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Optimists or Optimistic? A Taxometric Study of Optimism

Overview of attention for article published in Psychological Assessment, September 2014
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Article details
Title
Optimists or Optimistic? A Taxometric Study of Optimism
Published in
Psychological Assessment, September 2014
DOI 10.1037/pas0000010
Pubmed ID
Authors

Katherine V. Eichner, Paul Kwon, David K. Marcus

Abstract

Although most researchers have assumed that optimism exists on a continuum, it is not uncommon for researchers to dichotomize their data into optimists and pessimists, thus treating optimism as a categorical or taxonic variable. To address the question of whether optimism is dimensional or taxonic, the authors performed a set of taxometric analyses on 3 indicators derived from measures of hope and optimism using data from 510 college students. The results provided consistent evidence that optimism is dimensional. Colloquially, people may speak of optimists and pessimists, but researchers should avoid dichotomizing this continuous variable. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved).

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Mendeley demographics

Mendeley demographics

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 29 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
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Geographical breakdown

Geographical breakdown
Country Count As %
United States 1 3%
Spain 1 3%
Brazil 1 3%
Unknown 26 90%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status
Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Ph. D. Student 7 24%
Student > Bachelor 5 17%
Student > Master 4 14%
Student > Doctoral Student 2 7%
Researcher 2 7%
Other 3 10%
Unknown 6 21%
Readers by discipline
Readers by discipline Count As %
Psychology 18 62%
Business, Management and Accounting 2 7%
Arts and Humanities 1 3%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 1 3%
Unknown 7 24%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 1. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 05 August 2014.
All research outputs
#19,944,994
of 25,374,647 outputs
Outputs from Psychological Assessment
#1,564
of 1,776 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#171,389
of 248,671 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Psychological Assessment
#17
of 18 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,374,647 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 18th percentile – i.e., 18% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 1,776 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 5.3. This one is in the 10th percentile – i.e., 10% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
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We're also able to compare this research output to 18 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one is in the 5th percentile – i.e., 5% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.