Optimism

Optimism is defined as the general level at which individuals have a positive expectancy of their future and/or future events (Carver et al., 2010).

We have measured optimism in a variety of ways for different designs throughout the course. For example, during the observational design portion of the course, some students looked at optimism by monitoring the length of time spent smiling while observing people in various campus locations. Another example of how students chose to operationalize optimism is by taking the frequency of optimistic words said on social media captions. For the correlational and experimental designs, we operationalized optimism using the Optimism Pessimism Inventory (Dember et al., 1978). Five questions were selected that specifically look at optimism and modified from a Likert- type scale as in the original scale to a continuous scale. A sample question from this measure is: "I generally look at the brighter side of life". 

"Optimism is a variable that describes the extent to which an individual has a desirable or positive expectancy of their future (Carver et al., 2010). Many researchers study optimism because sources demonstrate that an optimistic attitude aids in individuals' adjustment to major life events, stressors, and general adversity (Brissette et al., 2002). Specifically, studies report that individuals with greater levels of optimism experience less mood fluctuations during a life transition (e.g. starting a new semester of college), utilize better coping strategies that promote healthier behaviors, and maintain stable mental health in the face of hardship (Brissette et al., 2002; Non et al., 2020). These findings appear to provide a robust rationale for the beneficial outcomes of maintaining an optimistic outlook, and they seem to agree with the intuitive idea that those who expect a positive future are motivated to practice positive behaviors. Importantly, optimism is modifiable in response to experience (Higgins et al., 2010). " - Grace Harlan, spring 2023 student 

Check out the research below that the students of the Spring 2023 PSYC 300 class have conducted on this topic! 

To view OSF project link click here.

To view OSF project link click here.