Optimism

Law firms seeking a competitive advantage in the marketplace would do well to consider that the positive psychological resources of firm lawyers are just as important to individual and organizational performance as their intellectual resources. There is growing evidence from the fields of positive psychology and positive organizational behavior that the resources of hope, optimism, self-efficacy and resilience shape the underlying attitudes and behaviors associated with increased performance. These resources may even buffer lawyers against the occupational hazards of the profession that cut against long-term success – hazards that include depression, anxiety, substance abuse and suicide. In this capstone I advocate for traditional law firm associate training programs to be enhanced to include the development of psychological capital (or “PsyCap”), a construct consisting of the components of hope, self-efficacy, resilience, and optimism. I discuss how policies that promote lawyer str...

In this text, we are trying to highlight the relevant meanings of the use
of the word pessimism, and then delineate the important dimensions of the
corresponding notion itself, and this in the context of the reconstruction of
the history of the relationship between pessimism and optimism, which in
real spiritual history is shaped as the prehistory of the modern version of this
pair. For conceptual analysis it is important to bear in mind the key differenće
between the psychic, state, and the typical moment of existence as an epoch
recognizable state of metaphysical despair. These two concepts make up one
kind of “twin pair”, although optimism first appeared, and then pessimism, as
a kind of failed optimism. Thanks to the change in the epochal constellation,
this distinction in modernity has become commonplace, which has helped her
stabilize as a self-explanatory framework of almost everyone’s pre-theoretical
conceptualization both of the epoch and stated of people’s mind, regardless of
the susceptibility to a serious critique of this quasi-conceptual dichotomy

The purpose of this study was to examine whether information bias associated with dispositional optimism and generalized self-efficacy can account for the link between general expectations and well-being. A modified Stroop task was used in this study. Our hypothesis was that individuals with high self-efficacy expectations or dispositional optimism would show greater bias towards well-being-related stimuli, whereas individuals with low self-efficacy or optimism would exhibit bias towards threat-related stimuli. A secondary hypothesis was that both self-efficacy and optimism would act as mediators of the latency, perceived distress relationship. One hundred and two undergraduate students participated in the study. After controlling for daily mood, the results showed that individuals high in optimism and self-efficacy showed greater informational bias towards well-being-related stimuli. The low self-efficacy group exhibited greater bias towards threat-related stimuli. Also, consistent with our hypothesis, optimism and self-efficacy mediated the relationship between the Stroop colour-naming latencies and perceived distress. These findings suggest that associations, which refer to automatic processes, may form an additional way through which expectations are related to functioning.

Aims: To identify the characteristics of optimistic parents of children with cancer. To examine the relationship between optimism, anxiety, depression, life satisfaction, coping and subjective health perception in parents of children with cancer and parents of healthy children.Methods: One hundred parents of children with cancer were recruited during attendance at Oncology Out-patient Clinics at a UK Regional Cancer Centre. A comparison group of 117 parents of healthy children was also recruited. All parents completed a questionnaire, providing demographic and medical information relating to the child, dispositional optimism, psychological distress, life satisfaction, coping and subjective health perception.Results: Parents of children with cancer had higher levels of anxiety, depression, optimism, satisfaction with life and subjective health perception than the comparison group. Optimism was significantly correlated with satisfaction with life, subjective health perception, anxiety and depression in both groups.Conclusion: The findings highlight the importance of optimism in relationship to psychological distress in parents of children with cancer. Interventions targeting parents' optimism are recommended as a potential source of coping with adversity within this population. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

During the Enlightenment, Scottish intellectuals and administrators
met the demands of profit and progress while shepherding concerns for self and other, individual and community, and family and
work. Communication Ethics and Tenacious Hope captures the
“unity of contraries,” offering the Scottish Enlightenment as an
exemplar of tenacious hope countering the excesses of individualism. Ronald C. Arnett reveals two stories: the struggle between
optimism and tenacious hope, and optimism’s ultimate triumph in
the exclusion of difference and the reification of progress as an
ultimate good.

In chapters that detail the legacies of Lord Provost George
Drummond, Adam Smith, David Hume, Thomas Reid, George
Campbell, Adam Ferguson, and Sir Walter Scott, Arnett highlights
the problematic nature of optimism and the ethical agency of tenacious hope. Arnett illustrates the creative union of education and
administration, the ability to accept doubt within systems of knowledge and imagination, and an abiding connection to local soil. As
principles of progress, free will, and capitalism swept Europe,
proponents of optimism envisioned a world of consumerism and
absolutes. In contrast, practitioners of tenacious hope embraced
uncertainty and compassion as pragmatic necessities.

This work continues Arnett’s scholarship, articulating the vital
importance of communication ethics. Those seeking to discern and support a temporal sense of the good in this historical
moment will find in this timely work the means to pursue, hold, and
nourish tenacious hope. This insightful theorization of the Scottish
Enlightenment distills the substance of a just and free society for
meeting dangerous and uncertain times.

Despite considerable attention to the creative process and its relationship with personal characteristics, there is no published study focused directly on the relationship between the recently recognized core construct of psychological capital (PsyCap) and creative performance. Drawing from a large (N = 899) and heterogeneous sample of working adults, this study investigates PsyCap and its components (i.e., efficacy, hope, optimism, and resilience) as predictors of creative performance. Overall PsyCap predicted creative performance over and above each of the four PsyCap components. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are considered. Malgré la grande attention accordée à la démarche créatrice et à sa relation avec les caractéristiques personnelles, il n'existe pas encore, à ce jour, de travaux publiés consacrés exclusivement au lien entre le concept récemment reconnu de capital psychologique (PsyCap) et la performance créatrice. La présente étude se propose, à partir d'un grand (N = 899) échantillon hétérogène d'adultes actifs, d'examiner le PsyCap et ses composantes (à savoir l'efficacité, l'espoir, l'optimisme et la résilience) en tant que prédicteurs de performance créative. L'article montre que le PsyCap prévoit une performance créative supérieure à chacune de ses composantes. Il s'achève par un examen des implications théoriques et pratiques de l'étude.

In the recent worlds computing applications it’s the revolutionary challenging task for database people to maintain and process information in cyclic manner. Thus it turned the research people interest how the peculiar queries for particular application can be resolved in an elapsed time slice optimistically. Ultimately it’s parallelizing the process. An optimistic analysis is made in this paper how to cover parallelism for database queries without suffering any loss and obtained desired response time.

Their camaraderie was very appreciated. Les résultats montrent que: 1) en utilisant une valeur de temps unique, représentative de la moyenne, peut conduire à la surestimation de la demande, 2) la valeur moyenne du temps de transport de marchandises en France est d'environ e45, comme le montre la figure 2, variant en fonction des variables chargé/vide et compte propre/compte d'autrui, ce que implique que 3) la valeur préconisée en France devrait être revue à la hausse. Figure 2: Distribution de la valeur du temps PL. We apply the Logit, the Mixed Logit and the Bayesian Mixed Logit models to estimate the value of time in freight transport in France. Estimations with mixed logit faced many difficulties, as expected. These difficulties could be avoided using the Bayesian procedures, providing also the opportunity of properly integrating a priori beliefs. Results show that 1) using a single constant value of time, representative

The primary goal of this study was to explore the nature of the association between extraversion and self-esteem. In addressing this issue two alternative models were examined: a direct effects model, which suggests that extraversion directly influences self-esteem, and a mediating model, which posits that four variables (optimism, positive affect, negative affect, social support) mediate the relationship between extraversion and self-esteem. A total of 278 participants across two universities were administered a packet of questionnaires that assessed the variables of the study. Results from path analyses indicated that two of the four variables, positive affect and social support, significantly mediated the association between extraversion and self-esteem. Furthermore, in both the positive affect and social support path models, the direct effects of extraversion on self-esteem were small and nonsignificant. In contrast, for the negative affect and optimism path models, the direct effects of extraversion on self-esteem were statistically significant. These findings highlight the complex nature of the association between extraversion and self-esteem. Limitations of the study are considered and implications of the results for future research are discussed.

The present study seeks for the relationship between optimism of professional baseball directors and team performance by comparison of their winning rates and their explanatory style.  From four sports newspapers published in Japan, 5454 comments made by 12 professional baseball directors in 2011 were extracted and rated their optimism/ pessimism according to Content Analysis of Verbatim Explanations (CAVE) technique. These explanatory styles were compared with the winning rates of their teams in the same year and the next year. The positive correlation of the explanatory styles and the winning rates of the same year was statistically significant. The sequential change of the explanation styles and the winning rates of each director were coupled monthly. A multiple regression analysis revealed that the optimism/pessimism or the directors was stronger than batting average but weaker than earned run average for the prediction of the winning rate next year, although it was statistically non-significant.

Authoritative parenting has been associated with positive outcomes for children and adolescents, but less is known about the mechanisms responsible for such effects. Two longitudinal studies examined the hypothesis that the relation between authoritative parenting and adolescents' adjustment is mediated by adolescents' level of dispositional optimism. In Study 1, university students' perceptions that their parents were authoritative predicted higher self-esteem, lower depression, and better university adjustment during the students'transition into, and throughout, university. Importantly, these relations were mediated by students' levels of optimism. In Study 2, high school students' perceptions that their parents were authoritative predicted higher self-esteem and lower depression six years later when they were young adults, and these relations again were mediated by students' level of dispositional optimism.

Редакційна колегія: проф, доктор пед. наук БОРИС КОЖУХ кандидат пед. наук, доцент БУТЕНКО ГАННА ПЕТРІВНА Рецензенти: проф, доктор пед. наук ШЕВЧЕНКО ГАЛИНА ПАВЛІВНА проф, доктор пед. наук АЛФІМОВ ВАЛЕНТИН МИКОЛАЙОВИЧ Studies in School Education-Горлівка, 2013. -216 с.

Схема содержит набросок того, что такое счастье и какие существуют условия для счастья в 4-х квадрантах интегрального метаподхода AQAL Кена Уилбера. | This mindmap contains a first tentative draft of what happiness means from the perspective of the four quadrants based on Ken Wilber’s Integral AQAL Framework.

The academic under-achievement of African Americans is one of the most striking examples of inequality in the United States. The severity of the problem is illustrated by the illiteracy rate which runs as high as 40% among minority youth, compared with 13% among all 17-year-olds in the United States (see National Commission on Excellence in Education, 1983). Most alarming is that the differences in achievement between African American students and White students increase with age. For example, while the math performance of African American students is 14% below the national average at age 9, by age 17, this gap has grown to 20% (data derived from Holmes, 1982).1 Similar differences between African American and White students are observed in higher education. For example, African American students graduate from college with a grade point average that is two-thirds of a letter grade below that of White students (Nettles, 1988). More disturbing evidence comes from findings that the majority of African American students who start college never obtain a bachelor degree (Billson & Terry, 1982; Bynum & Thompson, 1983; Fleming, 1984; McCauley, 1988; Suen, 1983). The national dropout rate for African Americans in college is 70%, compared to only 42% for all college students (Nettles, 1988).

Declining optimism in ethnic minority students: The role of attributions and self-esteem.

The classic, well-cited study by demonstrated that optimism correlates stronger with extraversion than does pessimism and pessimism correlates stronger with neuroticism than does optimism, and these results lent support to their claim that optimism and pessimism are two separate constructs. However, we argued that their results are likely the outcome of scale artefact caused by item valence (or item favorability). In an empirical study (N = 1016), we evaluated the correlation of optimism scores and pessimism scores with the most common measure of optimism -Life Orientation Test-Revised (LOT-R). As expected, when item valence effect was not controlled, we replicated the finding by that optimism and pessimism show differential correlations with extraversion and neuroticism. After item valence was controlled such pattern of relationships was greatly reduced. Suggestions for future research to resolve the dimensionality debate for optimism-pessimism are discussed.

Abstract
This work proposes an analysis of the cognitive and motivational components of hope, its basic properties, and the affective dispositions and behaviors it is likely to induce. In our view current treatments of hope do not fully account for its specificity, by making hope overlap with positive expectation or some specification of positive expectation. In contrast, we attempt to highlight the distinctive features of hope, pointing to its differences from positive expectation, as well as from a sense of successful agency, optimism, trust, and faith. Fear and anxiety are also addressed, and the latter is analyzed in terms of as a state of mind implying both fear and hope. Finally, the relationship between hope and motivation is explored, and ‘active’ hope is compared with ‘passive’ hope. Some concluding remarks summarize the results of our analysis, and stress the role of hope in fostering the individual’s well-being.

Keywords: anticipation, expectation, hope, anxiety, motivation

Özet-İyimserlik ve mutluluk pozitif psikolojinin iki temel kavramı olarak değerlendirilmektedir. Bu çalışmada iyimserliğin mutluluk ve yaşam doyumu üzerindeki yordayıcı rolünün belirlenmesi amaçlanmıştır. Araştırmanın katılımcılarını Sakarya Üniversitesinde öğrenim gören 206 (131 kadın/75 erkek) üniversite öğrencisi oluşturmuştur. Çalışmada veri toplama araçları olarak Yaşam Yönelimi Testi, Oxford Mutluluk Ölçeği-Kısa Formu ve Yaşam Doyumu Ölçeği kullanılmıştır. Elde edilen bulgular iyimserliğin, mutluluk ve yaşam doyumu ile pozitif yönde ilişkili olduğunu ortaya koymuştur. Ayrıca iyimserliğin mutluluğa ilişkin varyansın % 59'unu, yaşam doyumuna ilişkin varyansın ise % 60'ını açıkladığı sonucuna ulaşılmıştır. Elde edilen bulgular alanyazın bağlamında ele alınıp tartışılmıştır. Anahtar Kelimeler: İyimserlik, mutluluk, yaşam doyumu, öznel iyi oluş

Mounting evidence indicates that there are specific associations between higher levels of optimism and healthier behaviors , reduced risk of chronic diseases, and lower mortality. Yet, for public health purposes, it is critical to consider how optimism might be related to a full scope of health conditions in aging-from cognitive to physical health. Using prospective data from the Health and Retirement Study (n = 5,698), we examined whether higher baseline optimism was associated with subsequent increased likelihood of maintaining healthy aging over 6-8 years of follow-up. Optimism was assessed at study baseline (2006 or 2008), and components of healthy aging were assessed every 2 years, defined as: 1) remaining free of major chronic diseases; 2) having no cognitive impairment; and 3) good physical functioning. Hazard ratios were obtained using Cox proportional hazards models, and a range of relevant covariates were considered (sociodemographic factors, depressive symptoms, and health behaviors). After adjusting for sociodemo-graphic factors and depression, the most (top quartile) versus least (bottom quartile) optimistic participants had a 24% increased likelihood of maintaining healthy aging (95% CI: 1.11, 1.38). Further adjustment for health behaviors did not meaningfully change the findings. Optimism, a potentially modifiable health asset, merits further research for its potential to improve likelihood of health in aging. chronic disease; cognitive function; health psychology; healthy aging; optimism; physical function; psychological well-being; resilience Abbreviations: CI, confidence interval; HRS, Health and Retirement Study. As populations age, identifying factors that foster maintenance of healthy aging into late life is crucial for improving the health and well-being of older adults and containing health-care costs (1, 2). Although average life expectancy has increased, the number of years lost to disability has also increased (3, 4). Further, US health-care spending, which reached $3.2 trillion in 2015, is expected to increase at an average rate of 5.5% per year over the next decade, an increase that is attributable partly to the rising prevalence and burden of chronic diseases. Although most biomedical and public health efforts to foster health have focused on reducing risk factors, an emerging body of research suggests that there are modifiable health assets that might contribute to reduced risk of age-related chronic diseases (5, 6). Dispositional optimism-the generalized expectation that good things will happen-is one promising health asset. Importantly, it appears as if the potential health benefits of optimism are independent of psychological distress (e.g., depression) (7). Although optimism is approximately 23%-32% heritable (8, 9) and is shaped by social, structural (e.g., socioeconomic status), and life-course factors (10, 11), randomized controlled trials suggest that it might be modified using a variety of methods that range from writing exercises (e.g., writing a list of items for which one is grateful) to classroom-based modules that focus on cognitive-behavioral strategies (12-14). Further, optimism has been associated with healthier behaviors (e.g., physical activity, healthy diet, not smoking, medication adherence) (15-19) and healthier biologic functioning (e.g., lower inflammation and higher antioxidants levels) (20-22), which in turn reduce risk of chronic conditions (23, 24). Finally, a previous study among 33,326 women from the Nurses' Health Study found that the most (top quartile) versus least (bottom quartile) optimistic women had 23% greater odds of healthy aging 8 years later, after adjusting for sociodemographic factors and depression (25). However, at that time, the Nurses'

Background and objectives: Optimism is a personality trait which has repeatedly been shown to correlate with, and predict psychological and physical well-being. The present study investigated whether optimism can be increased by imagining a best possible self (BPS). Effects were compared to a control group in which participants imagined their daily activities (DA). Methods: In order to minimize inter-individual differences in content of imagery, participants constructed their BPS according to 3 domains, namely a personal, relational, and professional domain. All participants were instructed to practice their imagery exercise for 5 min per day over a period of two weeks. Effects on optimism and mood were measured after one session, after one week and after two weeks. Results: Results indicated that BPS imagery led to significantly larger increases in optimism as compared to DA imagery, after one session and over a two week period. Effects on optimism remained after controlling for possible mediation by the change in positive mood. Limitations: In order to test the effectiveness of our BPS imagery intervention we relied exclusively on self-report measures. Conclusion: The present study confirmed that imagining a BPS enhances levels of optimism, independent of the mood effect.

Research suggests that optimism feels good. However, does it always feel good? We suggest that the benefits (and costs) of optimism and pessimism depend on their timing. A study of exam score estimates revealed that, after controlling for actual exam performance, optimistic expectations are unrelated to how people feel immediately before feedback, in contrast to the common wisdom that optimism "feels good." Furthermore, optimism has costs after feedback-participants who predicted higher scores before feedback felt worse after learning their scores. Finally, people seem to be aware of the potential costs of optimism-participants who predicted higher scores before feedback also anticipated experiencing greater disappointment should they perform poorly. These findings suggest that people may proactively manage their expectations to avoid the costs of optimism.

This study investigated the relationship between openness to experience, conscientiousness and optimism in students' academic work among senior secondary school student in university Demonstration Secondary School UDSS – Uniport. Openness to experience and conscientiousness were the independent variables while optimism in students' academic work was the dependent variable two research questions and two corresponding hypotheses guided the study. Correlational research design was adopted. A sample of four hundred 400 students was drawn from the population using simple random sampling techniques. Data was collected using two instruments namely. Personality Traits Assessment Scale (PTAS) and optimism in Students Academic Work Assessment Scale (OSAWAS) multiple regression and Pearson Product Moment Correlation were used to answer the research question while ANOVA and t-test associated with multiple regression were used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The study found that openness to experience and conscientiousness had showed a positive significant relationship with optimism in students' academic work. " ased on the findings, appropriate recommendations were made. Keywords: personality traits (openness to experience, and conscientiousness) optimism and students' academic

How does optimism change over the lifespan and how do changes predict health and well-being? In a preregistered analysis of the Rochester Adult Longitudinal Study, we examined changes in and outcomes of optimism over 25 years (1989-2014) in 984 adults aged 16-70. Optimism increased over time similarly across participants. However, more optimistic participants at baseline reported engaging in healthier behaviors, better health, higher life satisfaction, and higher purpose in life 25 years later. Disaggregating health behaviors, we found that health-behavior-effects were specific to physical activity and abstaining from harmful substances/ food. Because participants increased in optimism at similar rates, more work is needed to examine whether changes in optimism predict outcomes, and what factors account for the homogenous change observed here.

The concept of mental toughness is widely used, but empirical evidence is required to fully understand this construct and its related variables. The purpose of this paper was to explore the relationship between: (a) mental toughness and coping, (b) mental toughness and optimism, and (c) coping and optimism. Participants were 677 athletes (male 454; female 223) aged between 15 and 58 years (M age = 22.66 years, SD = 7.20). Mental toughness correlated significantly with 8 of the 10 coping subscales and optimism. In particular, higher levels of mental toughness were associated with more problem or approach coping strategies (mental imagery, effort expenditure, thought control, and logical analysis) but less use of avoidance coping strategies (distancing, mental distraction, and resignation). Eight coping subscales were significantly correlated with optimism and pessimism. In conclusion, the relationships observed in this study emphasize the need for the inclusion of coping and optimism training in mental toughness interventions.

Purpose – Why and how do cognitive distortions in managerial decision making occur? All organizations are imperfect systems (Katz and Khan, 1966), with wrong decisions often just round the corner. As a consequence, addressing these important questions continues to be particularly lively in the management development area, especially in terms of its intended contribution to the de-biasing activity. Thus, through this critical review article we aim to provide the current scientific dialogue on the topic with updated lenses, which can also be innovative from some aspects. Design/methodology/approach – Our review framework is based on the recent, impactful article on biases in managerial decision making by Kahneman et al. (2011), and on Bazerman and Moore’s (2013) perspective on emanating heuristics, considered as the causes of biases. Accordingly, we derive four intertwined thematic clusters of heuristics, through which we systematically group and critically analyze the management literature mostly published on the topic since 2011. Findings – From the analyzed clusters we propose an integrative framework of emanating heuristics, which focuses on the co-evolving relationships and potentially self-reinforcing processes in and between them. Originality/value – The value of our contribution is threefold: 1) from a methodological perspective, to our knowledge, the studies adopted as the basis of our analysis have not yet been simultaneously used as a comprehensive ground for updated reviews on this topic; 2) from a conceptual perspective, the emerging integrative co-evolutionary framework can help explain the dangerous connections among cognitive traps and emanating heuristics; 3) from a practical perspective, our resulting framework can also be helpful for future de-biasing attempts in the business arena.

This study reports on the preliminary development of the Positive Experiences at School Scale (PEASS), which was developed to measure a new construct, student covitality-conceptualized as the synergistic experience of well-being that results from the interactions of multiple school-grounded positive traits in youth. The PEASS is a brief, self-report, developmentally-appropriate assessment with subscales measuring four school-anchored positive-psychological traits that are linked with youth well-being and school engagement: gratitude, zest, optimism, and persistence. The composite score of the four PEASS subscales was hypothesized to represent student covitality. Construct validity was examined using confirmatory factor analyses, invariance analysis, and latent means analysis. Factor analysis results supported four first-order PEASS subscales; in addition, multigroup invariance testing showed that a measurement model including the secondorder covitality latent trait was a good fit for both males, RMSEA=.040, 90 % CI [.033, .046], and females, RMSEA=.053, 90 % CI [.047, .059], providing support for student Child Ind Res (2013) 6:753-775 covitality as a parsimonious construct representing youths' global positive experiences at school. Additional concurrent validity analyses were conducted by examining the association between student covitality and other behavioral and psychological variables (i.e., feelings of school safety, bullying experiences, and responses to a school-anchored Prosocial Behavior scale and the Psychological Sense of School Membership scale). Implications for theory, practice, and future research are discussed.

Resumen: En este estudio se describe el constructo de capital psicológico positivo (Luthans y Youssef, 2004) y la validación en España de un instrumento para medirlo: el PCQ (Psychological Capital Questionnaire). Este cuestionario mide cuatro aspectos diferentes, aunque relacionados entre sí, del concepto más amplio de capital psicológico. Estos aspectos son la autoeficacia, la esperanza, el optimismo y la resiliencia. Los resultados obtenidos (N = 372) a través del modelado de ecuaciones estructurales confirmaron que la versión española del cuestionario presenta una alta fiabilidad, así como validez convergente y discriminante. Se discuten los resultados, aportaciones y limitaciones del presente estudio. Palabras clave: Capital psicológico positivo; autoeficacia; esperanza; optimismo; resiliencia.

This volume tells the story of the legacy and impact of the great German polymath Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716). Leibniz made significant contributions to many areas, including philosophy, mathematics, political and social theory, theology, and various sciences. The essays in this volume explores the effects of Leibniz’s profound insights on subsequent generations of thinkers by tracing the ways in which his ideas have been defended and developed in the three centuries since his death. Each of the 11 essays is concerned with Leibniz’s legacy and impact in a particular area, and between them they show not just the depth of Leibniz’s talents but also the extent to which he shaped the various domains to which he contributed, and in some cases continues to shape them today. With essays written by experts such as Nicholas Jolley, Pauline Phemister, and Philip Beeley, this volume is essential reading not just for students of Leibniz but also for those who wish to understand the game-changing impact made by one of history’s true universal geniuses.

Objective: Identifying positive psychological factors that reduce health care use may lead to innovative efforts that help build a more sustainable and high-quality health care system. Prospective studies indicate that life satisfaction is associated with good health behaviors, enhanced health, and longer life, but little information about the association between life satisfaction and health care use is available. We tested whether higher life satisfaction was prospectively associated with fewer doctor visits. We also examined potential interactions between life satisfaction and health behaviors.

Methods: Participants were 6379 adults from the Health and Retirement Study, a prospective and nationally representative panel study of American adults older than 50 years. Participants were tracked for 4 years. We analyzed the data using a generalized linear model with a gamma distribution and log link.

Results: Higher life satisfaction was associated with fewer doctor visits. On a 6-point life satisfaction scale, each unit increase in life satisfaction was associated with an 11% decrease in doctor visits—after adjusting for sociodemographic factors (relative risk = 0.89, 95% confidence interval = 0.86–0.93). The most satisfied respondents (n = 1121; 17.58%) made 44% fewer doctor visits than did the least satisfied (n = 182; 2.85%). The association between higher life satisfaction and reduced doctor visits remained even after adjusting for baseline health and a wide range of sociodemographic, psychosocial, and health-related covariates (relative risk = 0.96, 95% confidence interval = 0.93–0.99).

Conclusions: Higher life satisfaction is associated with fewer doctor visits, which may have important implications for reducing health care costs.

Phronetic organizational research is an approach to the study of management and organizations focusing on ethics and power. It is based on a contemporary interpretation of the Aristotelian concept phronesis, usually as ‘prudence’. Phronesis is the ability to think and act in relation to values, to deliberate about ‘things that are good or bad for humans’ in the words of Aristotle (1976:1140a24–b12). Phronetic organizational research effectively provides answers to the following four value-rational questions, for specific problematics in management and organization studies: 1. Where are we going with this specific management problematic? 2. Who gains and who loses, and by which mechanisms of power? 3. Is this development desirable? 4. What, if anything, should we do about it?

Less than 50% of people over the age of 65 are up-to-date with core preventive services. Identifying modifiable factors linked with preventive services are important targets for research and practice. Purpose in life, recently the focus of multiple intervention studies, has been linked with better health (mental and physical) as well as improved health behaviors. However, its association with health care use has been understudied. We found that higher purpose was linked with greater use of several preventive health care services and also fewer nights spent hospitalized. These results may facilitate the development of new strategies to increase use of preventive health care services and improve health, thereby offsetting the burden of rising health care costs in our aging society.