Who looks on the bright side? Optimistic and pessimistic perceptual-response reflexes over American adulthood.

ABSTRACT: Research suggests that the way individuals are oriented towards the future is deeply embedded in their psychology, shaping how they perceive and react to opportunities and threats, even at unconscious levels. We argue that exposures to opportunities and threats over the life course can shape future orientation at a deep level, and that word-valence effects to survey questions indicate optimistic and pessimistic "perceptual-response reflexes" that are manifestations of unconscious dispositions. Using data collected over 25 years in the Americans' Changing Lives (ACL) study we analyze variation in word-valence effects by age, birth cohort, gender, and race. The broad adult age-range of the sample and the length of follow-up permits the examination of birth cohorts ranging from the "First Chi

SUBMITTER: Magee W 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8890670 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature