118 COPING RESOURCES
pessimistic in others, optimism taps the extent to which an individual is optimistic in
general across a range of domains and across time. A number of measures of optimism
have been developed. Scheier and Carver (1992) developed a measure that focuses on
optimistic expectations. This includes items such as ‘In uncertain times, I usually expect
the best’ and ‘I always look on the bright side of life’. Optimism has also been assessed
using indices of an individual’s sense of hope. A measure developed by Snyder et al.
(1996) focuses on the extent to which individuals pursue their goals and their beliefs
that their goals can be realized. Items include ‘I energetically pursue my goals’ and
‘There are lots of ways around any problem’. Other researchers have focused on how
people explain the causes of bad events (Peterson, 2000). Such explanations or
‘attributions’ can be classified along a number of dimensions such as whether they are
internal or external to the individual (e.g. whether the cause is something about the
individual versus their environment), whether they are likely to be stable or unstable
over time (e.g. the extent to which the cause will affect most/all similar future
outcomes or just this specific one) and whether they are general or specific causes (e.g.
will the cause affect a range of life events for that individual or just this particular event).
Optimists tend to attribute bad events to external, unstable and specific causes while
pessimists see the same events as resulting from internal, stable and global causes
(Peterson, Vaillant and Seligman, 1988). For example, an optimist might believe that
they got a minor illness because they were ‘run down’ after an unusually busy time at
work. In contrast, a pessimist might believe they contracted a minor illness because
they are always susceptible to such things no matter what they do.
The outcomes of optimism include increased psychological well-being, better
physical health and even greater longevity. For example, in relation to psychological
well-being, Litt et al. (1992) found that optimistic individuals were less depressed after
unsuccessful in vitro fertilization. Similarly, Carver et al. (1993) reported that optimism
in women with breast cancer was associated with less distress following surgery and
that this effect persisted one year later. Alloy, Abrahamson and Francis (1999) found
that students with a pessimistic explanatory style were more likely to subsequently
experience depression.
Research also demonstrates that high levels of optimism are associated with better
physical health. Those with high levels of optimism have fewer infectious illnesses and
report fewer physical symptoms even during periods of stress (Peterson and Seligman,
1987). They are also more likely to recover from surgery more quickly and less likely
to be re-hospitalized (Scheier et al., 1999). Peterson et al.(1988) provide an impressive
demonstration of the effects of optimism on physical health. In a sample of men, an
attributional style measure of optimism assessed at age 25 was found to predict health
status 35 years later as judged by doctors; the optimists were more likely to be in better
health even when initial physical and mental health were statistically controlled.
Most impressively, those with high levels of optimism may even live longer. Danner,
Snowdon and Friesen (2001) coded pieces of text that a sample of 180 Catholic nuns
had written about themselves on entering the church as young women, for emotional
content. The research then examined the survival rates of these same women when
they were 75–95 years of age. Those who wrote sentences containing self-descriptions
with the most positive emotions (e.g. happiness, pride, love) were more likely to live
longer than those containing the fewest positive emotions. Comparison of the top and