UNREALISTIC OPTIMISM EXAMPLE UPDATE

Seligman argued that a pessimistic perspective is associated with depression, and an optimistic perspective is associated with lower levels of depression. Seminal work by Seligman suggests learned helplessness, the belief that one does not have control over the environment, can induce depression. For example, the hopelessness theory of depression suggests that depression is characterized by negative expectations that desired outcomes will never occur and that one’s own behavior is not effective in achieving desired outcomes. The cognitive model of depression has suggested that excessive estimation of future negative events is a core feature of depression. However, individuals with depression often expect negative future events to occur more often. As Hecht stated, “People may shift positions on the optimism-pessimism continuum as time unfolds”. Day to day, we have optimistic or pessimistic views about our future on a moment-to-moment basis. Optimism is defined as the tendency to overestimate future positive events and underestimate future negative events. Results suggest that induced optimism training has potential to change individuals with mild dysphoria perceptions’ about the future.

UNREALISTIC OPTIMISM EXAMPLE UPDATE

Results indicates that individuals in the mild dysphoria group showed an increased update bias after being exposed to the induced optimism training Dysphoric mood and trait optimism remained unchanged in both the experimental and control groups. Significant differences were not found in control group.

ResultsĪfter the induced optimism training, individuals with the mild dysphoria demonstrated a higher update bias than low ( p < .001) and the high dysphoria ( p < .05) group in induced optimism condition. The difference between the errors was classified as the update bias. The amount of update error was calculated as the difference between the estimates in the first stage and the second stage. To assess how desirable versus undesirable information influenced beliefs, participants estimated their personal probability of experiencing the events again in the second stage. This information could be desirable for participants(when presented with a probability that was below their estimation) or undesirable (when presented with a probability that was above their estimation). In the first stage, participants estimated their personal probability of experiencing adverse events while being presented with the average probability of the event occurring to a living person. After the training, participants performed the two-stage belief updating task. These three groups were assigned to the induced optimism training or control condition. We recruited normal participants ( n = 69) from a local university students and divided participants into three groups (low, mild, high dysphoria) by measuring dysphoric mood.

In the present study, we investigated the differential effects of induced optimism training which making optimistic future prediction to change future beliefs in normal participants with various levels of dysphoria (low, mild, high). A recent study suggests that future expectations in individuals with dysphoria become more optimistic when asked to make optimistic future predictions about the future. However, people who have been diagnosed with depression often have a more pessimistic view of the future.

Individuals tend to have an optimism bias, processing desirable information more frequently than undesirable information.

Unrealistic optimism example