Dispositional optimism and engagement: the moderating influence of goal prioritization.

Full Abstract

Research indicates that a positive relationship generally exists between dispositional optimism and goal engagement and attainment. The authors argue, however, that dispositional optimism may not always be associated with more active goal pursuit. Rather, they hypothesized that this relationship is moderated by how highly a goal is prioritized. For high-priority goals, they predicted that optimistic individuals would indeed increase goal engagement and would be more likely to attain their goal relative to individuals low in optimism. For low-priority goals, they anticipated that optimistic individuals would not display greater goal engagement or attainment. In 5 studies they assessed these predictions across a variety of domains, including friendship formation, exercise persistence, and scholastic achievement. Results supported their contention that goal priority acts as a moderator of the relationship between dispositional optimism and both goal engagement and goal attainment. Evidence of 1 mediator of this moderation effect-behavioral intentions-and of a limiting factor-the temporal ordering of goals-is also presented. (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved.

Author information

Author/s: Geers, Andrew L (AL); Wellman, Justin A (JA); Lassiter, G Daniel (GD);

Affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Toledo, Toledo, OH 43606-3390, USA. ageers(-atsign-)utnet.utoledo.edu

Grants: R03 NS051687 (Agency:NINDS NIH HHS)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

Journal: Journal of personality and social psychology (J Pers Soc Psychol), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2009-Apr; vol 96 (issue 4) : pp 913-32

Dates: Created 2009/03/24; Completed 2009/05/28;

PMID: 19309211, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 5/28/2009, IMS Date: 28 May 2009 00:00:00)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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