Optimism and adjustment to illness

Solution Preview

Optimism is conceptualized as the "generalized expectancies for important life outcomes" (Carver and Scheier, 1995, p.195). The term often implies a dispositional nature reflecting a stable trait. 'Dispositional optimism', the resulting term, is defined as a tendency, derived from a stable personality characteristic, to expect positive outcome versus negative life outcome (Scheier and Carver, 1992; Miller et al, 1996). The crucial factor in optimism is that optimists will be more likely to view desired outcomes as within their reach than those with pessimistic thinking (Scheier and Carver, 1987). ...