The expectancy construct has a wide range of applicability. People who are confident about eventually reaching an outcome will per severe even in the face of great adversity. They may stop prematurely, or the action may never really start. If people doubt they can reach a goal, they may withdraw effort toward it. The other facet of this motivational model is expectancy-confidence that the goal can be attained. The more important a given goal is to the person, the greater its value (see Austin & Vancouver, 1996 Carver & Scheier, 1998 Higgins, 2006).

Expectancy-value theories assume that behavior reflects the pursuit of goals: desired states or actions. This links these ideas to a long history of expectancy-value models of motivation.

Scientific definitions of optimism and pessimism focus on expectancies for the future. Indeed, the pattern of associations that optimism has with various behavioral and cognitive tendencies may give us broader hints about the nature of optimal living. In sum, the trait of optimism may provide cognitive, coping, and contextual resources that promote better mental health. Finally, at the broadest levels, optimism clusters with other factors such as socioeconomic status and social integration, which as a group have protective effects for both mental and physical health ( House, Landis, & Umberson, 1988 Kawachi & Berkman, 2001 Lorant et al., 2003). Further, optimism appears to confer resilience to stressful life events, which are associated with risk for both onset and relapse of psychopathology (e.g., Ellicott, Hammen, Gitlin, Brown, & Jamison, 1990 Finlay-Jones & Brown, 1981). At the most basic level, optimism by definition is inversely related to hopelessness, a risk factor for depressive disorders ( Alloy et al., 2006). Individual differences in optimism are relevant to clinical psychology because this dimension is associated, both directly and indirectly, and at both an individual and a social level, with risk for psychopathology. 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. The ways in which optimists and pessimists differ in their approach to the world have substantial impact on their lives. This rather simple difference-anticipating good versus anticipating bad-is linked to core processes that underlie behavior. Research over the past two and a half decades suggests that the folk wisdom is right (at least in this case). Folk psychology has long held that these differences among people are important. Optimists are people who expect good things to happen to them pessimists are people who expect bad things to happen to them. In sum, the behavioral patterns of optimists appear to provide models of living for others to learn from. Although there are instances in which optimism fails to convey an advantage, and instances in which it may convey a disadvantage, those instances are relatively rare. Optimists also appear to fare better than pessimists in relationships. Some evidence suggests that optimism relates to more persistence in educational efforts and to higher later income. The energetic, task-focused approach that optimists take to goals also relates to benefits in the socioeconomic world. Consistent with such findings, optimism is also related to indicators of better physical health. There is evidence that optimism is associated with taking proactive steps to protect one's health, whereas pessimism is associated with health-damaging behaviors. Consistent with such findings, optimism has been linked to higher levels of engagement coping and lower levels of avoidance, or disengagement, coping. Higher levels of optimism have been related prospectively to better subjective well-being in times of adversity or difficulty (i.e., controlling for previous well-being). Optimism is an individual difference variable that reflects the extent to which people hold generalized favorable expectancies for their future.

Optimism definition psychology