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Assessment of Mouse Judgment Bias through an Olfactory Digging Task

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Optimists or optimistic? A taxometric study of optimism.

Katherine V Eichner¹, Paul Kwon¹, David K Marcus¹

¹Department of Psychology.

Psychological Assessment

|July 29, 2014

Summary

Optimism is a continuous trait, not two distinct groups. Research suggests treating optimism as dimensional, not dichotomous, to accurately reflect individual differences in hope and outlook.

Area of Science:

Psychology
Personality Science

Background:

Researchers often dichotomize optimism into optimists and pessimists.
This approach treats optimism as a categorical variable, potentially oversimplifying its nature.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate whether optimism is a dimensional or taxonic (categorical) variable.
To provide empirical evidence to guide the measurement and conceptualization of optimism in research.

Main Methods:

Taxometric analyses were conducted on data from 510 college students.
Three indicators derived from measures of hope and optimism were utilized.

Main Results:

The taxometric analyses consistently indicated that optimism is a dimensional variable.

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Evidence supports a continuous, rather than categorical, understanding of optimism.

Conclusions:

Optimism should be treated as a continuous variable in psychological research.
Dichotomizing optimism may lead to inaccurate interpretations and loss of valuable information.