Weinstein defined this phenomenon “unrealistic optimism”. This bias reflects the optimist’s conviction that positive events are more likely to occur to him/herself while negative events prevalently affect others. Referring to the viewpoint of Social Cognition, a third perspective sustains that optimism is the consequence of a cognitive underestimation of risk, in other words, a “bias” for the Self. They think that they can avoid problems in daily life and prevent them from happening, and therefore they cope with stressful situations more successfully than pessimists. Optimists believe that positive events are more stable and frequent than negative ones. In open contrast, studies carried out by Peterson and Seligman, that were prevalently directed towards the understanding of the psychological bases of pessimism, lead to conception of its opposite, optimism, as an “attributional style”, characterized by the tendency to believe that negative events are inconstant (the negative event will not repeat itself), external (I am not responsible for the event) and specific (the event is “specific”, self-limiting and will not influence any other activities of mine and my life).

Optimistic subjects tend to have more frequently protective attitudes, are more resilient to stress and are inclined to use more appropriate coping strategies. In the research carried out regarding this perspective, positive correlations have been found between optimism and physical/mental well-being. Optimistic individuals are positive about events in daily life. Scheier and Carver theorized the “disposition” towards optimism in their studies, called “dispositional optimism”, considering it a trait of an equilibrated personality, in time and in various situations, that influences the way in which individuals come to terms with present, past and future events in life. Over the last few years, a significant body of research has been carried out about the effectiveness of optimism as a psychological phenomenon, leading to various theoretical formulations of the same concept, understood as “disposition”, “attributional style”, “cognitive bias”, or “shared illusion”. Optimism may significantly influence mental and physical well-being by the promotion of a healthy lifestyle as well as by adaptive behaviours and cognitive responses, associated with greater flexibility, problem-solving capacity and a more efficient elaboration of negative information.Īs it is commonly understood, the term ‘optimism’ embraces two closely correlated concepts: the first is the inclination to hope, while the second more generally refers to the tendency to believe that we live in “the best of all possible worlds”, as coined by the German philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz in his famous theodicy, ridiculed in Voltaire’s Candide.

There is evidence that optimistic people present a higher quality of life compared to those with low levels of optimism or even pessimists. Through employment of specific coping strategies, optimism exerts an indirect influence also on the quality of life. A significant positive relation emerges between optimism and coping strategies focused on social support and emphasis on positive aspects of stressful situations. Positive and negative expectations regarding the future are important for understanding the vulnerability to mental disorders, in particular mood and anxiety disorders, as well as to physical illness. This overview is an attempt to explore the “optimism” concept and its relations with mental health, physical health, coping, quality of life and adaptation of purpose, health lifestyle and risk perception. Many studies have been carried out about the effectiveness of optimism as a psychological phenomenon, leading to various theoretical formulations of the same concept, conceptualized as “disposition”, “attributional style”, “cognitive bias”, or “shared illusion”.

In between optimism and pessimism