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“I Can Tell You If I'll Really Lose All That Weight”: Dispositional and Situated Optimism as Predictors of Weight Loss Following a Group Intervention
Author(s) -
Benyamini Yael,
Raz Olga
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.2007.00189.x
Subject(s) - optimism , psychology , situated , weight loss , psychological intervention , social psychology , intervention (counseling) , developmental psychology , obesity , medicine , artificial intelligence , psychiatry , computer science
Weight loss is difficult to achieve and predict. We used Carver & Scheier's (1998) self‐regulation theory to investigate the role of dispositional and situated optimism in weight loss following a group intervention. The theory proposes that dispositional optimism is related to persistence in goal pursuit as a result of greater confidence in goal attainment. Findings showed that situated optimism (higher goals, greater confidence in their attainment) predicted greater weight loss; whereas dispositional optimism, perceptions of controllability, timeline, and consequences of the weight problem were unrelated to weight loss. Changes in situated optimism following the intervention were related to weight‐loss success/failure. The findings suggest that people possess quite accurate knowledge of their chances of success, which could be used to tailor interventions to participants.