“Seeing the Glass as

Half Full“
Cognitive-Focused Approach
The Power of Optimism
What optimism
means to you?
What is Optimism?
Optimism is defined as
“a tendency to expect favorable outcomes”.
• Research has demonstrated that there are individual
differences in global optimism – that is, some individuals are
more inclined than others to expect good things across a
variety of life domains.

• Optimistic or pessimistic beliefs may be activated or

diminished by short-term factors (for example, people in happy
or angry moods are more optimistic than people in fearful
moods).
What is Optimism?
Optimism is
“the belief that things will turn out well”.

“It is the expectation that good things will come your way and
that you have the ability to control the direction of your life”.

● There are plenty of common phrases that capture the essence of

optimism: "seeing the glass as half full“, "every cloud has a
silver lining“. Each of these phrases captures the belief that
optimism can transform a negative situation into something
positive, and that optimism helps guide people to look for meaning
in times of hardship.
Optimism and pessimism
• Optimism and pessimism are generally
conceptualized as opposite sides of a continuum.
Thus, when this entry refers to “optimists” or
“pessimists,” that is used as shorthand for relative
differences along such a continuum, not for
qualitatively different types of people.

• Although optimism and pessimism often refer to how

people think about the future, they also refer to
how people think about the past, specifically, the
causes of the good and bad events in their lives.
Optimism and pessimism
• Optimists are people who expect good things to happen to
them; pessimists are people who expect bad things to happen
to them. Folk psychology has long held that these
differences among people are important.

• Research over the past two and a half decades suggests the
ways in which optimists and pessimists differ in their
approach to the world have substantial impact on their lives.

• These people differ in how they confront problems; they

differ in how well they cope with adversity; they also differ
in their resources, both social and socioeconomic.
Optimism and pessimism
When something bad happens - like having a fight with
someone you love, or losing your job, or getting a bad grade
on a test…..

• Optimistic thinkers believe that what caused the problem

can be changed and they believe that problems in one area
of their life won't necessarily lead to problems in all areas
of their life.

• Pessimistic thinkers, in contrast, believe that they are the

sole cause of their problems, that those problems are going
to last forever, and that they are going to seep into every
aspect of their lives.
Optimism and pessimism
Research has shown that
optimists tend to have somewhat
higher levels of extraversion
and self-esteem, and lower
levels of neuroticism, stress,
anxiety, and hopelessness.
Optimism is a Thinking Style
• Optimism is a style of thinking, not a permanent part of
your character. So, just like you can change the style of
clothes you wear, you can learn to change your style of
thinking. This point is critical. You can learn to think
optimistically. Your children can learn to think
optimistically.

• Pessimistic thinking can be replaced with optimistic

thinking. And the reason this matters is that optimism is a
significant determinant of mental health, academic and
work success, physical health and overall happiness.
The Expectancy-Value Models of Motivation

Expectancy-value theories assume that

behavior reflects the pursuit of goals:
desired states or actions. The more
important a given goal is to the person,
the greater its value.
The Expectancy-Value Models of Motivation
• Expectancy-value models begin with the idea that behavior is aimed at
attaining desired goals. Goals are actions, end-states, or values that
people see as being either desirable or undesirable. People try to fit their
behavior to what they see as desirable. They try to stay away from what
they see as undesirable. According to this theoretical orientation, unless
there is a valued goal, no action occurs.

• The other core concept is expectancies: a sense of confidence or doubt

about attaining the goal. If a person lacks confidence, again there is no
action. Only if they have enough confidence do people engage (and remain
engaged) in goal-directed effort. These ideas apply to specific values and
focused confidence; they also apply to optimism and pessimism. In the
latter case, the sense of “confidence” versus doubt is simply broader in
its focus.
The Expectancy-Value Models of Motivation
• Explanatory Style - Whether or not you are vulnerable to
helplessness depends on the way you explain things to yourself. In
short:
Optimism - reacting to setbacks from a presumption of personal
power
• Bad events are temporary setbacks
• Isolated to particular circumstances
• Can be overcome by my effort and abilities
Pessimism - reacting to setbacks from a presumption of personal
helplessness:
• Bad events will last a long time (permanence)
• Will undermine everything I do (pervasive)
• Are my fault (personal)
The importance of optimism
Consequences of difficulties
• Behavioral responses are important, but behavior is not the only
response when people confront adversity. People also experience
emotions in such situations.

• Difficulties elicit many feelings, feelings reflecting both distress

and challenge. The balance among such feelings differs between
optimists and pessimists. Because optimists expect good outcomes,
they are likely to experience a more positive mix of feelings.

• Because pessimists expect bad outcomes, they should experience

more negative feelings—anxiety, sadness, and despair. A good deal
of research has found evidence of such emotional differences.
 The importance of optimism
Optimism and Resilience: Optimism leads to Persistence
• We know that optimism is a necessary
ingredient of resilience. Research shows that
part of what enables people to thrive, despite
setback, failure, and hardship, is the ability to
think optimistically in the face of adversity.

• Optimistic thinking motivates people - adults

and children - to continue to persist and to work
to find solutions, even when situations look
bleak.
The importance of optimism
Optimism and Subjective Well-Being
• When people confront adversity or difficulty, they experience
a variety of emotions, ranging from excitement and eagerness
to anger, anxiety, and depression. The balance among these
feelings appears to relate to people’s degree of optimism or
pessimism.
• Optimists are people who expect to have positive outcomes,
even when things are hard. This confidence should yield a mix
of feelings that is relatively positive.

• Pessimists expect negative outcomes. This doubt should yield

a greater tendency toward negative feelings—anxiety, guilt,
anger, sadness, or despair.
Teach Optimism
Can Pessimists Become Optimists?
• Of the many ways to try to turn a pessimist into an optimist, the most
straightforward may be the group of techniques known collectively as
cognitive-behavioral therapies. Indeed, trying to turn pessimists (either
focused or generalized) into optimists seems an apt characterization of the
main thrust of these therapies. Their earliest applications were to problems
such as depression and anxiety (Beck, 1967). The logic behind them was that
people with these problems make a variety of unduly negative distortions in
their minds (e.g., “I can’t do anything right”). The unrealistically negative
thoughts cause negative affect (dysphoria, anxiety) and set people up to stop
trying to reach their goals.

• In such cases, the distortions closely resemble what we would imagine to be

the interior monologue of the pessimist.
Teach Optimism
Can Pessimists Become Optimists?
• If unduly negative cognitions and self statements define the
nature of the problem, the goal of the cognitive therapies is to
change the cognitions, make them more positive, and thereby
reduce distress and allow renewed effort.

• Many techniques exist for producing such changes. In general,

this approach to therapy begins by having people pay close
attention to their experience, to identify points where distress
arises and also the thoughts associated with (or immediately
preceding) these distress points. The idea is to make the
person more aware of what are now automatic thoughts.
 Hope matters.
Hope is a choice.
Hope can be learned.
Hope can be shared with others.

Cognitive-Focused Approach
The Power of Hope
Hope
• Another construct that resembles optimism, and which
has its own substantial literature, is hope.
• Hope is said to have two parts. One part is the person’s
perception of the existence of pathways that are
needed for the person to reach his or her goals.
• The second is the person’s level of confidence of being
able to use those pathways to reach the goals. Thus,
hope has been characterized as reflecting both the will
(confidence) and the ways (pathways).
What is Hope?
According to Snyder et al. (1991) hope is “a positive
cognitive state based on a sense of successful goal-
directed determination and planning to meet these
goals”.

In other words, hope is like a snap-shot of a person’s

current goal-directed thinking, highlighting the
motivated pursuit of goals and the expectation that
those goals can be achieved.
What is Hope?
• According to Snyder’s Hope Theory (Snyder, 1991),
hopefulness is a life-sustaining human strength comprised of
three distinct but related components:

• Goals Thinking – the clear conceptualization of valuable goals.

• Pathways Thinking – the capacity to develop specific
strategies to reach those goals.

• Agency Thinking – the ability to initiate and sustain the

motivation for using those strategies.
When you feel hopeless, it is difficult to take
any steps toward change.
• In 1965 Martin Seligman "discovered" learned helplessness. He found
that when animals are subjected to difficult situations they cannot
control, they stop trying to escape. They become passive.

• Human beings are the same. If you experience devastating defeats, a

persistent situation that you can't change, or a terrifying event that
you could not control your exposure to, then you may have lost hope for
your ability to change your life or to change painful situations.

• Sometimes an ongoing mood disorder can lead to feelings of

hopelessness.
• Apathy or hopelessness may be puzzling to those
around you. Why wouldn't you try to get a job, make
friends, eat healthier, or leave someone who is
abusive? When you have no hope, you see any
efforts to change your life as futile. You may blame
yourself. You might say that you cannot manage life,
cannot make friends, and cannot succeed in getting a
job. You accept whatever happens as beyond your
control. You may begin to despair.
 Types of Hope
1. Realistic Hope
• Realistic hope is hope for an outcome that is
reasonable or probable.

• According to Eaves, Nichter, & Ritenbaugh (2016)

being realistic is a way of hoping that allows individuals
to observe and understand their situation while still
maintaining openness toward the possibility of positive
change.
 Types of Hope
2. Utopian Hope
• This way of hoping is a collectively oriented hope
that can lead to a better future for all. According
to (Webb, 2013) the utopian hoper critically negates
the present and is driven by hope to affirm a better
alternative. Consider utopian hope presented by a
political movement; a movement that effectively
articulates the hopes of a social group to expand the
horizons of possibility.
 Types of Hope
3. Chosen Hope

• Hope not only helps us live with a difficult present but also
with an uncertain future. In addition to physical suffering,
a diagnosis of a serious or terminal illness is a major
contributor to psychiatric syndromes and distress.
Understandably, multiple factors such as grief, fear, and
concerns about loved ones can contribute to experiences
of hopelessness within this population.
 Types of Hope
4. Transcendent Hope
• According to Eaves, Nichter, & Ritenbaugh (2016), transcendent
hope encompasses three types of hope, namely:

• Patient Hope – a hope that everything will work out well in the end.
• Generalized Hope – hope not directed toward a specific outcome.
• Universal Hope – a general belief in the future and a defense
against despair in the face of challenges.

Also referred to as existential hope, transcendent hope describes

a stance of general hopefulness not tied to a specific outcome or
goal; put simply, it is the hope that something good can happen.
Hope and Emotion
• Although most other views have characterized hope as an emotion
(Farina, Hearth, & Popovich, 1995), we have emphasized the thinking
processes in hope theory. Specifically, we posit that positive emotions
should flow from perceptions of successful goal pursuit.

• Perception of successful goal pursuit may result from unimpeded

movement toward desired goals, or it may reflect instances in which the
protagonist has effectively overcome any problems or blockages.

• Negative emotions, on the other hand, are the product of unsuccessful

goal pursuits. The perceptions of unsuccessful goal pursuit can stem
from insufficient agentic and/or pathway thinking or the inability to
overcome a thwarting circumstance. We thus are proposing that goal-
pursuit cognitions cause emotions.
What does it mean to be high hope?
High Hope People Believe:

1. The future will be better than the

present.

2. I have the power to make it so.

3. There are many paths to my goals.

4. None of them is free of obstacles.

Benefits of Having Hope
1. Hope is significantly correlated with superior academic and athletic performance,
greater physical and psychological well-being, improved self-esteem, and enhanced
interpersonal relationships.

2. Individuals with high hope are more likely to view stressful situations as challenging
rather than threatening, thereby reducing the intensity and hindering the
proliferation of stress.

3. Hope can be perceived as a protective factor against the development of chronic

anxiety. Michael (2000) found that hope correlates significantly and negatively with
anxiety, while also protecting against perceptions of vulnerability, uncontrollability,
and unpredictability.
Benefits of Having Hope

4. Hope is a motivational factor that helps initiate and sustain action toward long-
term goals, including the flexible management of obstacles that get in the way of goal
attainment. High-hope individuals can conceptualize their goals clearly; establishing
goals based on their own previous performances. In this way, hopeful individuals have
greater control over how they will pursue goals and are intrinsically motivated to find
multiple pathways to successful goal attainment (Conti, 2000).
Benefits of Having Hope
5. Snyder et al. (2002) found that high hope college students were more
likely to graduate than their low hope counterparts. Their findings indicated
that students with low hope graduated at an overall 40.27% rate as
compared with 56.50% of high-hope students. Additionally, low hope students
were also at greater risk of being dismissed (25%) relative to their high hope
peers (7.1%).
6. Hope is positively related to overall life satisfaction (Roesch & Vaughn,
2006).
7. Hope, with its in-built orientation towards the future, motivates
individuals to maintain their positive involvement in life regardless of any
limitations imposed upon them (Rideout & Montemuro, 1986).
How to develop hope?
There are many ways to find hope. You may have your own way.

1. Find a clear path.

Being able to see how the steps you are taking will lead to desired
change is critical to having hope. If you don't logically see how
what you are doing can have a positive result, then carrying out the
plan will likely be difficult.

Write down each step that you need to take to get where you want
to be. If someone else is working with you, then push him or her to
explain how the steps lead to the results you want.
How to develop hope?
2. Look for role models who have found solutions.

There are many, many people who have overcome tremendous

adversity. Reading their stories and surrounding yourself with
supportive messages and people can help you build hope.

3. Do what you know you can do.

When you are in despair, taking one step that is out of your routine can
help break the sense of powerlessness you have. Make your bed. Cook
dinner. Talk to a friend. Take a step you know you can do and that
action can make a difference over time. Keep doing it, and then try to
add more actions. Overcoming the inertia of helplessness can help you
build hope.
How to develop hope?
4. Perform an act of kindness.

Doing acts of kindness can have a dramatic effect on your

mood and outlook. Kindness triggers the release of
serotonin, so it has an anti-depressant effect. It also
calms stress and helps reduce pain.

Small acts of kindness that you do repeatedly can help you

feel more connected and have a greater sense of
contribution. Notice that doing acts of kindness repeatedly
is important. Do acts of kindness daily. Even watching
others perform acts of kindness can have a positive
effect.
How to develop hope?
5. Practice mindfulness while doing acts of kindness and in
your everyday life.

Your thoughts may naturally wander to the past and focus on

events that didn’t work out or other situations that were
painful. That will often add to your depression and
hopelessness. When you are depressed, you have difficulty
seeing any positive events or remembering that you were ever
happy.

• When you focus your attention on the here and now, you are
able to find more peace and less stress.