Perceptions of goal-directed activities of optimists and pessimists: a personal projects analysis.

Full Abstract

In this research the authors examined the relationship between optimism and personal projects in a community sample. Three hundred twenty-five community volunteers completed the Personal Projects Analysis (PPA; B. R. Little, 1983) and measures of self-reported optimism and sociodemographic information. Participants who reported high levels of optimism rated their idiosyncratic personal goals significantly higher on PPA factors reflecting Positive Identity Fulfillment and Mastery-Control and significantly lower on the factor reflecting Perceived Strain than did participants who reported low levels of optimism. After the impact of age and education on optimism were statistically controlled, the Perceived Strain and Mastery-Control factors made significant contributions to the prediction of self-reported optimism in both initial and cross-validation samples. Findings indicate that highly optimistic individuals can be differentiated from their less optimistic peers on the basis of their perceptions of idiosyncratic goals. From an expectancy valence perspective, such differences have a direct bearing on individuals' behavior and may be associated with outcomes such as learned helplessness and procrastination.

Learn Faster Today Improve your study skills

Author information

Author/s: Jackson, Todd (T); Weiss, Karen E (KE); Lundquist, Jessie J (JJ); Soderlind, Adam (A);

Affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Superior, 54880, USA. tjackson(-atsign-)facstaff.uwsuper.edu

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: The Journal of psychology (J Psychol), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2002-Sep; vol 136 (issue 5) : pp 521-32

Dates: Created 2002/11/14; Completed 2003/02/26; Revised 2006/11/15;

PMID: 12431036, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article (including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.

MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

These are the highest related articles currently in the database:

See 100+ related articles.