Descriptions of self (e.g., "I am dominant") may reflect not only a person's behavioral tendencies but also idiosyncratic definitions of the social concepts and categories being considered. Five studies revealed that participants who differed in their self-ratings along trait dimensions also tended to associate different behaviors and performances with those traits. For example, participants who described themselves as dominant tended to emphasize desirable over undesirable behaviors and characteristics in their definitions of the trait, whereas self-described nondominants highlighted the opposite. Participants' self-ratings on dominance were also influenced by making positive or negative examples of dominant behavior salient to them. Moreover, when participants were induced to shift self-descriptions in self-serving ways, they tended to do so by revising their prototype of the trait in question. Discussion centers on the implications of these findings for the prediction of behavior and the interpretation of some social science results.

No abstract

Optimism and pessimism for the future have been widely studied, but little is known about distinctions among types of optimism. In the present work optimism for the personal future and optimism for a more global world's future were shown to be related yet distinct variables among responses from 156 undergraduate students. Furthermore, World Optimism predicted lower levels of pro-environmental attitudes (the New Ecological Paradigm) whereas Personal Optimism did not after its shared variance with World Optimism was removed. Personal Optimism (but not World Optimism) was associated with Consideration of Future Consequences, a measure of locus of control, and other measures of optimism and pessimism. Discussion addresses this distinction and its implications for understanding environmental attitudes and other individual differences.Keywords Environmental attitudes . Environmental concern . Optimism and pessimism . Locus of control . Consideration of future consequences How likely is it that the next year will be terrific for you? How likely is it that the next year will be terrific for the world? Though relatively little research has been conducted to explore this difference, available evidence suggests that people are more optimistic for their own personal future than they are for the world's future (Wenglert and Rosen 2000). This and other distinctions between these domains of optimism raise important questions about their relation to personality and attitudinal variables. Of particular interest here are the relations of optimism for the personal and for the world's future to environmental attitudes.Psychologists have a unique role and responsibility to contribute knowledge about people's environmental attitudes and behaviors because many of the world's most serious ecological challenges (such as climate change and resource depletion) are due to human action (cf.

No abstract

No abstract