Optimism/pessimism and associations with life event perceptions.

ABSTRACT: Optimism is the generalized sense that good things will happen in the future, and people higher in optimism typically experience a host of positive personal and relational outcomes. However, when ostensibly important life events happen to optimists and pessimists, they rarely change their perspective about the future. One potential reason optimists are resilient to life circumstances is that they might vary in how they perceive those circumstances. Another source of confusion is whether these perceptions are driven by optimistic thinking per se or the lack of pessimistic thinking. In the current study, we examined how optimists and pessimists differ in their perceptions of life events in a large sample (N =  929) of college students answering questions about hypothetical life events. The p

SUBMITTER: Ward MA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11960967 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature