17

Optimism

Charles S. Carver & Michael F. Scheier

Optimists are people who expect good things to namics we believe underlie the influence of
happen to them; pessimists are people who ex- optimism and pessimism. Expectancy-value the-
pect bad things to happen to them. Folk wisdom ories begin with the assumption that behavior
has long held that this difference among people is organized around the pursuit of goals. Goals
is important in many, if not all, aspects of living. have been given a variety of labels by different
Folk wisdom is not always accurate. However, theorists. They vary in important ways, but at
this particular belief has received much support this point we want to emphasize what goals
in contemporary research. As we describe in this have in common (for broader discussion, see
chapter, optimists and pessimists differ in several Austin & Vancouver, 1996; Carver & Scheier,
ways that have a big impact on their lives. They 1998).
differ in how they approach problems and chal- Goals are states or actions that people view as
lenges, and they differ in the manner—and the either desirable or undesirable. People try to fit
success—with which they cope with adversity. their behaviors—indeed, fit their very selves—
Dictionary definitions of optimism and pessi- to what they see as desirable, and they try to
mism rest on people’s expectations for the fu- keep away from what they see as undesirable
ture. Scientific approaches to these constructs (you might think of the undesirable ones as
also rest on expectations for the future. This “anti-goals”). The more important a goal is to
grounding in expectancies links the concepts of someone, the greater is its value within the per-
optimism and pessimism to a long tradition son’s motivation. Without having a goal that
of expectancy-value models of motivation. The matters, people have no reason to act.
result of this is that the optimism construct, The second conceptual element in
though having roots in folk wisdom, is also expectancy-value theories is expectancy—a
firmly grounded in decades of theory and re- sense of confidence or doubt about the attaina-
search on human motives and how they are ex- bility of the goal value. If the person lacks con-
pressed in behavior. fidence, again there will be no action. That’s
why a lack of confidence is sometimes referred
to as “crippling doubt.” Doubt can impair effort
Expectancy-Value Models of Motivation before the action begins or while it is ongoing.
Only if people have enough confidence will they
We begin by briefly exploring the expectancy- move into action and continue their efforts.
value approach to motivation to show the dy- When people are confident about an eventual

231
232 PART IV. COGNITIVE-FOCUSED APPROACHES

outcome, effort will continue even in the face

Variations in Conception
of great adversity.
and Assessment
Expectancies are pivotal in theories of opti-
Goals Vary in Breadth and Abstractness
mism, but there are at least two ways to think
Goals vary in specificity—from the very about expectancies and how to measure them
general, to those that pertain to a particular (with two distinct literatures). One approach
domain of life, to the very concrete and spe- measures expectancies directly, asking people to
cific. This suggests that expectancies may have indicate the extent to which they believe that
a comparable range of variation (Armor & their future outcomes will be good or bad. This
Taylor, 1998; Carver & Scheier, 1998). That is the approach we have taken (Scheier &
is, you can be confident or doubtful about Carver, 1992). Our approach thus adds no
having a fulfilling career, about making good more conceptual complexity to what we have
impressions in social situations, about winning said so far. Expectancies that are generalized—
a particular golf game, about finding a nice expectancies that pertain more or less to the
place to have dinner, or about tying your person’s entire life space—are what we mean
shoes. when we use the terms optimism and pessi-
Which of these sorts of expectancies matter? mism.
Probably all of them. Expectancy-based theo- Some time ago, we developed a measure
ries generally suggest either explicitly or im- called the Life Orientation Test, or LOT
plicitly that behavior is predicted best when the (Scheier & Carver, 1985), to assess differences
level of the expectancy fits that of the behavior between people in optimism and pessimism.
that is being predicted. Sometimes it is argued We now use a briefer form (six coded items),
that prediction is best when you take into ac- called the Life Orientation Test-Revised, or
count several levels of specificity bearing on LOT-R (Scheier, Carver, & Bridges, 1994—see
the behavior. Many outcomes in life, however, Appendix). The LOT-R has good internal con-
have multiple causes. People also often face sistency (Cronbach’s alpha runs in the high
situations they have never experienced, and sit- .70s to low .80s) and is relatively stable over
uations that evolve over time. We have sug- time. Because of the extensive item overlap be-
gested that in such situations, generalized tween the original scale and the revised scale,
expectations are particularly useful in pre- correlations between the two scales are very
dicting people’s behavior (Scheier & Carver, high (Scheier et al., 1994). Both the LOT and
1985). the LOT-R provide continuous distributions of
The same principles that apply to a focused scores. Although we often refer to optimists
confidence also apply to the generalized sense and pessimists as though they were distinct
of confidence that we think of as optimism. groups, this is a matter of verbal convenience.
When we talk about optimism and pessimism, People actually range from the very optimistic
the sense of confidence is simply more diffuse to the very pessimistic, with most falling some-
and broader in scope. Thus, when confronting a where in the middle.
challenge (and it really should not matter Another approach to optimism relies on the
much what the challenge is), optimists should assumption that people’s expectancies for the
tend to take a posture of confidence and persis- future derive from their view of the causes of
tence (even if progress is difficult or slow). Pes- events in the past (Peterson & Seligman, 1984;
simists should be doubtful and hesitant. This Seligman, 1991). If explanations for past fail-
divergence may even be amplified under con- ures focus on causes that are stable, the per-
ditions of serious adversity. Optimists are son’s expectancy for the future in the same do-
likely to assume that the adversity can be han- main will be for bad outcomes because the
dled successfully, in one fashion or another. cause is seen as relatively permanent and thus
Pessimists are likely to anticipate disaster (see likely to remain in force. If attributions for
also Peterson and Steen, this volume). These past failures focus on causes that are unstable,
differences in how people approach adversity then the outlook for the future may be
have important implications for the manner in brighter because the cause may no longer be in
which people cope with stress (Scheier & force. If explanations for past failures are global
Carver, 1992). (apply across aspects of life), the expectancy for
 CHAPTER 17. OPTIMISM 233

the future across many domains will be for bad Optimism and Subjective Well-Being
outcomes because the causal forces are at work
everywhere. If the explanations are specific, the When people confront adversity or difficulty,
outlook for other areas of life may be brighter they experience a variety of emotions, ranging
because the causes do not apply there. from excitement and eagerness to anger, anxi-
Just as expectancies vary in breadth, so do ety, and depression. The balance among these
attributions. Attributions can be to a particular feelings appears to relate to people’s degree of
area of action (e.g., skiing) or to a moderately optimism or pessimism. Optimists are people
broad domain (e.g., performance in sports), but who expect to have positive outcomes, even
they are usually assessed even more broadly. It when things are hard. This confidence should
is often assumed that people have “explanatory yield a mix of feelings that is relatively positive.
styles,” which bear on the person’s whole life Pessimists expect negative outcomes. This doubt
space (see Peterson and Steen, this volume). The should yield a greater tendency toward negative
theory behind explanatory style holds that op- feelings—anxiety, guilt, anger, sadness, or de-
timism and pessimism are defined by flexible spair (Carver & Scheier, 1998; Scheier &
versus rigid patterns of explanation (Peterson & Carver, 1992; see also Snyder et al., 1996).
Seligman, 1984; Seligman, 1991). Relationships between optimism and distress
Although these two approaches to conceptu- have been examined in diverse groups of people
alizing and measuring optimism have important facing difficulty or adversity. Included are the
differences, we focus here on what they share: experiences of students entering college (Aspin-
the theme that expectations help determine peo- wall & Taylor, 1992); employees of businesses
ple’s actions and experiences. In both ap- (Long, 1993); survivors of missile attacks (Zeid-
proaches optimism is the expectation of good ner & Hammer, 1992); and people caring for
outcomes; pessimism is the expectation of bad cancer patients (Given et al., 1993) and Alzhei-
outcomes. The approaches differ in measuring mer’s patients (Hooker, Monahan, Shifren, &
variables prior to the expectancy (attributions) Hutchinson, 1992; Shifren & Hooker, 1995).
versus the expectancy itself. Research has also examined experiences of peo-
These two approaches to optimism and pes- ple dealing with childbirth (Carver & Gaines,
simism have led to their own research litera- 1987), abortion (Cozzarelli, 1993), coronary ar-
tures, each of which sheds light on the nature tery bypass surgery (Fitzgerald, Tennen, Af-
and function of optimism and pessimism (see fleck, & Pransky, 1993; Scheier et al., 1989), at-
also the literature on hope, another closely re- tempts at in vitro fertilization (Litt, Tennen,
lated member of this theoretical family dis- Affleck, & Klock, 1992), bone marrow trans-
cussed in the chapter by Snyder, Rand, & Sig- plantation (Curbow, Somerfield, Baker, Win-
mon, this volume). In what follows, however, gard, & Legro, 1993), the diagnosis of cancer
we focus largely on optimism as we have op- (Carver et al., 1993; Friedman et al., 1992), and
erationalized it (Scheier & Carver, 1985, 1992; the progression of AIDS (Taylor et al., 1992).
Scheier et al., 1994)—that is, in terms of self- Thus, many of these studies focus on people
reports of generalized expectancies. who are undergoing truly serious crises rather
As we said at the outset, optimism and pes- than ordinary problems of daily life.
simism are basic qualities of personality. They This group of studies varies in complexity,
influence how people orient to events in their and thus in what inferences can be made from
lives. They influence people’s subjective expe- them. In many cases researchers examined re-
riences when confronting problems, and they sponses to a difficult event but did so at only
influence the actions people engage in to try one time point. These studies show that pessi-
to deal with these problems. When we ask the mists experienced more distress after the event
question, Do optimists and pessimists differ in than did optimists. What they can not show is
how they react to adversity? the answer has whether the pessimists had more distress be-
at least two parts. One part is whether they forehand. It is better to examine people repeat-
differ in their feelings of well-being versus edly and see how their distress shifts over cir-
distress. The other is whether they differ in cumstances. Even if you cannot get people
how they act to deal with the adversity. These before the event, you can learn more about the
two themes are explored in the next two process of adapting to it if you assess distress at
sections. several points. We focus here on studies in this
234 PART IV. COGNITIVE-FOCUSED APPROACHES

literature in which people were assessed at mul- nosis and treatment for breast cancer is a trau-
tiple time points. matic experience, in part because the disease is
An early study of the effect of optimism on life-threatening. Because the prognosis for
emotional well-being (Carver & Gaines, 1987) early-stage cancer is relatively good, however,
examined the development of depressed feelings there is enough ambiguity about the future to
after childbirth. Women completed the LOT and permit individual differences to be readily ex-
a depression scale in the last third of their preg- pressed. Patients in this study were interviewed
nancy. They then completed the depression at the time of diagnosis, the day before surgery,
measure again 3 weeks after their babies were 7 to 10 days after surgery, and 3, 6, and 12
born. Optimism related to lower depression months later. Optimism inversely predicted dis-
symptoms at the initial assessment. More im- tress over time, above and beyond the effect of
portant, optimism predicted lower levels of de- medical variables and beyond the effects of ear-
pressive symptoms postpartum, even when con- lier distress. That is, the prediction of distress
trolling for the initial levels. Thus optimism at 3, 6, and 12 months after surgery was sig-
seemed to confer a resistance to the develop- nificant even when the immediately prior level
ment of depressive symptoms after having a of distress was controlled. Thus, optimism pre-
baby. dicted not just lower initial distress but also re-
In another early study, Scheier and col- silience against distress during the year follow-
leagues (1989) examined men undergoing and ing surgery.
recovering from coronary artery bypass sur- Another medical situation that has been stud-
gery. Patients completed questionnaires the day ied with respect to optimism is infertility. A
before surgery, a week after surgery, and 6 procedure called in vitro fertilization is one way
months after surgery. Before surgery, optimists to overcome fertility problems, but it does not
reported less hostility and depression than pes- always work. Litt and colleagues (1992) studied
simists. A week afterward, optimists reported people whose attempts were unsuccessful. Ap-
more happiness and relief, more satisfaction proximately 8 weeks before the attempt, the re-
with their medical care, and more satisfaction searchers measured optimism, specific expectan-
with emotional support from friends. Six cies for fertilization success, coping strategies,
months after surgery, optimists reported higher distress levels, and the impact of the infertility
quality of life than pessimists. In a follow-up 5 on participants’ lives. Two weeks after notifi-
years after surgery, optimists continued to ex- cation of a negative pregnancy test, distress was
perience greater subjective well-being and better reassessed. Neither demographics, obstetric his-
quality of life compared with pessimists. All tory, marital adjustment, nor the reported effect
these differences remained significant when of infertility on participants’ lives predicted
controlling for extent of surgery and other Time 2 distress, but lower optimism did, even
medical factors. controlling for Time 1 distress.
Later research on optimism and quality of life Another recent study examined the influence
after coronary artery bypass surgery (Fitzgerald of optimism on adjustment to abortion (Coz-
et al., 1993) assessed participants 1 month be- zarelli, 1993). One hour prior to an abortion,
fore surgery and 8 months afterward. Optimism women completed measures of optimism, self-
related negatively to presurgical distress. Fur- efficacy, emotional adjustment, and depression.
ther, controlling for presurgical life satisfaction, Depression and adjustment were assessed 30
optimism related positively to postsurgical life minutes after the abortion and again 3 weeks
satisfaction. Further analysis revealed that the later. Optimists had less preabortion depression,
general sense of optimism appeared to operate better postabortion adjustment, and better
on feelings of life satisfaction through a more 3-week adjustment than did pessimists. Cozza-
focused sense of confidence about the surgery. relli concluded that optimism relates to psycho-
That is, the general sense of optimism about life logical adjustment both directly and also indi-
apparently was funneled into a specific opti- rectly through a sense of personal efficacy.
mism regarding the surgery, and from there to Optimism not only has a positive effect on
satisfaction with life. the psychological well-being of people with
Optimism also has been studied in the con- medical problems but also influences well-being
text of other kinds of health crises. One study among caregivers. This conclusion was sup-
examined adjustment to treatment for early- ported in a project that studied a group of cancer
stage breast cancer (Carver et al., 1993). Diag- patients and their caregivers (Given et al.,
 CHAPTER 17. OPTIMISM 235

1993). Caregivers’ optimism related to lower but do not help solve the problem; and they
symptoms of depression, less impact of caregiv- sometimes even stop trying. Both effort and re-
ing on physical health, and less impact on care- moval of effort can be expressed in a variety of
givers’ daily schedules. Similar results have ways. Those expressions—coping reactions and
been found in research on caregiver spouses of coping strategies—are the focus of this section.
Alzheimer’s patients (Hooker et al., 1992; Shi- Differences in coping methods used by opti-
fren & Hooker, 1995). Optimism related to mists and pessimists have been found in a num-
lower depression and higher levels of psycho- ber of studies. In one early project Scheier,
logical well-being. Weintraub, and Carver (1986) asked students to
Although much of the evidence for the rela- recall the most stressful event that had hap-
tionship between optimism and psychological pened to them during the previous month and
well-being comes from samples encountering complete a checklist of coping responses with
serious adversity, less extreme events have been respect to that event. Optimism related to
examined in other studies. For example, the problem-focused coping, especially when the
start of college is a difficult and stressful time, stressful situation was controllable. Optimism
and researchers have examined students making also related to the use of positive reframing and
their adjustment to their first semester of col- (when the situation was seen as uncontrollable)
lege (Aspinwall & Taylor, 1992). Optimism, with the tendency to accept the situation’s re-
self-esteem, and other variables were assessed ality. In contrast, optimism related negatively to
when the students first arrived on campus. the use of denial and the attempt to distance
Measures of psychological and physical well- oneself from the problem.
being were obtained at the end of the semester. These findings provided the first indication
Higher levels of optimism upon entering college that optimists use more problem-centered cop-
predicted lower levels of psychological distress ing than pessimists. They also use a variety of
at the end of the semester. The relationship was emotion-focused coping techniques, including
independent of effects of self-esteem, locus of working to accept the reality of difficult situa-
control, desire for control, and baseline mood. tions and putting the situations in the best pos-
sible light. These findings hint that optimists
may have a coping advantage over pessimists
Optimism, Pessimism, and Coping even in situations that cannot be changed.
Other researchers have examined differences
Evidence reviewed in the previous section in dispositional coping styles among optimists
makes it clear that optimists experience less dis- and pessimists (Carver, Scheier, & Weintraub,
tress than pessimists when dealing with diffi- 1989; Fontaine, Manstead, & Wagner, 1993). As
culties in their lives. Is this just because opti- with situational coping, optimists reported a
mists are especially cheerful? Apparently not, dispositional tendency to rely on active,
because the differences often remain even when problem-focused coping and being planful. Pes-
statistical controls are incorporated for previous simism related to the tendency to disengage
levels of distress. There must be other expla- from the goals with which the stressor is inter-
nations. Do optimists do anything in particular fering. While optimists reported a tendency to
to cope that helps them adapt better than pes- accept the reality of stressful events, they also
simists? In this section, we consider the strate- reported trying to see the best in bad situations
gies that optimists and pessimists tend to use, and to learn something from them. (They seem
and the broader meaning of these strategies. to try to find benefits in adversity, a process that
In many ways, this discussion is just a more Tennen and Affleck discuss in their chapter in
detailed depiction of the broad behavioral ten- this volume.) In contrast, pessimists reported
dencies we discussed earlier in the chapter in tendencies toward overt denial and substance
describing expectancy-value models of motiva- abuse, strategies that lessen their awareness of
tion. That is, people who are confident about the the problem. Thus, optimists appear generally
future exert continuing effort, even when deal- to be approach copers, and pessimists appear to
ing with serious adversity. People who are be avoidant copers.
doubtful are more likely to try to push the ad- Relationships between optimism and coping
versity away as though they can somehow es- strategies have also been explored in more spe-
cape it by wishful thinking; they are more likely cific contexts. For example, in the workplace op-
to do things that provide temporary distractions timists use more problem-focused coping than
236 PART IV. COGNITIVE-FOCUSED APPROACHES

do pessimists—self-control and directed prob- Information regarding coping also comes

lem solving (Strutton & Lumpkin, 1992). Pes- from the study of AIDS patients described ear-
simists use more emotion-focused coping, in- lier (Taylor et al., 1992). In general, optimism
cluding escapism (such as sleeping, eating, and related to active coping strategies. Optimism
drinking), using social support, and also avoid- predicted positive attitudes and tendencies to
ing people. In a study of executive women, Fry plan for recovery, seek information, and re-
(1995) found that optimists appraised daily has- frame bad situations in terms of their most pos-
sles differently than did pessimists. Optimistic itive aspects. Optimists used less fatalism, self-
women expected gain or growth from such blame, and escapism, and they did not focus on
events. Their coping reflected acceptance, ex- the negative aspects of the situation or try to
pressiveness, tension reduction, and use of so- suppress thoughts about their symptoms. Op-
cial support rather than withdrawing, distanc- timists also appeared to accept unchangeable sit-
ing, or engaging in self-blame. uations rather than trying to escape them.
Several studies described earlier in this chap- Relations between optimism and coping also
ter also indicate links between optimism and have been the focus of several studies of cancer
coping, and between coping and emotional well- patients. Stanton and Snider (1993) recruited
being. In their early study of coronary artery women scheduled for breast biopsy. Optimism,
bypass surgery, Scheier and colleagues (1989) coping, and mood were assessed the day before
assessed the use of attentional-cognitive strate- biopsy and—among women who received a can-
gies as ways of dealing with the experience. Be- cer diagnosis—24 hours before surgery and
fore surgery, optimists more than pessimists re- again 3 weeks after surgery. Women with a be-
ported they were making plans for their future nign diagnosis completed a second assessment
and setting goals for their recovery. Optimists that corresponded to either the second or the
also tended to report being less focused on the third assessment of the cancer group. Pessimis-
negative aspects of their experience—their dis- tic women in this study used more cognitive
tress emotions and physical symptoms. As avoidance before the upcoming diagnostic pro-
Stanton and her colleagues discuss in another cedure than did optimists. This avoidance con-
chapter of this volume, focusing on emotions tributed significantly to distress prior to biopsy.
can have varying consequences, depending on Indeed, cognitive avoidance proved to be a me-
how the person is focusing. In this case, how- diator of the association of pessimism with pre-
ever, the focusing was an enhanced awareness biopsy distress. Cognitive avoidance before the
of the distress, which we doubt was adaptive. biopsy also predicted postbiopsy distress among
Indeed, the fact that pessimists focused on neg- women with positive diagnoses.
ative aspects of their experience raises the pos- Another study of early-stage breast cancer
sibility that they are vulnerable to catastrophiz- patients, mentioned earlier in the chapter, ex-
ing (see Peterson and Steen, this volume). amined how women coped during the first year
Once the surgery was past, optimists were after treatment (Carver et al., 1993). Optimism,
more likely than pessimists to report seeking coping, and mood were assessed the day before
information about what their physician would surgery. Coping and mood also were assessed
require of them in the months ahead. Optimists 10 days after surgery and at three follow-up
also were less likely to say they were suppress- points during the next year. Both before and
ing thoughts about their physical symptoms. after surgery, optimism related to a pattern of
There was also evidence that the positive impact coping responses that revolved around accepting
of optimism on quality of life 6 months later the reality of the situation, placing as positive a
occurred through the indirect effect of these dif- light on the situation as possible, trying to re-
ferences in coping. lieve the situation with humor, and (at presur-
Coping also was examined in the study of gery only) active coping. Pessimism related to
failed in vitro fertilization described earlier (Litt denial and behavioral disengagement (giving
et al., 1992). Pessimism related to escape as a up) at each time point.
coping strategy. Escape, in turn, related to The coping responses related to optimism and
greater distress after the fertilization failure. pessimism also related strongly to distress. Pos-
Optimists also were more likely than pessimists itive reframing, acceptance, and use of humor
to report they had benefited somehow from the all related inversely to self-reports of distress
experience, for example, by becoming closer to before surgery and after. Denial and behavioral
their spouse. disengagement related positively to distress at
 CHAPTER 17. OPTIMISM 237

all time points. At the 6-month point a new as- that may, in turn, relate to different outcomes.
sociation emerged, such that distress related More concretely, denial (the refusal to accept
positively to another kind of avoidance coping: the reality of the situation) means attempting
self-distraction. Further analyses revealed that to hold onto a worldview that is no longer valid.
the relation of optimism to distress was largely In contrast, acceptance implies a restructuring
indirect—through coping—particularly at the of one’s experience so as to come to grips with
postsurgery assessment. the reality of one’s situation. Acceptance thus
The mediational role of coping in the rela- may involve a deeper set of processes, in which
tionship between optimism and psychological the person actively works through the experi-
well-being also was examined in the college ad- ence, attempting to integrate it into an evolving
aptation study described earlier (Aspinwall & worldview.
Taylor, 1992). Optimistic students engaged in The active attempt to come to terms with the
more active coping and less avoidance coping existence of problems may confer a special ben-
than did pessimistic students. Avoidance coping efit to acceptance as a coping response. We
related to poorer adjustment; active coping re- should be clear, however, about the nature of
lated (separately) to better adjustment. As in the this process. The acceptance we have in mind is
health studies, the beneficial effects of optimism a willingness to admit that a problem exists or
in this context seemed to operate, at least in that an event has happened—even an event that
part, through the differences in coping. may irrevocably alter the fabric of the person’s
Similarly, in a study described earlier on ad- life. We are not talking, however, about a stoic
justment to pregnancy (Park, Moore, Turner, resignation, a fatalistic acceptance of the nega-
& Adler, 1997), optimistic women were more tive consequences to which the problem or
likely than pessimistic women to engage in event might lead, no matter how likely those
constructive thinking (i.e., the tendency to consequences might be. That response confers
think about and solve daily problems in an ef- no benefit.
fective way). Furthermore, as did optimism, Consider, for example, the experience of a
constructive thinking correlated negatively person diagnosed with terminal cancer. The
with subsequent anxiety and positively with ultimate outcome will be death. Yet, the per-
positive states of mind. The association be- son need not conclude, “I’m as good as dead.”
tween optimism and each of these markers of Such resignation may promote a kind of func-
psychological adjustment was mediated tional death, with the person prematurely dis-
through the tendency of optimists to engage in engaged from the opportunities of the life that
constructive thinking. remains. Consistent with this idea, people who
In sum, it appears that optimists differ from react to diagnoses with stoic resignation or
pessimists both in their stable coping tendencies with passive acceptance of their own impending
and in the kinds of coping responses they spon- death actually die sooner than those who ex-
taneously generate when confronting stressful hibit less of these qualities (Greer, Morris, &
situations. Optimists also differ from pessimists Pettingale, 1979; Greer, Morris, Pettingale,
in the way they cope with serious disease and & Haybittle, 1990; Pettingale, Morris, & Greer,
concerns about specific health threats. In gen- 1985; Reed, Kemeny, Taylor, Wang, & Vis-
eral, optimists tend to use more problem- scher, 1994).
focused coping strategies than do pessimists. In contrast to this resignation, an acceptance
When problem-focused coping is not a possi- of the diagnosis per se may have very different
bility, optimists turn to strategies such as ac- consequences. It may cause people to repriori-
ceptance, use of humor, and positive reframing. tize their lives, to revise and cut back on long-
Pessimists tend to cope through overt denial term goals, and to use what time is left in con-
and by mentally and behaviorally disengaging structive and optimal ways. Stated differently,
from the goals with which the stressor is inter- by accepting the fact that life is compromised
fering. (but not over), people may develop a more adap-
It is particularly noteworthy that optimists tive set of parameters within which to live the
turn toward acceptance in uncontrollable situa- time that remains. It is in this spirit that we
tions, whereas pessimists turn more to the use have speculated that acceptance keeps the per-
of active attempts at denial. Although both tac- son goal-engaged, and indeed “life-engaged”
tics seem to reflect emotion-focused coping, (Carver & Scheier, 1998; Scheier & Carver,
there are important differences between them 2001).
238 PART IV. COGNITIVE-FOCUSED APPROACHES

lem is minor, or if it is unlikely to bear on

Promoting Well-Being
them, optimists do not show elevated vigilance.
In describing how optimists and pessimists cope, Only when the threat matters does vigilance
it also is worth noting some studies of proactive emerge. Optimists appear to scan their sur-
processes, processes that promote good health roundings for threats to well-being but save
and well-being rather than just reacting to ad- their behavioral responses for threats that are
versity. The reasoning behind the studies is that truly meaningful.
people who are optimistic may take active steps
to ensure the positive quality of their future.
Pessimism and Health-Defeating
This would be much the same as engaging in
Behaviors
problem-focused coping, except there is no par-
ticular stressor threatening the person. We have characterized optimists throughout
Looking at the possibility of individual dif- this discussion as persistent in trying to reach
ferences in health promotion among a group of desired goals. This includes both efforts to deal
heart patients who were participating in a car- with adversity and efforts to promote well-
diac rehabilitation program, Shepperd, Maroto, being apart from adversity. Theory suggests
and Pbert (1996) found optimism related to that pessimists are less likely to make efforts to
greater success in lowering levels of saturated ensure their well-being. There is, in fact, evi-
fat, body fat, and an index of overall coronary dence that pessimists engage in behaviors that
risk. Optimism also related to increases in ex- reflect a tendency to give up. Some of these be-
ercise across the rehabilitation period. Another haviors have adverse consequences for well-
study of the lifestyles of coronary artery bypass being. Some even have deadly consequences.
patients 5 years after their surgery found opti- Various forms of substance abuse can be seen
mists more likely than pessimists to be taking as reflecting a giving-up tendency. Substance
vitamins, to be eating low-fat foods, and to be abuse in general, and excessive alcohol con-
enrolled in a cardiac rehabilitation program sumption in particular, often is seen as an es-
(Scheier & Carver, 1992). cape from problems. If so, it follows that pes-
Heart disease is not the only aspect of health- simists should be more vulnerable than
related behavior that has been related to opti- optimists to engaging in this pattern of mal-
mism. Another is HIV infection. By avoiding adaptive behavior. At least three studies have
certain sexual practices (e.g., sex with unknown produced findings that fit this picture.
partners), people reduce their risk of infection. One was a study of women with a family his-
One study of HIV-negative gay men revealed tory of alcoholism. Pessimists in this group
that optimists reported having fewer anony- were more likely than optimists to report drink-
mous sexual partners than pessimists (Taylor et ing problems (Ohannessian, Hesselbrock, Ten-
al., 1992). This suggests that optimists were nen, & Affleck, 1993). In another study of peo-
making efforts to reduce their risk, thereby ple who had been treated for alcohol abuse and
safeguarding their health. were now entering an aftercare program, pes-
Optimism also has been studied with regard simists were more likely than optimists to drop
to the health-related habits of people with no out of the program and to return to drinking
particular salient health concerns. At least two (Strack, Carver, & Blaney, 1987). Finally, Park
such projects found that optimists reported et al. (1997) examined substance use among a
more health-promoting behaviors than pessi- group of pregnant women. Optimists were less
mists (Robbins, Spence, & Clark, 1991; Steptoe likely than pessimists to engage in substance
et al., 1994). Taken together, these various stud- abuse during the course of their pregnancies.
ies suggest that optimism is related to behaviors Giving up can be manifested in many ways.
aimed at promoting health and reducing health Alcohol consumption dulls awareness of failures
risk. and problems. People can disregard their prob-
Optimists are not simply people who stick lems by distracting themselves. Even sleeping
their heads in the sand and ignore threats to can help us escape from situations we do not
their well-being. Indeed, they attend to risks, want to face. Sometimes, though, giving up is
but selectively. They focus on risks that are ap- more complete than this. Sometimes people give
plicable to them and also are related to poten- up not on specific goals but on all the goals that
tially serious health problems (Aspinwall & form their lives. Such extreme cases can prompt
Brunhart, 1996). If the potential health prob- suicide (though Snyder, 1994, points out that
 CHAPTER 17. OPTIMISM 239

successful suicide also requires effortful pursuit likely to follow through with an actual test than
of one last goal). Some people are more vulner- those lower in optimism (see also Perkins, Les-
able to suicide than others. It is commonly as- erman, Murphy, & Evans, 1993).
sumed that depression is the best indicator of These findings seem to contradict the evi-
suicide risk. But pessimism (as measured by the dence reviewed earlier, and the basis of the in-
Hopelessness scale) is actually a stronger pre- consistency is not clear. Goodman et al. (1995)
dictor of this act, the ultimate disengagement noted that the average level of optimism in their
from life (Beck, Steer, Kovacs, & Garrison, sample was much lower than typical; this may
1985). somehow have played a role in the results. Al-
In sum, a sizable body of evidence indicates ternatively, perhaps the results do not really
that pessimism can lead people into self- contradict previous findings at all. Perhaps it
defeating patterns. The result can be less per- seems so only because of the absence of other
sistence, more avoidance coping, health- data that would make the findings fit. For ex-
damaging behavior, and potentially even an ample, no information was gathered about the
impulse to escape from life altogether. With no girls’ knowledge of the serostatus of their sexual
confidence about the future, there may be noth- partners. Perhaps optimists had gone to greater
ing left to sustain life (Carver & Scheier, 1998). lengths than pessimists to verify that their part-
ners were HIV-negative. If so, they would have
had less need to seek HIV-relevant information
Is Optimism Always Better or have their HIV status tested. Obviously,
Than Pessimism? more information is needed for these questions
to be answered.
Throughout this chapter we have portrayed op- The idea that optimists may fail to protect
timists as better off than pessimists. The evi- themselves against threats is one way in which
dence we have reviewed indicates that optimists optimism might work against a person. Another
are less distressed when times are tough, cope possibility is that the optimist’s worldview
in ways that foster better outcomes, and are bet- might be more vulnerable than that of a pessi-
ter at taking the steps necessary to ensure that mist to the shattering impact of a traumatic
their futures continue to be bright. Although event. After all, adversity confirms the pessi-
there are certainly times and situations in which mist’s worldview. Given a diagnosis of meta-
optimists are only slightly better off than pes- static cancer, the experience of a violent rape,
simists, and probably cases where they have no or loss of one’s home to fire or flood, will the
advantage, there is remarkably little evidence optimist react more adversely than the pessi-
that optimists are ever worse off than pessi- mist? Will optimists be less able to rebuild the
mists. shattered assumptions of their lives? All of
Several theorists have suggested the possibil- these possibilities are legitimate to raise. How-
ity that such situations do exist, that optimism ever, we know of no evidence that supports
may be potentially damaging (e.g., Tennen & them.
Affleck, 1987; Schwarzer, 1994). And, indeed, Perhaps the lack of support for the idea that
there is logic behind this hypothesis. For ex- optimists respond worse to a shattering event
ample, too much optimism might lead people to reflects a more general lack of information
ignore a threat until it is too late or might lead about how personality predicts responses to
people to overestimate their ability to deal with trauma or to experiences such as terminal ill-
an adverse situation, resulting in poorer coping. ness. There is not a great deal of information
Most of the data reviewed in the preceding on these questions. However, at present we do
sections indicate that this is generally not the not expect optimists to respond more adversely
case. On the other hand, two studies suggest the than pessimists. Rather, we expect them to re-
possibility that optimists may not always take set their sights on their changed realities and to
action to enhance their future well-being. continue to make the best of the situations
Goodman, Chesney, and Tipton (1995) studied they are facing. Pessimists may find that their
the extent to which adolescent girls at risk worldviews are confirmed by trauma or disas-
for HIV infection sought out information about ter, but we doubt that they will take much sat-
HIV testing and agreed to be tested. Those isfaction in that. Rather, their experience will
higher in optimism were less likely to expose be the continuing anticipation of yet further
themselves to the information and were less adversity.
240 PART IV. COGNITIVE-FOCUSED APPROACHES

Can Pessimists Become Optimists? experience the rest of the events in your life.
The more firmly shaped is that foundation, the
Given the many ways in which the life of the more enduring is its influence.
optimist is better than that of the pessimist, If pessimism is that deeply embedded in a
there is good reason to want to be in the former person’s life, can it be changed? The answer
category instead of the latter. There is at least seems to be a cautious yes, that change in an
a small problem, though, for those of us who optimistic direction is possible. However, there
are not already optimistic. Specifically, twin re- remain questions about how large a change can
search suggests that optimism is subject to ge- be reasonably expected and how permanent the
netic influence (Plomin et al., 1992). There re- change will be. There also remain questions
mains a question about whether optimism is about whether an induced optimistic view on
itself heritable, or whether it displays heritabil- life will act in the same way—have the same
ity because of its relation to other aspects of beneficial effects—as does a naturally occurring
temperament. Optimism relates both to neurot- optimistic view.
icism and to extraversion, and both are known Of the many ways to try to turn a pessimist
to be genetically influenced. Although optimism into an optimist, the most straightforward may
is distinguishable from these temperaments be the group of techniques known collectively
(Scheier et al., 1994), it may be that the ob- as cognitive-behavioral therapies. Indeed, trying
served heritability of optimism reflects these as- to turn pessimists (either focused or general-
sociations. ized) into optimists seems an apt characteriza-
Another potential influence on people’s out- tion of the main thrust of these therapies. Their
look on life is early childhood experience. For earliest applications were to problems such as
example, in discussing personality development, depression and anxiety (Beck, 1967). The logic
Erikson (1968) held that infants who experience behind them was that people with these prob-
the social world as predictable develop a sense lems make a variety of unduly negative distor-
of “basic trust,” whereas those who experience tions in their minds (e.g., “I can’t do anything
the world as unpredictable develop a sense of right”). The unrealistically negative thoughts
“basic mistrust.” These qualities are not all that cause negative affect (dysphoria, anxiety) and
different from the general sense of optimism set people up to stop trying to reach their goals.
and pessimism. Similarly, attachment theorists In such cases, the distortions closely resemble
hold that some infants are securely attached in what we would imagine to be the interior
their relationships, and others are not (Ains- monologue of the pessimist.
worth, Blehar, Waters, & Wall, 1978; Bowlby, If unduly negative cognitions and self-
1988). This has also been extended to discus- statements define the nature of the problem, the
sions of adult attachments (Hazan & Shaver, goal of the cognitive therapies is to change the
1994). As it happens, insecurity of adult attach- cognitions, make them more positive, and
ment is related to pessimism. This suggests that thereby reduce distress and allow renewed ef-
optimism may derive in part from the early fort. Many techniques exist for producing such
childhood experience of secure attachment (see changes. In general, this approach to therapy
also Snyder, 1994). This is only one example, begins by having people pay close attention to
of course, of the many possible ways in which their experience, to identify points where dis-
the environment can influence the development tress arises and also the thoughts associated
of optimism. with (or immediately preceding) these distress
Whether one thinks of possible origins of op- points. The idea is to make the person more
timism and pessimism in inheritance or in early aware of what are now automatic thoughts. In
childhood experience, these pathways to an op- many cases, the thoughts in question turn out
timistic or pessimistic outlook on life suggest to be pessimistic beliefs. Once the beliefs have
that the quality is relatively pervasive and per- been isolated, they can be challenged and
manent. Genetically determined qualities are by changed. (This attempt to deal with pessimistic
definition part of your fundamental makeup and beliefs by shifting them has an interesting re-
can be expected to exert a virtually unending semblance to positive reframing, described ear-
influence on your behavior. Similarly, aspects lier in the chapter as a useful coping strategy.)
of your worldview that are acquired early in life Another method often used is personal effi-
are the foundation from which you proceed to cacy training. The focus of such procedures is
 CHAPTER 17. OPTIMISM 241

on increasing specific kinds of competence (e.g.,

by assertiveness training or social skill train- Acknowledgments Preparation of this chapter
ing). However, the techniques often address was facilitated by support from the National
thoughts and behaviors that relate to a more Cancer Institute (CA64710, CA64711, and
general sense of pessimism. Training in prob- CA78995).
lem solving, selecting and defining obtainable
subgoals, and decision making improves the
ways in which a person handles a wide range of APPENDIX
everyday situations.
Although the development of positive expec- Items of the Life Orientation Test-Revised
tations is an important goal of such therapies, (Lot-R), a Measure of Optimism versus
it also is important to recognize that it can be Pessimism.
counterproductive to try to substitute an
unquestioning optimism for an existing doubt. 1. In uncertain times, I usually expect the best.
Sometimes people are pessimistic because they 2. It’s easy for me to relax. (Filler)
have unrealistically high aspirations for them- 3. If something can go wrong for me, it will.a
selves. They demand perfection, hardly ever see 4. I’m always optimistic about my future.
it, and develop resulting doubts about their ad- 5. I enjoy my friends a lot. (Filler)
6. It’s important for me to keep busy. (Filler)
equacy. This tendency must be countered by es-
7. I hardly ever expect things to go my way.a
tablishing realistic goals and identifying which 8. I don’t get upset too easily. (Filler)
situations must be accepted rather than 9. I rarely count on good things happening to me.a
changed. The person must learn to relinquish 10. Overall, I expect more good things to happen to
unattainable goals and set alternative goals to me than bad.
replace those that cannot be attained (Carver &
Note: Respondents indicate the extent of their agreement with
Scheier, 1998, 2000; Wrosch, Scheier, Carver, &
each item using a 5-point Likert scale ranging from “strongly
Schulz, 2000). disagree” to “strongly agree.” After reverse coding the neg-
atively worded items (those identified with the supercript a),
the six nonfiller items are summed to produce an overall
score.
Conclusions
From M. F. Scheier, C. S. Carver, & M. W. Bridges (1994),
Distinguishing optimism from neuroticism (and trait anxiety,
It often is said that positive thinking is good and self-mastery, and self-esteem): A reevaluation of the Life Ori-
negative thinking is bad. The student preparing entation Test, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,
for an exam, the athlete heading into competi- 67, 1063–1078. Reproduced with the permission of the au-
thors and the American Psychological Association.
tion, and the patient facing a life-altering diag-
nosis is told to “think positive.” Are there really
benefits to thinking positive? The answer
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