International Optimism: Correlates and Consequences of Dispositional Optimism across 61 Countries

Erica BARANSKI; Kate SWEENY; Gwendolyn GARDINER; David C. FUNDER; International Situation Project; Victoria Wai-Lan YEUNG

doi:10.1111/jopy.12582

International Optimism: Correlates and Consequences of Dispositional Optimism across 61 Countries

Erica BARANSKI^*, Kate SWEENY, Gwendolyn GARDINER, David C. FUNDER, International Situation Project, Victoria Wai-Lan YEUNG

^*Corresponding author for this work

Department of Applied Psychology

Research output: Journal Publications › Journal Article (refereed) › peer-review

24 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Objective
The current exploratory study sought to examine dispositional optimism, or the general expectation for positive outcomes, around the world.

Method
Dispositional optimism and possible correlates were assessed across 61 countries (N = 15,185; mean age = 21.92; 77% female). Mean‐level differences in optimism were computed along with their relationships with individual and country‐level variables.

Results
Worldwide, mean optimism levels were above the midpoint of the scale. Perhaps surprisingly, country‐level optimism was negatively related to GDP per capita, population density, and democratic norms and positively related to income inequality and perceived corruption. However, country‐level optimism was positively related to projected economic improvement. Individual‐level optimism was positively related to individual well‐being within every country, although this relationship was less strong in countries with challenging economic and social circumstances.

Conclusions
While individuals around the world are generally optimistic, societal characteristics appear to affect the degree to which their optimism is associated with psychological well‐being, sometimes in seemingly anomalous ways.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	288-304
Number of pages	17
Journal	Journal of Personality
Volume	89
Issue number	2
Early online date	7 Aug 2020
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12582
Publication status	Published - Apr 2021

Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. The Center for Open Science built and hosted the multi-lingual data-gathering web site. The research was supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation under Grant BCS-1528131. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the individual researchers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. Data gathering in the Czech Republic were supported by grant 17-14387S by the Czech Science Foundation and by institutional research funding RVO: 68081740 from the Institute of Psychology, Czech Academy of Sciences. Data gathering in Chile were partly supported by the Centre for Social Conflict and Cohesion Studies (FONDAP 15130009) and Center for Intercultural and Indigenous Research (CIIR) (FONDAP 15110006).

Keywords

cross-cultural
dispositional optimism
well-being

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1111/jopy.12582

Cite this

@article{0a161221518b4ecbb0af2a469541e461,

title = "International Optimism: Correlates and Consequences of Dispositional Optimism across 61 Countries",

abstract = "ObjectiveThe current exploratory study sought to examine dispositional optimism, or the general expectation for positive outcomes, around the world.MethodDispositional optimism and possible correlates were assessed across 61 countries (N = 15,185; mean age = 21.92; 77% female). Mean‐level differences in optimism were computed along with their relationships with individual and country‐level variables.ResultsWorldwide, mean optimism levels were above the midpoint of the scale. Perhaps surprisingly, country‐level optimism was negatively related to GDP per capita, population density, and democratic norms and positively related to income inequality and perceived corruption. However, country‐level optimism was positively related to projected economic improvement. Individual‐level optimism was positively related to individual well‐being within every country, although this relationship was less strong in countries with challenging economic and social circumstances.ConclusionsWhile individuals around the world are generally optimistic, societal characteristics appear to affect the degree to which their optimism is associated with psychological well‐being, sometimes in seemingly anomalous ways.",

keywords = "cross-cultural, dispositional optimism, well-being",

author = "Erica BARANSKI and Kate SWEENY and Gwendolyn GARDINER and FUNDER, {David C.} and {International Situation Project} and Maite BERAMENDI and Brock BASTIAN and Aljoscha NEUBAUER and Diego CORTEZ and Eric ROTH and Ana TORRES and ZANINI, {Daniela S.} and Kristina PETKOVA and Jessica TRACY and Catherine AMIOT and Mathieu PELLETIER‐DUMAS and Roberto GONZ{\'A}LEZ and Ana ROSENBLUTH and Sergio SALGADO and Yanjun GUAN and Yu YANG and FORERO, {Diego A.} and Andr{\'e}s CAMARGO and Emmanouil PAPASTEFANAKIS and Georgios KRITSOTAKIS and Irene SPYRIDAKI and Evangelia FRAGKIADAKI and {\v Z}eljko JERNEI{\'C} and Martina H{\v R}EB{\'I}{\v C}KOV{\'A} and Sylvie GRAF and Pernille STR{\O}B{\AE}K and Anu REALO and Maja BECKER and Christelle MAISONNEUVE and Sofian EL‐ASTAL and {LADO GAMSAKHURDIA}, Vladimer and Matthias ZIEGLER and Lars PENKE and John RAUTHMANN and BUCHTEL, {Emma E.} and YEUNG, {Victoria Wai-Lan} and {\'A}gota KUN and Peter GADANECZ and Zolt{\'a}n VASS and M{\'a}t{\'e} SMOHAI and Abhijit DAS and Anagha LAVALEKAR and {ZAHRO AURELIA}, Meta and Dian KINAYUNG and Vanessa GAFFAR and Gavin SULLIVAN",

year = "2021",

month = apr,

doi = "10.1111/jopy.12582",

language = "English",

volume = "89",

pages = "288--304",

journal = "Journal of Personality",

issn = "0022-3506",

publisher = "Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd",

number = "2",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - International Optimism: Correlates and Consequences of Dispositional Optimism across 61 Countries

AU - BARANSKI, Erica

AU - SWEENY, Kate

AU - GARDINER, Gwendolyn

AU - FUNDER, David C.

AU - International Situation Project

AU - BERAMENDI, Maite

AU - BASTIAN, Brock

AU - NEUBAUER, Aljoscha

AU - CORTEZ, Diego

AU - ROTH, Eric

AU - TORRES, Ana

AU - ZANINI, Daniela S.

AU - PETKOVA, Kristina

AU - TRACY, Jessica

AU - AMIOT, Catherine

AU - PELLETIER‐DUMAS, Mathieu

AU - GONZÁLEZ, Roberto

AU - ROSENBLUTH, Ana

AU - SALGADO, Sergio

AU - GUAN, Yanjun

AU - YANG, Yu

AU - FORERO, Diego A.

AU - CAMARGO, Andrés

AU - PAPASTEFANAKIS, Emmanouil

AU - KRITSOTAKIS, Georgios

AU - SPYRIDAKI, Irene

AU - FRAGKIADAKI, Evangelia

AU - JERNEIĆ, Željko

AU - HŘEBÍČKOVÁ, Martina

AU - GRAF, Sylvie

AU - STRØBÆK, Pernille

AU - REALO, Anu

AU - BECKER, Maja

AU - MAISONNEUVE, Christelle

AU - EL‐ASTAL, Sofian

AU - LADO GAMSAKHURDIA, Vladimer

AU - ZIEGLER, Matthias

AU - PENKE, Lars

AU - RAUTHMANN, John

AU - BUCHTEL, Emma E.

AU - YEUNG, Victoria Wai-Lan

AU - KUN, Ágota

AU - GADANECZ, Peter

AU - VASS, Zoltán

AU - SMOHAI, Máté

AU - DAS, Abhijit

AU - LAVALEKAR, Anagha

AU - ZAHRO AURELIA, Meta

AU - KINAYUNG, Dian

AU - GAFFAR, Vanessa

AU - SULLIVAN, Gavin

PY - 2021/4

Y1 - 2021/4

N2 - ObjectiveThe current exploratory study sought to examine dispositional optimism, or the general expectation for positive outcomes, around the world.MethodDispositional optimism and possible correlates were assessed across 61 countries (N = 15,185; mean age = 21.92; 77% female). Mean‐level differences in optimism were computed along with their relationships with individual and country‐level variables.ResultsWorldwide, mean optimism levels were above the midpoint of the scale. Perhaps surprisingly, country‐level optimism was negatively related to GDP per capita, population density, and democratic norms and positively related to income inequality and perceived corruption. However, country‐level optimism was positively related to projected economic improvement. Individual‐level optimism was positively related to individual well‐being within every country, although this relationship was less strong in countries with challenging economic and social circumstances.ConclusionsWhile individuals around the world are generally optimistic, societal characteristics appear to affect the degree to which their optimism is associated with psychological well‐being, sometimes in seemingly anomalous ways.

AB - ObjectiveThe current exploratory study sought to examine dispositional optimism, or the general expectation for positive outcomes, around the world.MethodDispositional optimism and possible correlates were assessed across 61 countries (N = 15,185; mean age = 21.92; 77% female). Mean‐level differences in optimism were computed along with their relationships with individual and country‐level variables.ResultsWorldwide, mean optimism levels were above the midpoint of the scale. Perhaps surprisingly, country‐level optimism was negatively related to GDP per capita, population density, and democratic norms and positively related to income inequality and perceived corruption. However, country‐level optimism was positively related to projected economic improvement. Individual‐level optimism was positively related to individual well‐being within every country, although this relationship was less strong in countries with challenging economic and social circumstances.ConclusionsWhile individuals around the world are generally optimistic, societal characteristics appear to affect the degree to which their optimism is associated with psychological well‐being, sometimes in seemingly anomalous ways.

KW - cross-cultural

KW - dispositional optimism

KW - well-being

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U2 - 10.1111/jopy.12582

DO - 10.1111/jopy.12582

M3 - Journal Article (refereed)

C2 - 32770554

SN - 0022-3506

VL - 89

SP - 288

EP - 304

JO - Journal of Personality

JF - Journal of Personality

IS - 2

ER -

International Optimism: Correlates and Consequences of Dispositional Optimism across 61 Countries

Abstract

Funding

Keywords

UN SDGs

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