Sunny's AP Psychology Blog

Learned optimism

I was a little surprised at my score of -6, very pessimistic, because I normally think of myself as a very optimistic person. But then again, I only consider myself an optimist because I am rather adept at getting over bad things. So the criteria for optimism was different, and the test itself was designed for western adults, so perhaps there was a cultural factor as well that affected the score. And then again, I tend to brace myself for the worst in many situations based on the principle that if it happens, then I get the satisfaction of knowing I was right and if a better scenario occurs, then I'm pleasantly surprised. So maybe I am really pessimistic.
My worst scores where my pervasiveness good score and personalization good score. I think this is mainly because I don't really work very much for anything, so I tend to put good things down to luck or natural talent or other people's efforts. On the other hand, I get a sense of fulfillment from completing a difficult project in the first place, and I tend to dissociate the grade from my work because the grade arrives quite some time from when I hand it in.
I'm 'moderately hopeless.' But then again, I'm not in despair. I just have a very foggy view of the future.

posted by 미카 @ 8:44 AM