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Unrealistic Optimism and Positive‐Negative Asymmetry: A Conceptual and Cross‐cultural Study of Interrelationships between Optimism, Pessimism, and Realism
Author(s) -
Peeters Guido,
Cammaert MarieFrance,
Czapinski Janusz
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
international journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.75
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1464-066X
pISSN - 0020-7594
DOI - 10.1080/002075997400944
Subject(s) - optimism , pessimism , psychology , realism , social psychology , positive economics , epistemology , philosophy , economics
Using a variant of Weinstein's (1980) technique for the measurement of unrealistic optimism, subjects were classified as optimistic, realistic, or pessimistic about their chances of being confronted in the future with problems such as divorce, nervous breakdown, etc. On the basis of previous theory and research on cognition and affect, it was hypothesized that, across problems, subjects would alternate optimism with realism rather than with pessimism. Cross‐cultural data obtained from 19 samples of Belgian, Moroccan, and Polish subjects not only confirmed the hypothesis but also showed high agreement about the nature of the problems that were selectively associated with optimism, realism and pessimism.