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The Development of the Realistic Optimism and Unrealistic Optimism, Pessimism Measurement Scale

Submitted as PSY30003 Assignment 1 Due Date: Word count: APA 6

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Optimism and pessimism are believed to be at opposite ends of the sample construct. This idea has been represented in existing scales (Scheier, 1994). However, researchers have found that optimism and pessimism are empirically differentiable and have failed to find bipolarity (Dember, Martin, Hummer, Howe & Melton, 1989, & Marshall, Wortman, Kusulas, Hervig & Vickers, 1992). Individuals can be optimistic about one area of their lives while being pessimistic about another. For example, an individual can think their career is going nowhere and won’t change while believing that they will have a long and happy relationship with their partner (Burke, Joyner, Czech, & Wilson, 2000). Further, optimism has been shown to be multi-dimensional; the aspects of realistic optimism and unrealistic optimism have been noted in research. Herzberg, Glaesmer, & Hoyer (2006) researched the LOT-R, the most frequently used measure for optimism, finding that it measured two separate constructs (optimism and pessimism) and not optimism as a unidimensional trait. It was also recommended by Herzberg, Glaesmer and Hoyer (2006) for ‘researchers to use caution when interpreting results of empirical studies that treat the LOT–R as a unidimensional measure’ (p437). This study aims to address the gap in previous literature by recognising that optimism and pessimism are different constructs. In doing so, optimism has been presented as a multidimensional construct of realistic optimism and unrealistic optimism in the development of a new measure, ‘Unrealistic Realistic Pesimistic Scale (URP). Research shows that individuals have a specific way of imagining their future and this is shown to be a relatively constant characteristic; though predicting future outcomes is difficult as there is a tendency for people to lean towards a positive or negative predisposition. When these outcome expectancies arise characteristically, whether negative or positive, they are known as dispositional pessimism or dispositional optimism (Scheier and Carver, 1985). Optimism can be further divided into realistic and unrealistic. Defined as a general disposition to expect positive results, realistic optimism encompasses hoping and

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working towards desired outcomes while unrealistic optimism presents an expectation that positive results will just happen without the work, will be more pleasing than that of peers and these predictions are unlikely to match actual outcomes; pessimists on the other hand expect bad outcomes (Norem, 2001). Positive dispositions have been shown to correlate with many positive life outcomes including increased life expectancy, general health, better mental health, increased success in sports and work, greater recovery rates from heart operations and better coping strategies when faced with adversity (Scheier & Carver, 1985; Scheier et al., 1989; Scheier, Carver & Bridges, 1994; Bromberger & Matthews, 1996; Sharp, Martin, & Roth, 2011); the opposite is also true (Bromberger & Matthews, 1996). Individuals with a pessimistic disposition lack confidence in their own capacity to achieve their goals (Scheier, Carver & Bridges, 1994) and their responses to diversity differ to that of more optimistic individuals. This negative tendency in individuals results in a negative interpretation and expectation and pessimists are seen to practice avoidant coping practices that may include denial, distancing and disengaging from stressful situations (Amirkhan, Risinger, & Swickert, 1995). Disengaging is evident with giving up in cancer patients and has been shown to be an important risk factor in mortality (Schulz, Bookwala, Knapp, Scheier and Williamson, 1997). Looking at the LOT-R, currently used to assess optimism and where sums of the 4 items that assess pessimism would constitute a separate pessimism measure (Mroczek, Spiro, Aldwin, Ozer, & Bossé, 1993); convergent validity of the RUOD would be shown with strong correlation to the outcomes of the LOT-R in regards to pessimism, those producing higher pessimism scores on the LOT-R would also produce higher pessimism scores on the RUOD. Conversely, as pessimists have a personality profile that results in pessimistic view of life also have a trait profile that shows little correlation to the personality trait of openness (Sharpe, Martin & Roth, 2011) as a result it would be expected that there would be little correlation between the subscale of openness in the mini-

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IPIP and the URP. From disease, divorce, disaster to unwanted pregnancy, individuals demonstrate unrealistic optimism for these as well as more desired events including successful study outcomes and marriage (Shepperd, Waters, Weinstein, & Klein, 2016). These issues and their costs further support the need for a measure to identify unrealistic optimism from its more level-headed counterpart; realistic optimism. As the global belief that the future will hold countless good things and a trifling of bad, optimism is the tendency to maintain a positive outlook; all things being equal, individuals explain difficulty in a habitual way (Peterson, 2000). Defined as a general nature to expect positive results (Schneider, 2001). While optimism has been shown to be beneficial some argue this benefit is useful only if reality is not misrepresented in a way that produces harmful consequences (Schneider, 2001). Schneider (2001) also goes on to describe realistic optimism as a combination of the desire for an outcome and taking action towards its achievement without the self-deception of believing the desired outcome will just occur without any need for action. Research has found that optimism shows a positive influence on various life areas (health, well-being), that optimists utilise problem-focused coping before resorting to adaptive strategies, and that unrealistic optimism is not merely positive expectation, supporting the 3-factor construct (realistic optimism, unrealistic optimism and pessimism) of the URP scale (Jefferson, Bortolotti, & Kuzmanovic, 2017; Scheier, Carver & Bridges, 1994). In the current research, optimism and pessimism were operationalised as separate constructs while optimism was further operationalised as the multi-dimensional constructs of realistic optimism and realistic pessimism. The tendency towards unrealistic optimism has been shown to lead to risk taking behaviour that may have serious negative consequences. These include the belief that one has the ability to make change maladaptive behaviours that pose health risks (such as smoking)

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which results in persisting with such behaviours until they become deep-rooted (Shepperd, Waters, Weinstein, & Klein, 2016). Shepperd, Waters, Weinstein, and Klein (2016) suggested that unrealistic optimism is reliably present and produces adverse outcomes, that are at times harmful, in an individual’s future; unrealistic optimism is pervasive in law, economics, medicine as well as psychology (Shepperd, Klien, waters, & Weinstein, 2013). While they also posit no known single cause, it could be reasonably suggested that with the potential for bad outcomes resulting from unrealistic expectation bias, research into optimism as a unidimensional construct has merit. In their research into the relationship between the Big Five factors of personality and optimism, Sharpe, Martin and Roth, (2011) found that optimism was correlated to extraversion while pessimism was correlated to neuroticism. It could be reasonably expected, based on such results, that measures of extraversion and neuroticism in the mini-IPIP scales (Donnellan, Oswald, Baird, & Lucas, 2006) would show a positive correlation to scores for optimism and pessimism respectively on the URP scale; higher scores of extraversion and neuroticism would correlate with higher scores on optimism and pessimism correspondingly.

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being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57(6), 1024-1040. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.57.6.1024 Schneider, S. L. (2001). In search of realistic optimism: Meaning, knowledge, and warm fuzziness. American Psychologist, 56(3), 250-263. http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.lib.swin.edu.au/10.1037/0003-066X.56.3.250 Schulz, R., Bookwala, J., Knapp, J. E., Scheier, M., & Williamson, G. M. (1996). Pessimism, age, and cancer mortality. Psychology and Aging, 11, 304-309. doi:10.1037/08827974.11.2.304 Sharpe, J. P., Martin, N. R., & Roth, K. A. (2011). Optimism and the Big Five factors of personality: Beyond Neuroticism and Extraversion, Personality and Individual Differences, 51, 946-951. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2011.07.033. Shepperd, J. A., Klein, W. M. P., Waters, E. A., & Weinstein, N. D. (2013). Taking Stock of Unrealistic Optimism. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 8, 395–411. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691613485247 Shepperd, J. A., Waters, E. A., Weinstein, N. D., & Klein, W. M. P. (2015). A Primer on Unrealistic Optimism. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 24, 232–237. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721414568341 Smith, T. W., Pope, M. K., Rhodewalt, F., & Poulton, J. L. (1989). Optimism, neuroticism, coping, and symptom reports: An alternative interpretation of the Life Orientation Test. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 56(4), 640-648. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.56.4.640...