Additional Resources

The following is a sampling of other online resources related to hope and optimism - some serious, some just for fun. Feel free to write to us with further suggestions!

Big Think Collaboration

We have partnered with Big Think to produce a number of videos and online articles.

How optimistic are you? It probably depends on your age.

Why Hopefulness is a greater predictor of academic success than intelligence.

Being optimistic is good. Knowing about optimism bias is better.

Popular

Bill Clinton: Why the World is Getting Better: The Case for Optimism: The former president makes his case.

Bastille - "Pompeii" - "How am I'm gonna be an optimist about this?..."

Bright-Sided: Video of Barbara Ehrenreich at the Harvard Bookstore discussing her battle with breast cancer, her critique of the "ideology of optimism," and her book Bright-Sided (2012).

HopeMonger: Shane Lopez is in the education department at Kansas but also runs various popular efforts to reach out to a broader audience. This site contains a lot of those efforts, and even includes an iPhone App.

Hope, the Future and Flourishing, a podcast with Sean Lopez

Non-specialist article in Psychology Today on the uses and abuses of optimism and pessimism in psychology.

Oprah.com does Optimism: A popular interview with Martin Seligman and a few other psychologists.

Optimism Bias website

Optimism Bias Take 1: Tali Sharot summarizes her findings in Time magazine, 2011.

Optimism Bias Take 2: Tali Sharot summarizes her findings in an 18 minute TED talk in February 2012.

Optimism Bias Take 3: Tali Sharot summarizes her findings again in The Washington Post, December 2012.

Perils of Positive Thinking: Barbara Ehrenreich's critique of positive psychology in the pages of Time magazine, 2009.

Positive Psychology UK: A British website devoted to bringing some of the results of the positive psychology movement to the broader public.

The Will and Ways of Hope: Scott Barry Kaufman (NYU, Psychology) provides a summary of recent developments in the study of hope for the readers of Psychology Today.

Why Choose Hope?: During the depths of the financial crisis, Barbara Frederickson (UNC-Chapel Hill) offers a brief popular argument for hope in the pages of Psychology Today.

Self-Assessments

Gain Hope: Psychologist Anthony Scioli’s website containing various tests for hope as well as summaries of his books and other work, including a Rorschach inkblot test.

This article introduced the LOT-R test, the most widespread test for optimism used in psychology today. Take the LOT-R test for yourself.

Just for Fun

Worriers - "Cruel Optimist" - punk song inspired by Lauren Berlant's book Cruel Optimism (2011)

Optimism Apps: Yes, there are apps for desktop, tablet, and smartphone that help you track (and modify?) your level of optimism.