the different theoretical perspectives held by the researchers. Michael Scheier and Charles Carver were the pioneers of this research stream based on their studies examining generalized outcome expectancies. "We found people who were strongly pessimistic about the future were more likely to die earlier from cardiovascular diseases and other causes of death, but not from cancer," first author Why Being Fun, Authentic, and a Realist Is a Winning TriadA New Study Links Pessimism to Earlier Death Why great thinkers balance optimism and pessimism Leaning too far in either direction is a recipe for stagnation and perhaps even failure. Thus optimism and pessimism can have important ramifications for an organization in the selection, training, motivation, and work life of its employees and leaders.Despite the potential value of optimism and pessimism, few studies have examined these important notions of optimism and pessimism in an organizational context. In short, the LOT and RLOT were developed as unidimensional measures of dispositional optimism, but there is now evidence suggesting the LOT is bidimensional. Regardless, the LOT, RLOT, and ELOT tend to provide the most direct assessment of optimism and pessimism.Other measures of optimism and pessimism include the optimism-pessimism instrument, the defensive pessimism questionnaire (DPQ), and the Hope Scale.These three studies, which examined the effects of optimism and pessimism on job performance, vividly demonstrate the challenge of comparing across results in which different measures of optimism and pessimism have been used. Pessimism, however, was found to remain a significant predictor after controlling for variance accounted for by selection measures such as a personality test and work skills inventory. "Optimism and pessimism are not direct opposites," Whitfield said. Posted Jul 28, 2020 Conversely, pessimism is related to an individual’s use of maladaptive, disengaging coping strategies, which include avoiding problems, impulsive and careless problem solving, being self-critical, and socially withdrawing from stressful situations.Need for Achievement, Power, and AffiliationOptimism and pessimism have traditionally been considered polar opposites on a continuum. Interestingly, each study used a different measure of optimism, pessimism, and job performance and also used employees in different types of jobs. But the million-dollar question remains: Can people learn to be less pessimistic? Surviving Childhood Adversity Builds Empathy in Adults Coincidentally, this optimism/pessimism study also has a title that, at first glance, reads like a riddle: "Neither an Optimist Nor a A loving relationship can be an oasis in uncertain times, but nurturing it requires attention, honesty, openness, vulnerability, and gratitude.Interestingly, Whitfield and colleagues found that for both optimists and pessimists, their degree of optimism or pessimism tended to increase with age.