在过去几十年,乐观成为积极心理学领域的研究焦点之一。乐观是个体对未来持有的积极期望,持有这一积极信念的个体即使在困境中也能看到事物的积极面,付出持续努力,最终获得好的结果。大量研究表明乐观能够带来诸多益处,这可能与乐观者的应对方式或知觉偏差有关。未来研究应:深入研究乐观的认知特点;探索乐观的前因变量以及提高乐观水平的方式;最后应注意乐观可能带来的消极影响。 In the past decades, optimism has become a research focus in the field of Positive Psychology. As a positive expectation for future, optimism makes people look at the positive side of things and keep trying to get good results even they are in trouble. Lots of researches have shown that optimism is beneficial in many life domains. It may relate to the coping style or the perceptual bias of optimists. Future research should focus on the cognitive structure and the antecedents of optimism, finding ways to help people become more optimistic, and concerning the side effects of optimism.
Sharot,Kanai等人(2012)进一步对“信息转变”范式进行了补充, 来控制个体记忆效果对概率事件评估的影响。研究者让被试回忆之前呈现的相应积极和消极事件的概率为 P (C),整个过程中,被试的记忆错误为ME (A),并且研究者发现记忆错误与之前呈现该事件的概率无关,即发现个体对这些事件存在良好的记忆效果,个体并不是根据记忆经验对概率事件进行客观评估,而是以乐观和积极的方式进行概率评估。
乐观的研究最早在身体健康领域受到研究者关注。一项为期八年的对妇女的健康调查项目显示乐观者患冠状心脏疾病和死于该疾病相关原因的可能性更低(Tindle et al., 2009) 。相比悲观者,他们有更强的免疫反应功能(Szondy, 2004)、更快的痊愈速度(Ebrecht et al., 2004)以及更健康的饮食方式(Hingle et al., 2014)。
一些研究者对青少年群体进行研究,发现乐观者在学业上能够取得更好的成就。一项研究发现乐观能够预测学生的学业成绩,乐观与更少的辍学以及更好社会适应相联系(Solberg Nes et al., 2009)。在考试情境中,高乐观水平的女生体验较低的考试焦虑,并获得考试高分。有研究者认为,这可能是在追求多重目标的过程中,乐观者能够更好地平衡各目标间努力的付出(Segerstrom, 2006),例如对高优先目标增加投入,对低优先目标减少投入(Geers et al., 2009)。还有研究者对乐观与职业生涯成功之间的关系进行了研究,发现一个人的乐观倾向还影响职业生涯的成功与否(Peterson et al., 1988)。例如Seligman和Schulman (1986)在考察乐观型解释风格与人寿保险公司销售代理绩效表现之间关系时发现,前两年里,乐观型解释风格问卷得分排在前50%的销售代理比排在后50%的代理多卖出37%的保险。之后,研究者对103名新进销售代理人员进行一年的追踪调查也得出类似结果,乐观得分较低(排在后50%)的销售代理放弃工作的可能性是乐观得分较高(排在前50%)的同事的两倍。
4.3. 乐观与人际关系
人际关系领域是乐观研究的一个新领域。研究者发现,乐观与一种温暖而略占优势的人际风格相联系,乐观的男性对自己的人际关系更加满意,并且拥有更加和谐的夫妻关系(Smith et al., 2013)。相比悲观主义者,乐观主义者能成功地处理人际关系危机,而且他们的孩子也具有更好的适应性(Heinonen, et al., 2006)。
乐观是如何给个体带来益处的?一个可能的解释是乐观者和悲观者处理逆境的方法不同。在许多方面,这种差异反应在应对方式上。即乐观的人即使遇到困难也继续努力;悲观者遇到困难尝试逃避,甚至放弃。例如,在冠状动脉搭桥手术后,比起悲观病人,乐观的病人更可能参加心脏康复项目,摄入维生素和吃低油脂的食物。另一项对女性患乳腺癌患者的研究着重考察了两种应对反应:斗争精神(面对癌症并试着打败它)和无助,这两种对方式在乐观与一年后的生活质量间起中介作用(Schou et al., 2005)。Nes和Segerstrom (2006)的元分析显示,面对压力情景,乐观者与悲观者应对方式的差异主要表现在以下四个方面:乐观者倾向于面对问题、接受现实、坚持目标、问题聚焦;而悲观者倾向于逃避问题,否认现实、放弃目标、情绪聚焦。应对方式影响个体的主观幸福感和生活质量被大量研究证实,因此,乐观者比悲观者有更好的心理结果部分是因为他们应对方式上的差异。
杨玉洁,鄢梦茹. 乐观的研究现状与展望The Research Status and Prospects of Optimism[J]. 心理学进展, 2017, 07(04): 490-497. http://dx.doi.org/10.12677/AP.2017.74060
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