Optimism Definition Essay Sample

A growing body of research investigates the positive impact of optimism on individual’s personality and perception of various life situations. Briefly speaking, optimism is usually attributed to personality psychology because of the prevailing position that optimism underlies individual’s sense of various social phenomena and events, thus, shaping his or her social behavior. Though most studies emphasize positive outcomes of optimism, a few focus on pondering in the depth of the concept (Srivastava and Angelo 1). In general, optimism is defined as an individual’s tendency of believing in favorable outcomes. Peterson regarded optimism as a style of thinking that has a long-standing tradition in human society and philosophy (114). In support of this idea, the scholar referred to Voltaire’s character of Dr. Pangloss, who used to outcry that people lived in the best of the possible worlds and Polyanna described by Porter to depict the effectiveness of celebrat ing every negative experience or misfortune (Peterson 114). While authors of the past characterized optimism with naivety and denial of the bad, contemporary scholars review optimism as an opposite of pessimism. Both notions are extremes to individual’s expectations for the future, which underpinned their attribution to expectancy-value theory (Carver, Scheier and Segerstrom 1). The disparity between optimistic and -pessimistic worldviews stands on values, end-states, and actions regarded as desirable or undesirable. People adjust their behavior in accordance with the desirable outcomes. Expectancy as a sense of confidence concerning the ability to attain the goal shapes individual efforts taken in the pursuit of the desired outcomes. Therefore, the optimism-pessimism continuum implies that optimistic and pessimistic beliefs towards particular situations, events, times, and life domains are activated by situational factors shaping individual behavior in a given situation. Hence, optimism is a behavioral tendency rather than a personali ty trait peculiar to a specific type of people (Srivastava and Angelo 2). This idea is consistent with the anthropological optimism definition suggested by Lionel Tiger that optimism is an attitude or mood tied to an individual’s expectation about the future as a socially desirable or the one associated with personal pleasure or benefit (Peterson 115). In this vein, optimism refers to a cognitive characteristic that may be encouraged and motivated by an emotional flavor. This approach to defining optimism has laid the ground for the concept of dispositional optimism. Scheier and Carver theorized the notion of dispositional optimism in their studies recognizing it as an equilibrated personality trait that shapes individual’s response to past, present, and future events. Analyzing optimism within psychology, Peterson and Seligman defined optimism as an attributional style that grounds on an individual’s belief in higher instability of negative events (Conversano et al. 26). While the dispositional perspective stresses on the unconscious avoidance of stress and promotion of physical well-being through optimism, the attributional perspective points out the conscious utilization of optimism to avoid problems and conflicts in daily life. In this vein, optimism is defined as a personality variable that implies an individual’s belief in good outcomes (Grove, Burns Gray 43). Scholarship supporting these theoretical foundations distinguish a wide array of traits and outcomes attributed to an optimist person. As such, optimists experience higher levels of self-esteem and extraversion while having low levels of stress, neuroticism, hopelessness, and anxiety. Good morale and positive mood are regarded as core features of optimistic people. In line with the associated characteristics, scholars determine various positive outcomes in terms of psychological functioning and physical health (Srivastava and Angelo 2). Individual’s effectiveness in problem-solving, success in academic, occupational, athletic, political, and military life domains, and good health are inherent to optimistic thinking, whereas passivity, depression, social estrangement, failure, morbidity, and mortality are more peculiar to pessimistic persons (Peterson 114). In line with the cited definitions, optimism is typically viewed within personality psychology as an effective means of en couraging orientation to success.