[Sometimes psychotic]

Learned Optimism Test

Learned optimism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Have you guys heard of this...you can take a test online that tells you whether you are optimistic or pessimistic....with regard to three subdivisions and whether it is a postive or negative thought. I came out overall very optimistic when it came to bad things I they will be transient, it wasn't my fault and it's just this one thing not the whole world against me. Ironically I'm just the opposite on postive things considered quite pessimistic ...really not because of me just luck or someone else's skill, probably just this one thing and not all things and probably not long lasting. The reality is I think identically about good and bad situations but this leads me to be very optimistic when it comes to bad things like recovery from a disease like sz but very pessimistic when it comes to my own role in the process as I attribute to great care and luck. Anyway it's really intersting you should try it if you have the time.

I've read about learned helplessness & Seligman for my social psychology essay (social theories for depression) so I found the test quite interesting. I understand what permanence, pervasiveness and personalisation is, but I didn't really understand what each score meant. Maybe my brain isn't working right today, or maybe I'm just not very bright! Lol

Anyway, I got:

Permanence bad = average, good = v pessimistic
Pervasiveness bad = moderately pessimistic, good = v pessimistic
Stuff of hope = mod hopeless
Personalisation bad = v low self-esteem, good = v pessimistic
Total bad = crying out for change, good = great pessimism
Good minus bad = v pessimistic

Can you simplify this for my weary brain Sometimes?!

*Willow*

[Sometimes psychotic]

Ok when things are bad you have a very typical idea of how long they will last but when things are good you assume they will be fleeting at best. Pervasiveness....if it's bad it's probably bad everywhere but if it's good it's probably just an isolated incidence and not an indicator of how the world is. Personalization...basically if it's bad then it's my fault but if it's good then there is nothing to do with me just luck or other people's hard word. I would say you are officially very pessimistic on average....but it can be changed...maybe something to talk about with your T?

Thanks for explaining Sometimes, that makes more sense now.

I've always said I was a realist rather than pessimistic, but everyone disagrees! Lol Maybe I'm a realist with v low self-esteem I do actually want to work on my self-esteem with the psychologist, so that's definitely something I'm going to bring up.

I still don't really understand the "total bad = crying out for change" and "total good = great pessimism" bit though...

Thanks Sometimes!

*Willow*

[Sometimes psychotic]

Originally Posted by WeepingWillow23

Thanks for explaining Sometimes, that makes more sense now.

I've always said I was a realist rather than pessimistic, but everyone disagrees! Lol Maybe I'm a realist with v low self-esteem I do actually want to work on my self-esteem with the psychologist, so that's definitely something I'm going to bring up.

I still don't really understand the "total bad = crying out for change" and "total good = great pessimism" bit though...

Thanks Sometimes!

*Willow*

Yeah I'm not totally sure because I didn't read the book...I just ran across this after watching a video on learned helplessness and then interpreted based on the feel of the questions and the Wikipedia article. Still I think it's very interesting.

[faerie_moon_x]

Well, I came out in permanence and pervasive to be moderately optimistic for bad and average for good, (not sure what average is, but I guess that's me.) I'm moderately hopeful. Personally I'm moderately low self-esteem for bad and moderately pessimistic for good.

My total bad score was average. My total good score was quite pessimistic. And my good minus bad was very pessimistic.

Pessimistic but hopeful.... hmmm....

[bluetriangle]

I'm a big believer of Seligman's Learned Optimism. Happy to answer questions if I can.

[Atypical_Disaster]

This is a cool post, I'm glad someone bumped it up! I took the test, I came out as quite optimistic overall.

[Loial]

I'm not surprised to find out it says I'm very optimistic overall.

My pervasiveness good was the only low one at very pessimistic. I've not looked up what that means yet though!

[junkDNA]

um wow

all of them said very pessimistic and one said severely hopeless and one said crying out for change

hmmmmmmm

[Jolisse]

I scored very optimistic, although I don't feel that I am.