# Motivation and emotion/Tutorials/Learned optimism

Tutorial 06: Learned optimism This is the sixth tutorial for the motivation and emotion unit of study.

## Overview

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

## Learned helplessness vs. 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.
Discuss:
* What characterises learned helplessness?
* What characterises learned optimism?
A computer metaphor:
* Body and brain = "hardware". Can't easily be changed.
* Thinking = "software". Reprogrammable.
* At least, this is the view 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

* Activity: Learned Optimism Test
* Are you more pessimistic or optimistic? Let's find out.
* Complete the Learned Optimism Test (48 items; 10 - 15 mins; modified from Seligman, 1991)
* Scoring: "Right" answers are scored as optimistic; "wrong" answers are scored as pessimistic
* Keep your answers up on the screen; note the total
* Discussion:
* Explain the theoretical structure
* View and discuss the results.
The Learned Optimism Test measures three types of attributions (permanence, pervasiveness, personalisation) for two types of events (good, bad):
* Permanence (Good and Bad)
* Pervasiveness (Good and Bad)
* Personalisation (Good and Bad)
Attributions are our explanations about causes of events. Our attributions about past events is used to predict causes of future events.
Table 1.
Attributional Dimensions (3) by Event Valence (2) Explanation of Pessimism-Optimism
| Attribution | Bad | Good |
| Permanence | PmB | PmG |
| Pervasiveness | PvB | PvG |
| Personalisation | PsB | PsG |
| Total | ToB | ToG |
Table 2.
Explanatory Styles Based on Attributional Dimensions of Pessimism and Optimism
| | Optimistic | Pessimistic |
| Good event | Permanent Pervasive Internal | Temporary Local External |
| Bad event | Temporary Local External | Permanent Pervasive Internal |

### 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
| A | Adversity | When we encounter adversity, we react by thinking about it |
| B | Beliefs | Our thoughts rapidly congeal into beliefs |
| C | Consequences | These beliefs ... have consequences |
| D | Disputation | Challenge problematic beliefs by finding evidence against them, alternatives to negative reasoning, and limit the implications of the beliefs. "Much of the skill of dealing with setbacks ... consists of learning how to dispute your own first thoughts in reaction to a setback." (Seligman) |
| E | Energisation | We feel energised after we've disputed our false, negative beliefs |

## 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)

## Where is the sweet spot?

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. "Pessimists" and "realists", on the other hand, are more prone to depression.