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PS4022 Psychology of Personality > Week 2 - Chapter 16: Optimism > Flashcards

Week 2 - Chapter 16: Optimism Flashcards

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1
Q

What are the different types of optimism? (x4)

A
  1. Learned optimism
  2. Dispositional optimism
  3. Situational optimism
  4. Hope
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2
Q

What is learned optimism?

A

Developed from the ‘attributional reformulation of the learned helplessness model’,

In other words, Seligman took a theory he already presented theorising how people could learn to be helpless (via attributional style). By turning this theory on its head, they showed that you could actually learn to be optimistic.

New model was formed as a way of explaining individual differences in response to negative events.

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3
Q

What is learned optimism?

A

Developed from the attributional reformulation of the learned helplessness model in order to explain individual differences in response to negative events. USED BE AN INDIVIDUAL TO EXPLAIN FUTURE EVENTS.

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4
Q

Pessimistic attributional style?

A

Internal, Stable, Global

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5
Q

Optimistic attributional style?

A

External, Unstable, Specific

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6
Q

What is your explanatory style?

A

the way that you explain your problems and setbacks to yourself - you choose either a positive way or a negative ay to solve them.

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7
Q

What is learned helplessness?

A

A state of affairs where nothing you choose to do affects what happens to you, is at the centre of pessimism.

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8
Q

Pessimistic explanatory style?

A

Personal, Permanent, Pervasive

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9
Q

Optimistic explanatory style?

A

Circumstantial, Temporary, Specific

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10
Q

What is the ABC method?

A

Seligman believes you can learn optimism by assessing your ABCs:
A: Adversity
B: Beliefs - forming beliefs about adversity
C: The consequences those beliefs have

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11
Q

What are the tactics to combat pessimism (learned helplessness? (Seligman 1991) x2

A
  1. Distraction: is used to put adversaries or problems aside for a while in order to re-evaluate the situation and adopt a fresh outlook. It also allows the individual to negate the emotional issues of the situation. However, it should be used as a short-term measure
  2. Disputation: should be used after distraction, when the person has had time to calm down, to change their beliefs about adversity. In other words, these beliefs should be challenged by the person.
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12
Q

What is dispositional optimism?

A

A person’s general predisposition to be optimistic in their mood or their temperament, and this may be because of the person’s personality or a genetic disposition. USED BY A PERSON TO EXPECT GOOD EVENTS. They don’t explain things they just expect them to ‘be’.

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13
Q

How is dispositional optimism / pessimism measured?

A

(Scheier & Carver, 1985) - with a brief self-report questionnaire called the LIFE ORIENTATION TEST (LOT) 3 x positively worded items, 3x negatively worded items, + 4x filler items.

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14
Q

What is a filler item?

A

A filler item does not measure either variable and is Put in place to stop the participant from guessing what the questionnaire is actually asking them about.

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15
Q

What are primary appraisals?

A

Ferguson et al. 1999: judgements made by a person about what a stressful situation hold for them. A primary appraisal is what a person perceives and assesses as the possible effects of demands and resources on their well-being of that stressful situation.

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16
Q

What are the three dimensions of primary appraisals?

A

Threat, Loss, Challenge. The individual then appraises whether the stressful situation represents the potential for some sort of challenge.

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17
Q

What is threat? (Primary appraisal)?

A

seeing the stressful situation as having the potential to harm the individual

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18
Q

What is loss? (Primary appraisal)?

A

Seeing the stressful situation as comprising a potential loss for the person; e.g. friendships, health, self-esteem

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19
Q

What is challenge? (Primary appraisal)?

A

seeing the stressful situation as having the potential for growth or benefits for the individual.

20
Q

What are secondary appraisals?

A

processes of determining coping options or behaviours that are available to deal with the stressful situation.

21
Q

What are the situational factors that influence the appraisals of threat or loss?

A
  • complexity
  • personal values
  • commitments
  • goals
  • situational novelty
  • social support
  • situational intensity
  • perceived controllability of the potential threat or loss
22
Q

What is optimistic bias?

A

ignoring or minimising risks

23
Q

What are the two most prominent coping styles?

A
  1. engaged (problem-focused - adaptive/ direct)
  2. disengaged (emotional focused
    (coping)
24
Q

What are problem-focused coping strategies?

A
  • Also known as adaptive/ direct coping: they are directed at stress; they involve problem-solving by looking for logical and active ways to solve stressful situations.
    E.g.: understand and define the problem; advantages and disadvantages; think of solutions; take actions; learn new skills.
    -> can be directed outwards to change the environment, or inwards to change the self.
25
Q

What is emotion-focused coping?

A

involves coping attempts that are not directed at the stressful event and instead are directed at decreasing emotional distress caused by the stressful event. E.g. avoiding/distancing from the problem, selective attention; seeking blame, minimising the extent of the problem, wishful thinking, venting, etc.

26
Q

When is it actually useful to use emotion-focused coping?

A

when the situation is completely out of control, e.g. death of a family member

27
Q

What is optimism associated with (from early research)?

A

a general sense of confidence and persistence, particularly when confronting a challenge; problem-focused coping, social support coping strategies, challenge appraisals over threat/loss, better mental and physical health, + health, positive interpretation

28
Q

What is pessimism associated with (from early research)?

A

doubt and hesitancy when confronting a challenge, denial and avoidance coping, greater stress than optimists

29
Q

What are the 3x major (ASP) conceptual pathways to better describe the relationship with optimism?

A
  1. Affective Pathway
  2. Social Pathway
  3. Persistence Pathway
30
Q

What is the affective pathway?

A

Shows how optimism/pessimism is related to the negative affectivity of emotional stability/neuroticism and the positive affectivity of extraversion. Widely supported and accepted by the literature. [Sharpe et al., 2011]

31
Q

What is the social pathway?

A

Shows how optimism/pessimism is related to extraversion nd agreeableness, and considers the idea that optimists tend to have better relationships, find it easier to make friends and are generally more socially adept. [Sharpe et al., 2011]

32
Q

What is the persistence pathway?

A

Shows how optimism/pessimism is related to conscientiousness, and suggests that optimists don’t only believe that they will experience more positive outcomes in life, but also tat they vigorously pursue goals to achieve more positive outcomes. [Sharpe et al., 2011]

33
Q

What is self-esteem?

A

How much a person likes, accepts, and respects themselves as a person. It is an underlying construct of resilience.

34
Q

How are optimism and self-esteem related?

A

They are highly associated - optimists tend to have higher self-esteem, pessimists tend to have lower-self esteem. Optimism is a good predictor of mental health when considered alongside self-esteem.

35
Q

What is resilience?

A

Refers to individual differences in being able to react and cope to stressful situations.

36
Q

What do individuals who are high resilience have?

A
  1. positive view of themselves
  2. optimism for the future
  3. optimism about their ability to appraise stressful situations
  4. optimism about their ability to ideal with a stressful situation.
37
Q

What are the 4x main ways in which optimism may influence health?

A
  1. improving immune system functioning
  2. use of adapting coping strategies
  3. increased positive health habits
  4. absence of negative mood
38
Q

Disadvantages of optimism?

A
  1. May reflect an innate human tendency to be unrealistic (self-generated illusion)
  2. Disadvantageous where stressful situations are uncontrollable (but; optimists can switch coping styles according to Seligman).
  3. May not be useful when applied to risky goals
  4. Should never be used in counselling, esp. w/ depressive patients: may mask the real issues.
39
Q

What is situational optimism?

A
  • newest area of optimism research
  • little evidential research has been carried out
  • expands on the theory of dispositional optimism
  • refers to the expectations that an individual generates for a particular situation (concerning whether good/bad things will happen)
  • situational optimists tend to have specific optimistic beliefs about certain events/areas of their lives.
40
Q

What are big and little optimism used for?

A

to understand the differences between the two main theories of optimism (dispositional optimism and explanatory style)

41
Q

What is Big optimism?

A
  • Dispositional optimism
  • biologically given tendency that is stable over time.
  • Produces a state of general resilience to setbacks
42
Q

What is little optimism?

A
  • Explanatory style
  • product of your own unique learning history
  • leads to specific actions that are adaptive in concrete situations
43
Q

What is hope?

A
  • an individuals’ expectations that goals can be achieved
  • composed of 3 x components:
    1. agency: determination that goals can be achieved
    2. pathways: beliefs that successful plans can be generated to reach goals
    3. the goal itself
44
Q

What are consequences for high-hope people? (Consequences doesn’t necessarily mean ‘bad’)

A
  • have lots of goals
  • more clarity
  • more successful
  • better at finding pathways
  • more self-belief
45
Q

What are consequences for low-hope people?

A
  • tend to have only one goal (ambiguous)
  • less clarity
  • less successful
  • less successful at finding pathways
  • less self-belief
46
Q

What is false-hope syndrome?

A

A cycle of failure in which individuals make persistent efforts to change aspects of their behaviour

PS4022 Psychology of Personality (3 decks)

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