Booth Robert W, Peker Müjde, Yavuz Burak Baran, Aksu Ayca
Sabanci University, Istanbul, Turkey.
MEF University, İstanbul, Turkey.
Pers Individ Dif. 2022 Jun;191:111576. doi: 10.1016/j.paid.2022.111576. Epub 2022 Feb 24.
Research has associated optimism with better health-protective behaviours, but few studies have measured optimism or pessimism directly, by asking participants to estimate probabilities of events. We used these probability estimates to examine how optimism and/or pessimism relate to protecting oneself from COVID-19. When COVID-19 first reached Turkey, we asked a snowball sample of 494 Istanbul adults how much they engaged in various COVID-protective behaviours. They also estimated the probabilities of their catching COVID-19, and of other positive and negative events happening to them. Estimated probability of general positive events (optimism) correlated positively with officially-recommended helpful behaviours (e.g. wearing masks), but not with less-helpful behaviours (e.g. sharing 'alternative' COVID-related information online). Estimated probabilities of general negative events (pessimism), or of catching COVID, did not correlate significantly with helpful COVID-related behaviours; but they did correlate with psychopathological symptoms, as did less-helpful COVID-related behaviours. This shows important nuances can be revealed by measuring optimism and pessimism, as separate variables, using probability estimates.
研究表明，乐观情绪与更好的健康保护行为相关，但很少有研究通过要求参与者估计事件发生的概率来直接衡量乐观或悲观情绪。我们利用这些概率估计来研究乐观和/或悲观情绪与预防新冠病毒的关系。当新冠病毒首次传入土耳其时，我们对494名伊斯坦布尔成年人进行了滚雪球抽样调查，询问他们参与各种新冠防护行为的程度。他们还估计了自己感染新冠病毒的概率，以及其他积极和消极事件发生在自己身上的概率。一般积极事件的估计概率（乐观情绪）与官方推荐的有益行为（如戴口罩）呈正相关，但与帮助较小的行为（如在网上分享“另类”新冠相关信息）无关。一般消极事件的估计概率（悲观情绪）或感染新冠的概率与有益的新冠相关行为没有显著相关性；但它们与心理病理症状相关，帮助较小的新冠相关行为也是如此。这表明，通过使用概率估计将乐观和悲观作为独立变量进行测量，可以揭示重要的细微差别。
