Dispositional Optimism
Scheier, M. F. & Carver, C. S. · 1985
Also known as: LOT-R Optimism · Positive Expectations
Dispositional optimism is the generalised expectation that good rather than bad outcomes will occur across life domains. It sits inside a self-regulation model: because people persist at goals they expect to reach and disengage from goals they expect to fail, a generalised positive expectancy translates into sustained effort, more approach-oriented coping and less avoidance. Optimism is treated as a stable trait dimension anchored at the other end by pessimism, and it is distinct from self-efficacy (which concerns one's own capability) and from optimistic explanatory style (which concerns causal attributions for past events).
Generalized tendency to expect positive outcomes in the future. Optimism is a stable personality disposition associated with better physical health, more effective coping, and greater subjective well-being.
- Source:
- Scheier, M. F., Carver, C. S., & Bridges, M. W. (1994). Distinguishing optimism from neuroticism (and trait anxiety, self-mastery, and self-esteem): A reevaluation of the Life Orientation Test. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67(6), 1063-1078.
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Evidence at a glance
- Empirical support
- Strong evidence
- Replication
- Well replicated
- Cross-cultural
- Mostly universal
- Meta-analyses
- 15 indexed
These ratings summarise the published literature on the theory, not the quality of any single test built on it. They are editorial judgements based on the sources listed below, and they change as evidence accumulates.
Historical Context
Scheier and Carver introduced the construct and the Life Orientation Test in 1985 as an application of their broader control-theory account of behavioural self-regulation. Early work was criticised for item overlap with neuroticism and for confounding optimism with coping content, which led to the 1994 revision — the LOT-R — that dropped the ambiguous items and shortened the scale to six scored items plus fillers. A long-running debate followed about whether optimism and pessimism form one bipolar dimension or two separable factors; the current position is that they are strongly negatively correlated but can diverge, particularly in older and non-Western samples.
Constructs
Dispositional Optimism
A generalized tendency to expect positive outcomes — the stable personality dimension associated with better coping, health, and well-being (Scheier, Carver & Bridges, 1994).
Instruments
- IPIP Optimism Scale(IPIP-OPT)Goldberg, L. R. (IPIP), measuring constructs of Scheier, M. F., Carver, C. S., & Bridges, M. W.1999
Tests built on this theory
Practical Applications
Dispositional optimism is one of the better-replicated psychological predictors in behavioural medicine, associated with faster recovery after cardiac surgery, better adherence to treatment, lower incidence of some disease outcomes and lower all-cause mortality in prospective cohorts. It is used in health psychology to identify patients likely to disengage from demanding regimens, and in coping research as a moderator of stress response. Because optimism is moderately malleable, it also appears as an outcome in best-possible-self and related interventions.
How It's Measured
Measured with a short self-report expectancy scale (LOT-R: six scored items, four fillers) producing a single continuous score, reverse-scored on the pessimism items.
Critiques & Limitations
The overlap with neuroticism is substantial, and critics argue that much of optimism's predictive power in health outcomes survives only weakly after adjusting for negative affectivity, socioeconomic status and baseline health. The one-factor versus two-factor question remains unsettled, and the pessimism items often carry the predictive weight, which would make the construct better described as low pessimism. Self-report expectancies are also vulnerable to current mood, so single-occasion scores are noisier than the trait framing implies.
Key Publications
- Scheier, M. F. & Carver, C. S.. (1985). Optimism, coping, and health: Assessment and implications of generalized outcome expectancies. 10.1037/0278-6133.4.3.219
- Scheier, M. F., Carver, C. S. & Bridges, M. W.. (1994). Distinguishing optimism from neuroticism (and trait anxiety, self-mastery, and self-esteem): A reevaluation of the Life Orientation Test. 10.1037/0022-3514.67.6.1063
- Carver, C. S., Scheier, M. F. & Segerstrom, S. C.. (2010). Optimism. 10.1016/j.cpr.2010.01.006