Optimism is the attitude that good things will happen and that people's desires or goals ultimately they will be satisfied. Optimists are people who anticipate positive outcomes, either serendipitously or through perseverance and effort, and who are confident that they will achieve their desired goals. Most individuals fall somewhere on the spectrum between the two opposite poles of pure optimism and pure pessimism, but tend to demonstrate relatively stable situational tendencies in one direction or the other. As optimism researchers, we are pleased to see optimism present in what appears to be a long-needed antidote to psychology's focus on what is wrong with people. Optimism and pessimism are both complex concepts, and research to date usually renders them in a simplistic way. While it is possible to denigrate this construct as simply folk psychology, optimism turns out to be a case where widespread intuition has a strong basis in reality. The construct of optimism has proven useful and relevant across a number of topic areas. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Scheier, Carver, and Bridges (1994) consider optimism and pessimism as generalized expectations about events that occur in individuals' lives. These expectations are considered stable assets, that is, characteristics of each person. Furthermore, the construct of optimism can be understood as unidimensional and bipolar, meaning that it is a single attribute with two extremes, which can vary between optimism and pessimism. The ideas about optimism and pessimism as individual differences in both established theories and those as the clarifications just made suggest a family of characteristics that should all be taken seriously. A composite account of optimism and pessimism should (a) distinguish positive from negative expectations; (b) recognize the person's sense of agency (or lack thereof) over the outcomes that are the subject of expectations; (c) allow for the possibility that such beliefs may be accurate, inaccurate, or undetermined; and (d) specify whether optimism and pessimism are rendered in predominantly cognitive or predominantly emotional terms. Consider what it means to take these different characteristics seriously. Optimism and pessimism are complex constructs and it makes no sense to speak of the former as always desirable and the latter as always undesirable. However, optimism researchers often generalize casually across the characteristics that matter. In terms of a measurement tool, the LOT was created by the developers of the psychological study of optimism. The authors applied an initial set of 16 items to several samples of university students. After several revisions of the instrument and applications to different samples, the instrument was ultimately composed of twelve items: four that measured optimism, four that measured pessimism, and four that served as fillers. Over time, many authors have questioned the predictive validity of the LOT with respect to constructs such as neuroticism, trait anxiety, self-esteem and self-mastery. This led to a revision of the LOT and ultimately the development of the LOT-R. In the LOT-R, three of the items included in the original LOT were eliminated, including two that measured optimism and one that measured pessimism, and a new item that measured optimism was added. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper now from our expert writers. Get an essay, 2008;.