Optimistic Attitude
An Optimistic Attitude is an psychological attitude in which the cognitive agent overestimates an event's benefits.
- Example(s):
- Human's typical overestimation of their moral courage (Milgram, 1974).
- …
- Counter-Example(s):
- See: Positive Thinking (Disambiguation), Attitude (Psychology), Is The Glass Half Empty or Half Full?, Psychology, Explanatory Style.
References
2015
- (Wikipedia, 2015) ⇒ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/optimism Retrieved:2015-10-18.
- Optimism is a mental attitude or world view. A common idiom used to illustrate optimism versus pessimism is a glass with water at the halfway point, where the optimist is said to see the glass as half full and the pessimist sees the glass as half empty.
The term is originally derived from the Latin optimum, meaning "best". Being optimistic, in the typical sense of the word, is defined as expecting the best possible outcome from any given situation. This is usually referred to in psychology as dispositional optimism. It thus reflects a belief that future conditions will unfold as optimal. [1] Theories of optimism include dispositional models, and models of explanatory style. Methods to measure optimism have been developed within both theoretical systems, such as various forms of the Life Orientation Test, for the original definition of optimism, or the Attributional Style Questionnaire designed to test optimism in terms of explanatory style. Variation in optimism and pessimism is somewhat heritable and reflects biological trait systems to some degree. It is also influenced by environmental factors, including family environment, with some suggesting it can be learned. It has also been suggested that optimism could appear to be a hereditary trait because it is actually a manifestation of combined traits that are mostly heritable, like intelligence, temperament and alcoholism.[2] Optimism may also be linked to health.
- Optimism is a mental attitude or world view. A common idiom used to illustrate optimism versus pessimism is a glass with water at the halfway point, where the optimist is said to see the glass as half full and the pessimist sees the glass as half empty.
- ↑ http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/optimism
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
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1980
- (Weinstein, 1980) ⇒ Neil D. Weinstein. (1980). “Unrealistic Optimism About Future Life Events..” In: Journal of personality and social psychology, 39(5). doi:10.1037/0022-3514.39.5.806
- QUOTE: Two studies investigated the tendency of people to be unrealistically optimistic about future life events.