Optimism and pessimism are associated with important outcomes including health and depression. Yet it is unclear if these apparent polar opposites form a single dimension or reflect two distinct systems. The extent to which personality accounts for differences in optimism/pessimism is also controversial. Here, we addressed these questions in a genetically informative sample of 852 pairs of twin...

Confirmatory factor analysis revealed that the Life Orientation Test (LOT) consisted of separate Optimism and Pessimism factors among middle-aged and older adults. Although the two factors were significantly negatively correlated among individuals facing a profound life challenge (i.e., caregiving), they were only weakly correlated among noncaregivers. Caregivers also expressed less optimism th...

Optimism and pessimism are associated with important outcomes including health and depression. Yet it is unclear if these apparent polar opposites form a single dimension or reflect two distinct systems. The extent to which personality accounts for differences in optimism/pessimism is also controversial. Here, we addressed these questions in a genetically informative sample of 852 pairs of twin...

The often-posed claim that Europe is a pessimistic continent is not unjustified. In 2012, 53 percent of European Union (EU) citizens were pessimistic about their country. Surprisingly, however, societal pessimism has received very little scientific attention. In this article, we examine to what extent political and economic factors drive societal pessimism. In terms of political factors, we exp...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the association between optimism/pessimism and concentrations of seven inflammation and hemostasis markers. Optimism and pessimism are associated with cardiovascular disease mortality and progression; however, the biological mechanism remains unclear. METHODS This cross-sectional study used data from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA), a study of 6814 pe...

Although research has shown that certain aspects of personality can change over time, the determinants of such change remain unclear. Stress alters neural dynamics and precipitates disorders that shape personality traits involving negative affectivity. In this study, therefore, we assessed the perceived stress and pessimism levels of 332 young, middle-aged, and older adults for five weeks to ex...

0191-8869/$ see front matter 2009 Elsevier Ltd. A doi:10.1016/j.paid.2009.04.019 * Tel.: +1 407 823 0920; fax: +1 407 823 5862. E-mail address: [email protected]. The relationship between optimism, pessimism and vigilance was investigated as a function of the degree to which different display formats facilitated performance across types of perceptual discrimination. Pessimism was associated ...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The association between optimism and pessimism and health outcomes has attracted increasing research interest. To date, the association between these psychological variables and risk of stroke remains unclear. We examined the relationship between pessimism and the 7-year incidence of stroke. METHODS A random sample of 23 216 adults (9480 men, 13 796 women) aged 20 to 54...

We present a flexible analytical framework that incorporates the equilibrium impact of a (possibly state dependent) sentiment for pessimism in continuous time intertemporal asset pricing. State dependent pessimism comes from a state dependent confidence in the reference belief on equity returns dynamics and implies conservative optimal policies precisely in states where such confidence is low. ...