AMITY UNIVERSITY, MUMBAI AIBAS

Title: Learned Optimism Scale

Practical No.: 05 Date: 7.12.20

Class: BSc CP Roll No.:

PSYBSC18038

Teacher’s Sign:

Index-

Sr.
Topic
No.
01
AIM

02 INTRODUCTION

03 REFERENCES
 Practical 5

Learned Optimism Scale

Aim: To measure the extent of learned optimism in an individual.

Introduction

Introduction to positive psychology

The field of positive psychology is a fairly new one, which was founded in 1998. The
founding father of positive psychology, the presidential message to the APA by Martin
Seligman explicitly established a distinction between the early psychologists' disease model
and the positive model we recognize today.

Positive psychology has been defined by different authors, some of which include, Seligman
& Csikszentmihalyi (2000) explained positive psychology as, “subjective positive states and
experiences (past, present and future), good individual characteristics: the recognition and
utilization of strengths, positive structures and positive organizational characteristics.”

And Peterson (2008) defined positive psychology as, “the scientific study of what makes life
most worth living.” To give a brief description of his definition Peterson (2008) explained
that it was a scientific study of human thoughts, emotions and behaviour, it is about
concentrating upon strengths rather than weaknesses, repeating the good in life rather than
repairing the bad and taking the life of an average individual up to “great” rather than solely
focusing on raising those who struggle to "normal”.

Learned Optimism

Learned optimism can be described as a process of recognizing and working against negative
thoughts or pessimism to exhibit positive behaviour. Learned optimism aims to help people
deal with difficult and challenging situations in life and to increase well-being.
Learned optimism is a term from the field of positive psychology. The founder of this field,
Dr. Martin Seligman used the learned optimism in contrast to learned helplessness which can
be described as a tendency to feel incapable to change negative circumstances due to
previously being continuously exposed to the negative stimuli over a prolonged period of
time. Learned helplessness results in the individual giving up on the situation while learned
optimism results in a change in the individual’s response to the same situation.

Overall learned optimism can be applied to a variety of scenarios and improves overall health
and well-being.

Explanatory Styles: The three P’s

The explanatory style that we use to account for life events has 3 different features. The
attributional style of a person explains how they are describing life events to themselves. It
involves three dimensions that affect how we explain an outcome when someone forms an
explanation, namely internality versus externality, stability versus instability, and globality
versus specificity (Peterson, 1991).

The extent to which a person attributes a life event to either permanent or transient causes is
Permanence. Hence in Permanence, pessimists prefer to conclude that negative events in life
are due to irreversible causes. Optimists, on the other hand, prefer to conclude that losses are
due to temporary variables and that positive life experiences are due to permanent variables.

Pervasiveness is the extent to which, over a range of situations, a person cause our
explanations for one event to become explanations for other events. Pessimists tend to
assume that traumatic events in life have a pervasive impact on other events in life. Although
optimists think that positive life outcomes are the product of omnipresent conditions,
reversals are isolated occurrences.

The extent to which a person internalizes or externalizes the causes of an incident is

Personalization. It is the degree to which they can blame themselves or blame others for an
incident, in other words. Here the pessimists prefer to internalize and externalize positive
outcomes from negative events. Optimists, on the other hand, prefer to internalize positive
experiences and externalize negative events.
Optimism and Pessimism

Seligman’s Concepts of Permanence, Pervasiveness and Personalization (using a table):

When something good When something bad happens

happens… (setbacks)...
Optimistic explanation  Permanent  Temporary
 Pervasive  Contained
 Personalize  Other people or outside
circumstances
Pessimistic explanation  Temporary  Permanent
 Contained  Pervasive
 Other people or outside  Personalize
circumstances

When a Positive event occurs: An individual thinks that luck won't last if they are a pessimist
(Permanence), it does not really extend to the rest of their life (Pervasiveness), and that's
because they are unfortunate (Personalization). But if that individual is an optimist, they
would prefer to see it the other way around: that it's definitely going to last for good fortune,
it's yet another example of how great everything is in their life, and it's probably the product
of all the dedicated, optimism, and hard work they have been doing.

When a Negative event occurs: Though persuaded that the good stuff will not last, a pessimist
thinks the negative will last forever. And while the positive event was not pervasive, the
negative event with remain pervasive. And even though the positive event is not attributed to
them, the negative event is solely their fault.

Advantages of Optimism

In life, optimists report being happier. They believe they are happier because they more
confidently imagine good outcomes and also expect them to happen more frequently. There is
a more pleasant mood and morale for optimists, more vitality, and high self-regard. They
believe their destiny is in their control. All the positivity they embody also radiates outwards
as result of which they generally tend to be liked by other people. Optimists feel less anxiety
and sadness, and a positive style of explanation will relieve depression and help reduce
relapses into anxiety or depression. Optimists are healthier physically which was seen a
popular study which said optimism predicted health starting at the age of 45. The positive
style strengthens our immune system and protects us from infectious diseases. On the
behavioural aspect, since they take active steps to defend themselves, optimists live longer
and are less likely to die from accidental or violent events.

Research Using Learned Optimism.

Applying Learned Optimism to Increase Sales Productivity (P. Schulman, 2013)

The research paper looks at the efforts of Dr. Martin Seligman and his colleagues who
discovered a new predictor for achievement which was optimism. The study states that ability
and motivation alone are not always enough. The study looks at the possibilities and
opportunities of turning pessimism to optimism using training programs. It also delves into
the benefits that optimism provides which include the likes of more motivation, better
achievement in different domains such as better sales productivity and even better health. It
also states that the results of the research have several implications, namely in the selection of
salespersons, their training and design of the organization.

How can we increase Optimism?

There are different ways in which people can increase their levels of optimism. There are
certain methods which help in that.

Such as changing the way a person thinks. This I not easy in any way and it takes time but at
times the result is more important, and the time put into it is essential.

Breaking down what a person fears will help them rationalize it and help them tackle it better.
People who suffer from anxiety tend to have negative thoughts cloud their mind, this is
especially beneficial for them.
Create a list of all the things and people in your life that you are grateful for. Try to surround
yourself with those people and things that make you feel good. Have fun with friends and
family members who are positive and compassionate. Just being around optimistic people,
when you feel down, will lift you up.

Try to talk to yourself in a positive manner and be mindful. Know that there are ups and
downs to even a positive life. Life will not always be fine, but you can still make the most of
life in many ways.
References
7 Summit Pathways. (2020, May 18). What Is Learned Optimism | Benefits of Learned

Optimism. https://7summitpathways.com/blog/learned-optimism/

Ackerman, C. (2020, October 19). What is Positive Psychology & Why is It Important?

PositivePsychology.Com. https://positivepsychology.com/what-is-positive-psychology-

definition/

Cassata, C. (2019, October 1). 7 Ways to Increase Optimism and Reduce Anxiety Every Day.

Healthline. https://www.healthline.com/health-news/reduce-anxiety-by-practicing-optimism-

can-help#3.-Surround-yourself-with-optimists

Explanatory Style in Psychology. (2018, February 22). Retrieved from

https://study.com/academy/lesson/explanatory-style-in-psychology.html.

Houston, E. B. (2020, October 12). What Are Attributional and Explanatory Styles in

Psychology? PositivePsychology.Com. https://positivepsychology.com/explanatory-styles-

optimism/#styles

Introduction to Positive Psychology. (2015, May 9). Institute of Coaching.

https://instituteofcoaching.org/resources/introduction-positive-psychology#:

%7E:text=Positive%20psychology%20is%20the%20study%20of%20the%20conditions

%20and%20processes,people%2C%20groups%20and%20institutions

%E2%80%9D.&text=For%20example%2C%20how%20does%20an,within%20which

%20people%20can%20thrive.

Johnson, B. (2020, September 14). The 3 P’s of Optimism. Mindbodygreen.

https://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-1115/The-3-Ps-of-Optimism.html
Learned Optimism. (n.d.). In Alleydog.com's online glossary. Retrieved from:

https://www.alleydog.com/glossary/definition-cit.php?term=Learned+Optimism

Moore, C. P. (2020, October 12). Learned Optimism: Is Martin Seligman’s Glass Half Full?

PositivePsychology.Com. https://positivepsychology.com/learned-optimism/

Owens, L. (2011, October 7). 8 Strategies for Boosting Your Optimism. Game Changers

International. https://lethiaowens.com/8-strategies-for-boosting-your-optimism/

Peter Schulman (1999) Applying Learned Optimism to Increase Sales Productivity, Journal
of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 19:1,
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08853134.1999.10754157

Peterson, C. (1991). The Meaning and Measurement of Explanatory Style. Psychological

Inquiry, 2(1), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327965pli0201_1

Peterson, C. (2008). What is positive psychology, and what is it not? Psychology Today.
Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-good-life/200805/what-is-positive-
psychology-and-what-is-it-not

Sandor, R. (2017, July 25). History of Positive Psychology. Science of Story.

https://scienceofstory.org/history-positive-psychology/#:%7E:text=Although%20Maslow

%20coined%20the%20term,lives%20and%20others%20don’t.

Seligman, M. E. P. (1975). Helplessness: On Depression, Development, and Death. W H

Freeman & Co.

Seligman, M. E. P., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2000). Positive psychology: An introduction.

American Psychologist, 55(1), 5–14. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066x.55.1.5

The benefits of optimism. (2016, September 28). The Positive Psychlopedia.

https://positivepsychlopedia.com/year-of-happy/the-benefits-of-optimism/