ISSN 1671-3710
CN 11-4766/R
主办:中国科学院心理研究所
出版:科学出版社

›› 2008, Vol. 16 ›› Issue (5): 745-752.

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Review of Foreign Studies on Defensive Pessimism

SU Yan-Li;ZHANG Jin-Fu   

  1. School of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
  • Received:2007-10-10 Revised:1900-01-01 Online:2008-09-15 Published:2008-09-15
  • Contact: ZHANG Jin-Fu

Abstract: Defensive pessimist is a cognitive strategy whereby certain individuals acknowledge prior success in achievement contexts, yet typically enter new achievement situations with unrealistically low expectations and ruminate about possible outcomes. There are two components underpinning defensive pessimism: defensive expectations and reflectivity. Defensive pessimism is mainly compared in relation to optimism, depression, and self-handicapping. The factors which induce individuals to use this strategy include not only affective and motivational constructs but some cultural and family reasons. Future studies should improve on the research subjects, measurement method, the region of the studies and cross-culture comparison

Key words: defensive pessimism, optimism, self-handicapping, depression

CLC Number: