Title

Life Orientation Test (LOT)

Study

PCS1

Copyright Information

Copyright owned by the American Psychological Association (APA)

Primary Reference

Scheier, M. F., & Carver, C. S. (1985). Optimism, coping, and health: Assessment and implications of generalized outcome expectancies. Health Psychology, 4, 219-247.

Purpose

To measure dispositional optimism, or the tendency for an individual hold positive expectations about his or her future.

Description

Using a 5-point Likert-type response scale, participants indicate the extent to which they agree with several self-referent statements describing beliefs about the likelihood of experiencing positive and negative outcomes.  No time frame or referent period is used.

Scaling

0=disagree very much, 1=disagree, 2=neutral, 3=agree, 4=agree very much

Number of Items

13 items (9 scale items + 4 filler items)

Psychometrics

In undergraduate students (Scheier & Carver, 1985)

• Internal consistency (n = 624): Cronbach's α = 0.76
• Test-retest reliability (4 weeks; n = 142): r = 0.79

In PCS1 (n = 273)

Internal consistency, Cronbach's α = 0.85

Scoring

Note: Items 2, 6, 7, 10 are filler items only. They are not scored.

Variables

Total Score

Title

Revised Life Orientation Test (LOT-R)

Studies

PMBC, PCS3

Copyright Information

Copyright owned by the American Psychological Association (APA)

Primary Reference

Scheier, M. F., Carver C. S., & Bridges, M. W. (1994). Distinguishing optimism from neuroticism (and trait anxiety, self-mastery, and self-esteem): A re-evaluation of the Life Orientation Test. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67, 1063-1078.

Purpose

To measure dispositional optimism, or the tendency for an individual hold positive expectations about his or her future.

Description

Using a 5-point Likert-type response scale, participants indicate the extent to which they agree with several self-referent statements describing beliefs about the likelihood of experiencing positive and negative outcomes.  No time frame or referent period is used.

The LOT-R differs from the original LOT  in two ways:  (1) two items that were included in the original scale were omitted from the revision (always look on the bright side of things; every cloud has a silver lining) because they appeared to reflect coping style rather than positive expectancies about the future; and (2) an additional positively-worded item (expect more good things to happen to me than bad) was added to balance the number of items that are presented in positive and negative directions.

Scaling

0 = strongly disagree, 1 = disagree, 2 = neutral, 3 = agree, 4 = strongly agree

Number of Items

10 (6 scale items + 4 filler items)

Psychometrics

In undergraduate students (Scheier et al., 1994)

• Internal consistency (n = 2055): Cronbach’s α = 0.78
• Test-retest reliability (28 months; n = 21): r = 0.79
• Validity: Correlates with related constructs (e.g., self-mastery)

In combined PMBC and PCS3 sample (n = 406)

Scoring

Sum items 1,3R, 4, 7R, 9R, 10

Note: Items 2, 5, 6, and 8 are filler items only. They are not scored as part of the scale.

Variables

Total Score