The Unique Contribution of Positive Orientation to Optimal Functioning
Further Explorations
Abstract
Literature documents that the judgments people hold about themselves, their life, and their future are important ingredients of their psychological functioning and well-being, and are commonly related to each other. In this paper, results from a large cross-sectional sample (N = 1,331, 48% males) are presented attesting to the hypothesis that evaluations about oneself, one’s life, and one’s future rest on a common mode of viewing experiences named “Positive Orientation.” These results corroborate the utility of the new construct as a critical component of individuals’ well functioning.
References
(
2008 ). An empirical test of the theory of positivity. Results from cross sectional, longitudinal and genetic data. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, “Sapienza”, University of Rome, Italy.(
2009 ). The contribution of positive orientation to well adjustment in the transition from late adolescence to emerging adulthood. Manuscript submitted for publication.(1995). Empirical analysis of factors in depressive cognition: The Cognitive Triad Inventory. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 51, 603–609.
(1997). A stitch in time: self-regulation and proactive coping. Psychological Bulletin, 121, 417–436.
(1997). A hierarchical model of love and its prediction of satisfaction in close relationships. In , Satisfaction in close relationships (pp. 79–101). New York, NY: Guilford.
(1993). Self-esteem: The puzzle of low self-regard. New York, NY: Plenum.
(2003). Does high self-esteem cause better performance, interpersonal success, happiness, or healthier lifestyle?. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 4, 1–44.
(1985). Three cognitive theories of depression. Psychological Medicine, 15, 759–769.
(1967). Depression: Clinical, experimental, and theoretical aspects. New York, NY: Harper & Row.
(1987). Cognitive models of depression. Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy, 1, 5–37.
(1996). Infant positive and negative emotionality: One dimension or two? Developmental Psychology, 32, 289–298.
(1990). Comparative fit indexes in structural equation modelling. Psychological Bulletin, 107, 238–246.
(2000). Coping strategies, life style changes, and pessimism after open-heart surgery. Health, Society and Work, 25, 201–209.
(2010). Broad and narrow personality traits for predicting managerial success. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 19, 1464–0643.
(1997). Affective traits, responses to conflict, and satisfaction in romantic relationships. Journal of Research in Personality, 71, 796–809.
(1991). Conventional wisdom on measurement: A structural equation perspective. Psychological Bulletin, 110, 305–314.
(1998). Cognitive processing, discovery of meaning, CD4 decline, and AIDS-related mortality among bereaved HIV-seropositive mean. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 66, 979–986.
(1993). Alternative ways of assessing model fit. In , Testing structural equation models. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
(1981). The sense of well-being in America: Recent patterns and trends. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
(1989). Psychometric properties of fourteen latent constructs from the Oregon Youth Study. New York, NY: Springer-Verlag.
(2009). Optimal functioning: Turning potentials into well being. Keynote at The 23rd Annual Conference of the European Health Psychology Society Pisa September 25. Pisa, Italy..
(2010). Optimal functioning: The contribution of self efficacy beliefs to positive orientation. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 79, 328–330.
(
2010 ). Positive orientation across countries. Manuscript submitted for publication.(2009). Human optimal functioning: The genetics of positive orientation towards self, life, and the future. Behaviour Genetics, 39, 277–284.
(2005). Affective and social self-regulatory efficacy beliefs as determinants of positive thinking and happiness. European Psychologist, 4, 275–286.
(2006). The contribution of self-regulatory efficacy beliefs in managing affect and family relationships to positive thinking and hedonic balance. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 25, 601–625.
(2010). Positive orientation: Explorations on what is common to life satisfaction, self-esteem, and optimism. Epidemiologia e psichiatria Sociale, 19, 63–71.
(1995). Emotional behavior in long-term marriage. Psychology and Aging, 10, 140–149.
(1993). How coping mediates the effects of optimism and distress: A study of women with early stage breast cancer. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 375–390.
(2002). Optimism. In , Handbook of positive psychology (pp. 231–243). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
(1999). Scientific foundations of cognitive theory and therapy of depression. New York, NY: Wiley.
(2004). The costly pursuit of self-esteem. Psychological Bulletin, 130, 392–414.
(2004). Emotions and feelings: A neurobiological perspective. In , Feelings and emotions: The Amsterdam Symposium (pp. 49–57). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
(2001). Positive emotions in early life and longevity: Findings from the nun study. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80, 804–813.
(1984). Subjective well-being. Psychological Bulletin, 95, 542–575.
(1995). Cross-cultural correlates of life satisfaction and self-esteem. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 68, 653–663.
(1985). The satisfaction with life scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49, 71–75.
(1999). Self-esteem in childhood and adolescence: Vaccine or epiphenomenon? Applied and Preventive Psychology, 8, 103–117.
(2001). Multidimensional constructs in organizational behavior research: An integrative analytical framework. Organizational Research Methods, 4, 144–192.
(2001). Self-esteem: The costs and consequences of low self-worth. York, UK: York.
(1999). Evaluating the use of exploratory factor analysis in psychological research. Psychological Methods, 4, 272–299.
(1975). Belief, attitude, intention, and behavior: An introduction to theory and research. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
(2000). Performance of modified test statistics in covariance and correlation structure analysis under conditions of multivariate nonnormality. Structural Equation Modeling, 7, 356–410.
(2001). The role of positive emotions in positive psychology. The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. American Psychologist, 56, 218–26.
(2005). Positive emotions broaden the scope of attention and thought-action repertoires. Cognition and Emotion, 19, 313–332.
(1987). Perspectives on anxiety and impulsivity: A commentary. Journal of Research in Personality, 21, 493–509.
(1992). Why do people need self-esteem? Converging evidence that self-esteem serves an anxiety-buffering function. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63, 913–922.$.
(1991). Empirical status of cognitive theory of depression. Psychological Bulletin, 110, 215–236.
(1967). Modern factor analysis. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
(2003). Clarifying the emotive functions of asymmetrical frontal cortical activity. Psychophysiology, 40, 838–848.
(2006). The self. In , Handbook of child psychology, Vol. 3: Social, emotional, and personality development (6th ed. pp. 505–570). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
(2006). Separating optimism and pessimism: A robust psychometric analysis of the revised life orientation test (LOT–R). Psychological Assessment, 18, 433–438.
(1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling, 6, 1–55.
(2006). Getting to the core of core self-evaluation: A review and recommendations. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 29, 391–413.
(2003). Cognitive and psychosocial predictors of subjective well-being in urban older adults. Clinical Neuropsychologist, 17, 3–18.
(1998). The power of being positive: The relation between positive self-concept and job performance. Human Performance, 11, 167–187.
(1998). Emotion, social function, and psychopathology. Review of General Psychology, 2, 320–342.
(2003). Toward a conceptualization of optimal self-esteem. Psychological Inquiry, 14, 1–26.
(1998). Principles and practices of structural equation modeling. New York, NY: Guilford.
(1998). Individual differences in emotionality in infancy. Child Development, 64, 375–390.
(1968). Statistical theories of mental test scores. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
(2002). Broad versus narrow personality traits in predicting academic performance of adolescents. Learning and Individual Differences, 14, 65–75.
(1996). Discriminant validity of well-being measures. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71, 616–628.
(2005). The benefits of frequent positive affect: Does happiness lead to success? Psychological Bulletin, 131, 803–855.
(2005). The problem of measurement model misspecification in behavioral and organizational research and some recommended solutions. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90, 710–730.
(2000). Optimists vs. pessimist: Survival rate medical patients over a 30-year period. Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 75, 140–143.
(1981). Effects of self-esteem and performance feed-back on future affective preference and cognitive expectations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80, 472–488.
(2000). Beck’s cognitive triad: One versus three factors. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science, 32, 153–157.
(1996). A met-analytic review of research on hostility and physical health. Psychological Bulletin, 119, 322–348.
(2006). Mplus user’s guide. Los Angeles, CA: Muthén & Muthén.
(1999). Close relationships and quality of life. In , Well-being: The foundations of hedonic psychology (pp. 374–391). New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation.
(1998). Psychosocial adjustment variables as predictors of morality among nursing home residents. Psychology and Aging, 13, 368–374.
(1998). Catastrophizing and untimely death. Psychological Science, 9, 127–130.
(2003). Common method biases in behavioral research: A critical review of the literature and recommended remedies. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88, 879–903.
(2007). Method effects due to social desirability as a parsimonious explanation of the deviation from unidimensionality in LOT-R scores. Personality and Individual Differences, 42, 1597–1607.
(1999). Negative HIV-specific expectancies and AIDS-related bereavement as predictors of symptom onset in asymptomatic HIV-positive gay men. Health Psychology, 13, 299–307.
(1965). Society and the adolescent self-image. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
(2003). The role of emotion on pathways to positive health. In , Handbook of affective sciences (pp. 1083–1104). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
(1988). Scaling corrections for chi-square statistics in covariance structure analysis. Proceedings of the Business and Economics Sections of the American Statistical Association. pp. 308–313.
(2001). Adapting to cancer: The importance of hope and purpose. In , Psychosocial interventions for cancer (pp. 15–36). Washington DC, USA: American Psychological Association.
(1994). Distinguishing optimism from neuroticism (and trait anxiety, self-mastery, and self-esteem): A reevaluation of the Life Orientation Test. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67, 1063–1078.
(1989). Dispositional optimism and recovery from coronary artery bypass surgery: The beneficial effects on physical and psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57, 1024–1040.
(1999). Optimism and rehospitalization following coronary artery bypass graft surgery. Archives of Internal Medicine, 159, 829–835.
(2003). Predictive validity of explicit and implicit self-esteem for subjective well-being. Journal of Research in Personality, 37, 100–106.
(1998). Optimism is associated with mood, coping, and immune change in response to stress. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 1646–1655.
(1992). Hostility and health: Current status of a psychosomatic hypothesis. Health Psychology, 11, 139–150.
(1997). Satisfaction in close relationships. New York, NY: Guilford.
(1993). Multifaced conceptions of fit in structural equation models. In , Testing structural equation models (pp. 10–39). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
(1996). Positive illusions and coping with adversity. Journal of Personality, 64, 873–899.
(1985). Social power, self-presentation, and the self. In , The self and social life (pp. 293–322). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
(1999). Rosenberg’s self-esteem scale: Two factors or method effects. Structural Equation Modeling, 6, 84–98.
(1988). Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: The PANAS Scales. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 1063–1070.
(1984). Cognitive functioning in depression: A review of theory and research. Psychological Medicine, 14, 807–823.
(2000). Correlates of subjective well-being of Chinese elderly in Hong Kong. Journal of Social Work Research and Evaluation, 1, 165–184.
