CHAPTER II 
                        THEORETICAL REVIEW 
          
          
               This  chapter  consists  of  theories  from  experts  about  Optimism  and 
           Humanism. All the theories added with the writer’s explanation to make the readers 
           understand more about theory. 
           2.1. Definition of Optimism 
          
               Optimism means expecting things to go well believing that everything will 
           work out for the best. Reviewing the field of research on optimism recent theoretical 
           discussions of optimism take two forms. In the first, it is posited to be an inherent 
           part of human nature, to be either It is better to face the hard facts of reality early 
           approaches to optimism as human. This negative view of positive thinking lies at the 
           heart of Freud is influential writings on the subject. 
               One definition of optimism among psychologists. Optimism remind of the 
           recent “positive thinking.” fad in pop psychology. Positive thinking it is a mental 
           technique,  that  must  be  practiced  wisely  to  repress  feelings  such  as  sadness, 
           depression, loneliness, or problems that people want to get out of. People who are 
           optimism tend to focus on the positive side of things rather than the negative. What 
           researchers  agree  is  that  optimism  is  good  for  health,  success,  and  happiness. 
           Optimism  people  experience  less  stress  and  illness,  adopt  healthier  habits,  and 
           succeed social and professionally more than pessimism. 
          
          
          
          
          
          
          
          
          
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                Pessimism  is  the  exact  opposite  optimism.  It  is  shall  be  defined  as  the 
            perceived meaning of events as inherently negative and discouraging. This includes 
            persistent blaming of oneself, viewing failure as unrealistically long lasting, and a 
            low sense of confidence. These types of perception are usually brought about, or 
            worsened,  by  negative  self-talk.  Pessimism,  in  contrast,  foreshadows  depression, 
            passivity, failure, social estrangement. 
                Creed et al in Mahasneh et al (2013:73) concluded that worried, pessimistic 
            people have negative feelings and less positive as compared to the less worried, 
            optimistic people; and that optimism is correlated to the high levels of life planning, 
            discovery, and confidence in decision taking. Meanwhile, pessimism is correlated to 
            hesitation, wonder in life and low self-esteem. 
                Accordingly, they are goal achievers in their works, and mostly physically 
            healthy Seligman in Mahasneh et al (2013:72) Seligman notes in his research works 
            on optimism and pessimism that optimistic people are superior to the pessimistic in 
            their ability to face depression. Converge with empirical investigations of optimism 
            as  an  individual  difference  to  show  that  optimism  can  be  a  highly  beneficial 
            psychological characteristic linked to good mood, perseverance, achievement, and 
            physical  health.  The  result  showed  a  negative  significant  correlation  between 
            optimism, pessimism, psychological disorders and life pressures. 
                Maruta et al in Mahasneh et al (2013:73) found a inverse relationship between 
            optimism and both mental and psychical disorders. In other words, optimism leads 
            person to a better life and a desired interpretation of its events; and supports the good 
            physical  health.  At  the  same  time,  the  good  physical  health  leads  a  better 
            expectancies in life to goals, meaning that there is an interaction between health and 
            optimism. 
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               Optimism was developed from the model of self-regulation Scheier et al in 
            Mahasneh et al (2013:72) The model assumes that people are continually engaged in 
            efforts to overcome obstacles to their goals as long as their expectancies or hope for 
            success  are  favourable.  People  appear  to  have  thoughts  about  their  abilities  to 
            produce routes to goals and their capacities to find the motivation to pursue their 
            goals Snyder in Mahasneh et al (2013:72) In hope theory all human action is goal 
            oriented, the goal is therefore the cognitive component that anchors the theory. 
                For low-hope people, their pathways thinking is more uncertain and so the 
            routes they do develop are not well articulated Snyder in Mahasneh et al (2013:72) 
            Snyder’s  theory  states  that  hope  is  primarily  a  way  of  thinking.  Emotions  are  a 
            product  of  hopefulness,  albeit  an  important  product.  A  high  hope  person  should 
            display enduring positive emotions while a low-hope person should display negative 
            emotions Snyder in Mahasneh et al (2013:72) That both optimism and hope are goal- 
            oriented cognitive processes that influence the outcomes of events. 
                The  shift  has  been  seen  by  many  as  providing  a  more  complete 
            conceptualization  of  psychology:  According  to  Seligman  in  Peterson  (2000:44) 
            psychology should be as focused on strength as on weakness, and as concerned with 
            promoting well-being as with resolving pathology. A close look at optimism provides 
            some insights into how to guide this redirection of psychology so that it does justice 
            to  the  mandate  and  avoids  the  "everything  is  beautiful"  approach  of  humanistic 
            psychology in the 1960s. Optimism is not simply cold cognition, and if we forget the 
            emotional flavor that pervades optimism, we can make little sense of the fact that 
            optimism  is  both  motivated  and  motivating.  The  significance  of  the  study  of 
            optimism-pessimism in the importance of its relationship to the different aspects of 
            the normal and abnormal human personality. 
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                Seligman's Theory in Attribution assured that the method through which we 
            interpret things or evens is more influential on our current and future behavior than 
            their occurrences. Optimism has been highlighted as being an important evolutionary 
            part of survival. It is predicated on evaluation on given affects and emotions, as it 
            were. 
                Contemporary approaches usually treat optimism as a cognitive characteristic 
            a goal, an expectation, or a causal attribution which is sensible so long as remember 
            that the belief in concerns future occurrences about which individuals have strong 
            feelings. The closer are the perceived reasons of the situation to the person's ability to 
            control and govern, the more the likely he or she will face the situation effectively; 
            that is exactly the optimism Seligman in Mahasneh et al (2013:71). The theorist of 
            learned deficit theory sees that the mechanism responsible of acquiring optimism- 
            pessimism is embedded in the thinking style practiced by the individual in facing the 
            annoying and pleasing situations. 
                People who are considered optimists are more likely than pessimists to persist 
            in their pursuit of goals when faced with a difficult situation Scheier in Mahasneh et 
            al (2013:72). If someone experiences an annoying situation, people tends most often 
            to adopt a certain image of the cause for the occurrence of such annoying situation. 
            "Optimistic interpretative method and pessimistic interpretative method" Seligman in 
            Mahasneh  et  al  (2013:71).  Seligman  further  defined  optimism  as  "how  people 
            interpret themselves in cases of successes and failures.’’ Seligman in Mahasneh et al 
            (2013:71). Optimistic people see that failure is due to some changeable thing, so as to 
            be able to succeed in the next time. On the other hand, pessimistic people burden 
            themselves with blame.