Past research into optimism and pessimism has tended to view these constructs as polar opposites of a fixed personality trait that function in mutually exclusive ways. In the field of child development in particular, this has led to theory-driven work that not only accepts this dichotomy but also uses it to drive and explicate larger issues of resilience and vulnerability. The current thesis challenges the assumptions underpinning this conceptual framework, and, through the use of divergent methodologies, seeks to establish children’s optimism as a dynamic and adaptive process with predictive value during the developmental period. In the first two studies, predictors and correlates of putative dispositional optimism and pessimism in children and adolescents were examined. A significant age-related decline in optimism was found, but importantly a degree of functional independence between optimism and pessimism was also observed. The third study elicited more specific optimistic expectancies using a vignette methodology. This was seen to share some congruence with the earlier measures of dispositional optimism, but the study also elucidated some of the parameters and realism constraining children’s optimism. Again an age-related decline in optimism was demonstrated that was distinct from any associated changes in pessimism. The fourth and final study involved a pilot examination of the dimensionality of the optimism construct, confirming its functional independence from pessimism, and also demonstrating the fluidity and receptivity of children’s optimistic processes from an intervention perspective. From these various studies, it is concluded that optimistic and pessimistic processes in children and adolescents reflect functionally distinct pathways and drive different aspects of vulnerability and well-being. A reconfiguration of the extant theory in this area seems warranted. Based on this conceptual and methodological critique, a preliminary proposal is put forward towards a more substantive approach to the development of optimism and pessimism during childhood and adolescence. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1317136 / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Psychology, 2008

Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

Universities worldwide are developing a disturbing imbalance with their environments. In recent years, academic working conditions in South African universities have changed dramatically as a result of the country's post-apartheid policies and the accelerating globalisation of knowledge. Academic staff are continually confronted with an overload of job demands without corresponding increases in job resources. These prolonged job stressors that academic staff are subjected to over lengthy periods of time coupled with inadequate job resources can lead to the development of a pathogenically defined construct, namely burnout. The objective of this research was to investigate the relationships between burnout, strain, job characteristics and dispositional optimism in universities in the North-West Province. A cross-sectional design was used. The study population (N = 279) consisted of academic staff of universities in the North-West Province. The Maslach Burnout Inventory - General Survey (MBI-GS), The Life Orientation Test - Revised (LOT-R), Job Characteristics Scale (JCS) and General Health Questionnaire (GHQI9) were used as measuring instruments. Descriptive statistics (e.g. means, standard deviations and kurtosis) were used to analyse the data. Exploratory factor analysis and structural equation modelling were used to confirm the structure of the measuring instruments and to test theoretical models. The results showed that the stressors of overload was associated with high levels of exhaustion and low professional efficacy. Job resources (i.e. social support, task characteristics) were related to low levels of exhaustion and cynicism and higher levels of professional efficacy. Exhaustion and low professional efficacy were significantly related to physical and psychological health problems. Exhaustion and cynicism were negatively related to optimism, whereas professional efficacy were positively related to the latter. Optimism moderated the effects of a lack of resources on exhaustion and the effects of job resources on professional efficacy. / Thesis (M.Com. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2004.

Universities worldwide are developing a disturbing imbalance with their environments. In recent years, academic working conditions in South African universities have changed dramatically as a result of the country's post-apartheid policies and the accelerating globalisation of knowledge. Academic staff are continually confronted with an overload of job demands without corresponding increases in job resources. These prolonged job stressors that academic staff are subjected to over lengthy periods of time coupled with inadequate job resources can lead to the development of a pathogenically defined construct, namely burnout. The objective of this research was to investigate the relationships between burnout, strain, job characteristics and dispositional optimism in universities in the North-West Province. A cross-sectional design was used. The study population (N = 279) consisted of academic staff of universities in the North-West Province. The Maslach Burnout Inventory - General Survey (MBI-GS), The Life Orientation Test - Revised (LOT-R), Job Characteristics Scale (JCS) and General Health Questionnaire (GHQI9) were used as measuring instruments. Descriptive statistics (e.g. means, standard deviations and kurtosis) were used to analyse the data. Exploratory factor analysis and structural equation modelling were used to confirm the structure of the measuring instruments and to test theoretical models. The results showed that the stressors of overload was associated with high levels of exhaustion and low professional efficacy. Job resources (i.e. social support, task characteristics) were related to low levels of exhaustion and cynicism and higher levels of professional efficacy. Exhaustion and low professional efficacy were significantly related to physical and psychological health problems. Exhaustion and cynicism were negatively related to optimism, whereas professional efficacy were positively related to the latter. Optimism moderated the effects of a lack of resources on exhaustion and the effects of job resources on professional efficacy. / Thesis (M.Com. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2004.

South Africa's business environment is changing dramatically. Companies are continuously placed under pressure to reform. Government introduced clear guidelines in the form of transformation strategies to assist companies in moving towards a more democratic, non-racial and fully representative organisational structure. The two major strategies are coined Black Economic Empowerment and Affirmative Action. The aim of the strategies is to empower and uplift the previously disadvantaged communities of the Apartheid era. These communities include black people; who consist of Africans, Coloureds and Indians; women and disabled individuals. However, these strategies are perceived with mixed emotions. A sense of negativity is evident within the attitudes of all race groups. This may give rise to a new problem in the workplace: pessimism. Pessimism is associated with undesirable characteristics such as external, unstable and specific explanations for bad things and has emotional links to depression. Pessimists view problems as long lasting and inescapable, and tend to blame all misfortunes on their own ineptness and incompetence. On the other hand, optimism is associated with characteristics such as positive mood and good morale, happiness, perseverance and effective problem solving, achievement and health and even a long life and freedom from trauma. It is characterised by internal, stable and global explanations for bad things. A cross-sectional design with an availability sample (N 68) of junior and middle management workers working in a multinational industry was used. Nonprobability purposive sampling was applied in the selection of the study population. The results indicated that males experience more dispositional pessimism than women. Black employees also experienced more dispositional pessimism and optimism than white employees, and employees who attended Affirmative Action induction programmes displayed higher levels of optimism than those who have not attended such programmes. If the tendency towards pessimism increases the result may have devastating effects on the organisation as a whole. It is possible that performance will decline and organisational targets will not be reached. To address these issues organisations may need to change their structural planning in order to utilise males more productively, and to enhance a sense of empowerment. Companies should formulate clear goals with regard to what they want to gain from Affirmative Action programmes. Programmes should also be constantly revised and continuing evaluations must be carried out in order to track the effect of the programmes on the workforce. Recommendations were made for future research. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

South Africa's business environment is changing dramatically. Companies are continuously placed under pressure to reform. Government introduced clear guidelines in the form of transformation strategies to assist companies in moving towards a more democratic, non-racial and fully representative organisational structure. The two major strategies are coined Black Economic Empowerment and Affirmative Action. The aim of the strategies is to empower and uplift the previously disadvantaged communities of the Apartheid era. These communities include black people; who consist of Africans, Coloureds and Indians; women and disabled individuals. However, these strategies are perceived with mixed emotions. A sense of negativity is evident within the attitudes of all race groups. This may give rise to a new problem in the workplace: pessimism. Pessimism is associated with undesirable characteristics such as external, unstable and specific explanations for bad things and has emotional links to depression. Pessimists view problems as long lasting and inescapable, and tend to blame all misfortunes on their own ineptness and incompetence. On the other hand, optimism is associated with characteristics such as positive mood and good morale, happiness, perseverance and effective problem solving, achievement and health and even a long life and freedom from trauma. It is characterised by internal, stable and global explanations for bad things. A cross-sectional design with an availability sample (N 68) of junior and middle management workers working in a multinational industry was used. Nonprobability purposive sampling was applied in the selection of the study population. The results indicated that males experience more dispositional pessimism than women. Black employees also experienced more dispositional pessimism and optimism than white employees, and employees who attended Affirmative Action induction programmes displayed higher levels of optimism than those who have not attended such programmes. If the tendency towards pessimism increases the result may have devastating effects on the organisation as a whole. It is possible that performance will decline and organisational targets will not be reached. To address these issues organisations may need to change their structural planning in order to utilise males more productively, and to enhance a sense of empowerment. Companies should formulate clear goals with regard to what they want to gain from Affirmative Action programmes. Programmes should also be constantly revised and continuing evaluations must be carried out in order to track the effect of the programmes on the workforce. Recommendations were made for future research. / Thesis (M.A. (Industrial Psychology))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-05-14T12:11:47Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Arquivototal.pdf: 404618 bytes, checksum: 7478f1ecc220c20fee27f99bfacf2d86 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-09-19 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / The present dissertation consists in a research theoretical and bibliographical about the concepts of will and representation in understanding of the world, In order to demonstrate the connection between the concept of Will and the pessimistic aspect of philosophy by Schopenhauer, and between the concept of representation and the singular possibility of quieting the suffering generated by Will, this work is supported by the writings of the author himself and some commentators therefore was constructed as a dialogue with the philosopher on his theory, a bibliographic analysis thereof. The world is divided in two realities: the noumenal, the thing itself, a blind force, named Will, and the phenomenal, the subjective representations made by the the knowing subject. The noumenal reality, the Will, in humans causes a cycle of desires never satiated and prevent them from being happy. Schopenhauer's pessimism is sustained in the concept of Will. However, a state of bliss can be achieved, since we subdue the will to knowledge by the aesthetic contemplation , which abstracts the man momentarily from suffering; from compassion, which makes the individual forms disappear, making the man understand the other as himself, and finally through the asceticism, which mortifies definitely the Will, suppressing the material desires and bodily. Therefore, the possibility of a Blessed life, always singular, can only be achieved by the singularity existing in concept of representation. / A presente dissertação constitui-se de uma pesquisa teórico-bibliográfica acerca dos conceitos de Vontade erepresentação no entendimento do mundo, segundo o pensamento do filósofo voluntarista Arthur Schopenhauer. No intuito de explicitar a conexão existente entre o conceito de Vontade e o aspecto pessimista da filosofia schopenhaueriana, e entre o conceito de representação e a possibilidade singular de aquietar o sofrimento gerado pela Vontade, este trabalho apóia-se nos escritos do próprio autor e de alguns comentaristas, portanto foi construído como um diálogo com o filósofo sobre sua teoria, uma análise bibliográfica do mesmo. Segundo o pensador alemão, o mundo é dividido em duas realidades: a numênica, a coisa em si, uma força cega, denominada Vontade; e a fenomênica, as representações subjetivas realizadas pelo sujeito cognoscente. A realidade numênica, a Vontade, provoca nos humanos um ciclo de desejos jamais saciados e que os impedem de ser felizes. O pessimismo schopenhaueriano sustenta-se, então, no conceito de Vontade. Entretanto, um estado de beatitude pode ser alcançado, desde que subjuguemos a Vontade ao conhecimento por meio da contemplação estética, que abstrai o homem momentaneamente do sofrimento; da compaixão, que faz desaparecer as formas individuais, fazendo o homem compreender o outro como a si; e, finalmente, por meio da ascese, que mortifica definitivamente a Vontade, suprimindo os desejos materiais e corporais. Portanto, a possibilidade de uma vida beata, sempre singular, só pode ser alcançada mediante a singularidade existente no conceito de representação.

As filosofias da Vontade de Arthur Schopenhauer e Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche apresentam duas posturas antagônicas em relação ao sentido da vida. Em ambos a vida deve ser explicada como a expressão de uma força cega e irracional, tornando-se sinônimo de dor e sofrimento - contudo, a reação de cada um diante deste achado filosófico do século XIX os coloca em caminhos contrários. No elogio schopenhaueriano da negação da vontade, da fuga ascética em direção ao Nada, Nietzsche encontra o antípoda de sua filosofia, o niilismo passivo contra o qual propõe o niilismo ativo da afirmação do Eterno retorno. / Arthur Schopenhauer and Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche\'s philosophies of Will present two contrary positions in relation to the sense of life. In both cases life should be explained as an expression of blind and irrational force, becoming a synonym of pain and suffering - nevertheless, the reaction of each in the face of this philosophic finding of the XIX century, places them in opposing paths. In the Schopenhaueran commendation to the denial of will, of self-denying escape in the direction of Nothing, Nietzsche finds the opposite to his philosophy, passive nihilism against which he proposes active nihilism of the affirmation of the Eternal return.

Esta tese consiste numa interpretação da relação da eudemonologia e da filosofia prática com a ética desinteressada, com o pessimismo metafísico e com o ascetismo em Schopenhauer. Para tanto, o presente estudo assume a ótica da caracterologia schopenhaueriana e apresenta uma tentativa de resposta para a questão de como seria possível acomodar, por exemplo, uma arte de ser feliz diante de um pessimismo radical. Trata-se, sobretudo, de uma leitura da natureza da ética e do pessimismo quando estes são tomados sob o ponto de vista empírico-prático. Afinal, se Schopenhauer reconheceu na negação espontânea da vontade a única via de redenção do mundo intrinsecamente egoísta e doloroso, ele também se deteve numa teoria da felicidade em termos de sabedoria de vida e de prudência. Para tratar da questão, este trabalho i) empreende uma análise pormenorizada da noção de caráter (Charakter), tal como este se faz presente nas principais fases de produção do pensador - tanto a partir das obras publicadas, quanto dos manuscritos póstumos -, ii) enfatiza a preocupação do filósofo em estabelecer um desvio da metafísica para abordar sua eudemonologia frente à perspectiva superior de sua metafísica, e iii) defende que as esferas empírica e metafísica desta filosofia, apesar de apresentarem propósitos diversos, são suplementares. As distinções entre o que denomino de grande ética e de pequena ética e entre o que denomino de pessimismo metafísico e pessimismo pragmático - novidade propriamente dita deste estudo - permitiriam entender esta suplementaridade. Em ambas as diferenciações, a noção de caráter proporciona uma peculiar sutura entre as perspectivas metafísica (filosofia teorética) e empírica (filosofia prático-pragmática) deste pensamento: se os conceitos de caráter inteligível e de caráter empírico são centrais sob o viés metafísico da ética da compaixão e do ascetismo (tratados nos capítulos 1 e 2), a noção de caráter adquirido é fulcral na esfera da sabedoria de vida e da filosofia prática (tratada nos capítulos 3 e 4). Da mesma forma, se as ideias de negação imediata da vontade, de rompimento com a ilusão dos fenômenos e de supressão do caráter (Aufhebung des Charakters) compõem a esfera da metafísica da ética, as noções de ética da melhoria (bessernde Ethik), de motivações mediatas, de educação do intelecto (ativo), de ponderação (Überlegung) e de moral do como se (Als-Ob) configuram a dimensão empírica desta mesma ética. Pelo reconhecimento dessas duas perspectivas de consideração da ação e da existência humanas, o pensamento schopenhaueriano não se reduziria, ao contrário do que a doxografia e a historiografia geralmente apresentam, a um pessimismo metafísico e quietista; ou, no âmbito da ética, à radicalidade de uma ordem de salvação acessível a poucos. Isso, tão pouco, admitiria uma passagem do pessimismo a um otimismo, mas permitiria a constatação de uma face do pessimismo que não se restringe aos extremos de afirmação ou de negação da vontade. / This thesis consists of an interpretation of the relationship between eudemonology and practical philosophy with uninterested ethics, with metaphysical pessimism and asceticism in Schopenhauer. Therefore, this study takes the Schopenhauerian perspective of characterology and presents a tentative answer to the question of how it could be possible to accommodate\", for example, an \"art of being happy\" before a radical pessimism. Its about, above all, a reading of the nature of ethics and pessimism when they are taken from the practical-empiric point of view. After all, if Schopenhauer recognized in spontaneous denial of the will the only way of redemption of the inherently selfish and hurtful world, he also stopped himself in a theory of happiness in terms of wisdom of life and prudence. To address the issue, this paper i) undertakes a detailed analysis of the notion of character (Charakter), as it is present in the main stage production of the thinker - both from published works, and the posthumous manuscripts -, ii) emphasizes the philosophers concern in establishing a \"metaphysics deviation\" to address theireudemonology front their top perspective metaphysics, and iii) argues that the empirical and metaphysical spheres of this philosophy, despite having different purposes, are supplementary. The distinctions between what I call great ethics and small ethics and between metaphysical pessimism and pragmatic pessimism - novelty of this study itself - would permit understanding this supplementarity. In both differentiations, the notion of character provides a peculiar suture between the metaphysical perspective (theoretical philosophy) and empirical perspective (practical-pragmatic philosophy) this thought: if the concepts of intelligible character and empirical character are central under the ethics of compassion and asceticism metaphysical bias (covered in Chapters 1 and 2), the notion of acquired character is essential in the sphere of life wisdom and practical philosophy (addressed in Chapters 3 and 4). Likewise, if the ideas of immediate denial of the will, disruption of the illusion of phenomena and character suppression (Aufhebung des Charakters) make up the sphere of ethical metaphysics, the notions of \"ethical improvement\" (bessernde Ethik), mediate motivations, education of the intellect (active), deliberation (Überlegung) and the \"as if\" moral (Als-Ob) configure the empirical dimension of this same ethic. By recognizing these two perspectives of human action and existence consideration, the Schopenhauer thought wouldnt reduce, on the contrary to what the doxography and the historiography generally present, to a metaphysical and quietist pessimism; or, in the ethics scope, to the radical \"order of salvation\" accessible to few. That would barely admit a passage from pessimism to \"optimism\", but would allow the finding of a \"side\" of pessimism that is not restricted to the extremes of affirmation or denial of the will.

A presente pesquisa tem como finalidade apresentar uma leitura da obra poética de Giacomo Leopardi, com um olhar atinente à estilística. A fim de abrir horizontes, no sentido de novas pesquisas e perspectivas da poética leopardiana, escolheu-se fazer um cotejo entre poemas selecionados e as suas traduções em língua portuguesa do Brasil, paralelamente, de modo que a análise estilística, feita em etapas, contribua para mostrar o sentido presente no texto poético, sentido esse que pode estar alterado na versão traduzida. Quatro foram os poemas escolhidos: Il passero solitario, Linfinito, Canto notturno di un pastore errante dellAsia e La ginestra, o il fiore del deserto, representando um conceito que circula há tempo, mas que se acredita manter a sua importância, referente às fases do pessimismo leopardiano: individual, histórico, cósmico e heroico. / The present study is to present a reading of the poetry of Giacomo Leopardi, with a look regards on the stylistic. In order to open horizons to new research and perspectives of Leopardi´s poetry we chose to make a comparison between the selected poems and their translations into Portuguese of Brazil, in parallel, so that the stylistic analysis, done in stages contributes to show the sense in this poetic text, meaning that it can be altered in the translation. Four poems were chosen: Il passero solitario, Linfinito, Canto notturno di un pastore errante dellAsia e La ginestra, o il fiore del deserto, representing a concept that circulate for some time, but believed to remain important, on stages of Leopardi´s pessimism: individual, historical, cosmic and heroic.