Abstract
M.A.
The power of positive thinking to promote and maintain well-being has enjoyed widespread popular appeal. Spurred largely by the development of the Life Orientation Test (LOT) (Scheier & Carver, 1985), mounting evidence now attests to the apparent benefits conferred by an optimistic life outlook. Optimism, the inclination to expect favourable outcomes, has been linked to both psychological and physical well-being (Taylor, et al., 1992; Cheng & Hamid, 1997; Marshall, Wortman, Kusalas, Hervig, & Vickers, 1992; Scheier, Carver & Bridges, 1994; Scheier et al., 1989; Segerstrom, Taylor, Kemeny, & Fahey, 1998).
Optimists and pessimists have been shown to differ in the manner in which they cope with the challenges in their lives. They differ in their stable coping tendencies and in the kinds of coping responses that they spontaneously generate when given hypothetical coping situations (Scheier, Weintraub, & Carver, 1986). Optimists also differ from pessimists in the manner in which they cope with serious disease and with concerns about specific health threats (Friedman, et al., 1992), and these coping mechanisms in optimists in turn have been linked to improved physical and psychological functioning. There is also a clear biological link between optimism and physical well-being and this has been noted in such areas as immune functioning (Peterson & Bossio, 2002). The current study examines these apparent benefits of optimism on health and explores the medical bases for this connection. The study also examines whether these benefits may be of use in the treatment and recovery from the unique secondary medical complications experienced by those who are spinal cord injured.