HOW THIS TEST WORKS
How Am I an Optimist or a Pessimist? works
How version core-v1 is scored, and what it can and cannot tell you.
How it is scored
Optimism means expecting good things and believing that effort can help. Research links it with better coping, stronger health habits, and more persistence (Carver and others, 2010). Researchers also study how people explain bad events to themselves. Seeing a setback as temporary, limited to one area, and not all your fault is linked with a more hopeful outlook, and these habits can be learned (Seligman, 1990). Hopeful action, meaning a way forward plus belief you can follow it, is part of hope theory (Snyder, 2002).
This test looks at five areas: expecting good things, seeing setbacks as temporary, keeping problems in proportion, being fair to yourself, and hopeful action. Each area has eight sentences. Half describe a hopeful habit and half describe the opposite, so you cannot get a high score just by agreeing with everything. Each answer gives 0 to 4 points.
Each area score runs from 0 to 100, and a higher score means a more hopeful habit. Your overall score is the average of the five. Scores are read as Low (0 to 33), Medium (34 to 66), or High (67 to 100). These levels show how you answered. They do not compare you with other people.
PersonalitySite.com wrote all of these questions and descriptions. They are not copied from any other test.
What it cannot tell you
This test is for learning about yourself. It is not a diagnosis. It cannot tell you if you have depression, anxiety, or any other condition. Do not use it to hire, judge, or rank people.
Your outlook can change a lot with your mood, your health, and what is going on in your life. If you are going through a very hard time, your scores may be lower. That is a sign you need support, not a sign that you are doing something wrong.
This version has not yet been tested with a large group of people, so we do not yet know how accurate it is.