Motivation and emotion/Tutorials/Learned optimism

Overview
This tutorial:
 * 1) Explores learned optimism (the opposite of learned helplessness)
 * 2) Wraps up motivation - following tutorials focus mainly on emotion

Learned optimism


This exercise explores learned optimism.

Learned optimism relates to personal control beliefs in Chapter 10 of Reeve (2018) and the mindsets, control, and the self lecture. Whilst the textbook and lecture focus on learned helplessness, here attention is turned to the opposite: learned optimism.

Define and discuss:
 * What characterises learned helplessness?
 * What characterises learned optimism?

A computer metaphor:
 * Body and brain = "hardware". Can't easily be changed
 * Thinking = "software". Reprogrammable
 * This is the view, at least, of cognitive psychology

Martin Seligman
The learned helplessness and learned optimism concepts were developed by Martin Seligman. Seligman started with research about learned helplessness in animals and then later applied this to learning optimism in humans and positive psychology more generally. Three key books in this respect are:
 * Helplessness: On depression, development, and death (Seligman, 1975)
 * Learned optimism: How to change your mind and your life (Seligman, 1990)
 * The hope circuit: A psychologist's journey from helplessness to optimism (Seligman, 2018)

Learned Optimism Test

 * 1) Complete the Learned Optimism Test  (48 items; 10 - 15 mins; modified from Seligman, 1991)
 * 2) Scoring: "Right" answers are scored as optimistic; "wrong" answers are scored as pessimistic
 * 3) Keep your answers up on the screen; note the total


 * 1) Explain the theoretical structure - see dimensions
 * 2) View and discuss the results.

The Learned Optimism Test is structured around six dimensions, based on three types of attributions about two types of events:
 * Permanence (Good and Bad)
 * Pervasiveness (Good and Bad)
 * Personalisation (Good and Bad)

Table 1.

Attributional Dimensions of Pessimism and Optimism

Table 2.

Explanatory Styles Based on Attributional Dimensions of Pessimism and Optimism

Permanence
Time: Temporary vs. Permanent - a pessimistic view is that bad events are permanent and good events are temporary (opposite for optimism)
 * PmB (Permanent Bad)
 * PmG (Permanent Good)

Pervasiveness
Space: Specific vs. Universal - across situations/domains: a pessimistic view is that bad events are pervasive across situations/domains and good events are specific to a situation/domain (opposite for optimism)
 * PvB (Pervasive Bad)
 * PvG (Pervasive Good)

Personalisation
Control/causality: Internal vs. External: e.g., a pessimistic view is that bad events are internally caused and good events are externally causes (opposite for optimism)
 * PsB (Personalisation Bad)
 * PsG (Personalisation Good)

Totals
Assuming optimistic responses are scored positively.


 * Hope
 * Hope (HoB) = PvB + PmB (i.e., Hope for Bad Events).
 * Seligman indicates that this is the single most important score.


 * Total Bad
 * Total B (Bad) = PmB + PvB + PsB


 * Total Good
 * Total G (Good) = PmG + PvG + PsG


 * Overall
 * Overall Optimism = Total G + Total B

ABCDE solution
Would you like to become more optimistic?

If so, Seligman suggests a cognitive ABCDE solution:

Table 3.

How to Change Pessimistic Thinking Styles

Is optimism always good?
There are well established positive relationships between optimism and important life outcomes such as physical health (e.g., longevity) and psychological well-being.

But is optimism always good? For example:
 * Narcissism - Believing that one is all-powerful and influential can contribute to inflated self-importance (i.e., narcissism)
 * Risk-taking - Believing that one can control good outcomes (when you actually can't) can be problematic (e.g., gambling)

Despite these potential problems, the advantages of optimism are overwhelming. So much so that the psychologically healthiest people tend to have "positive illusions", that is, they have somewhat unrealistically positive views. "Realists", on the other hand, are more prone to depression.

Recording

 * Tutorial 06 (2023)