OPTIMISM AND PERCEIVED CONTROL OF LIFE EVENTS AS RELATED TO PERSONALITY

Earlier research has shown people to have an optimistic bias-to believe that positive events were more likely and negative events less likely to occur to themselves as compared with persons like themselves. We had Ss rate the probability of positive and negative events occurring to themselves as compared with others, rate the degree to which they believed event occurrence to be under personal control, and complete the revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire. Our Ss were slightly optimistic concerning positive events, substantially more optimistic about negative events, and felt that they were in moderate to strong control of event occurrence. Persons who believed that positive events were more likely to occur and negative events less likely to occur to themselves also believed that they had more control over the occurrence of events. Except for an association of optimism concerning positive events and extraversion, the only significant associations of optimism and of control were with neuroticism, with persons higher in neuroticism being less optimistic about positive events and (to a greater degree) more pessimistic about negative events, and believing that they had less control over positive and (to a greater degree) negative events. © 1991.