OPTIMISM AND COGNITIVE-STYLE

In the presented paper, we have analyzed the relationships of the cognitive style of ''heuristic versus algorithmic orientation'' dimension and optimism, with respect to some sleeping habits and coping strategies. 114 university students (men and women), averaging 22.02 years of age, took part in the research. The following scales were used: The cognitive style scale (Groner and Groner, 1990), the optimism - pessimism scale (LOPS, Levy, 1985) and our own original ''Sleeping habits'' scale. The results revealed an unambiguous positive influence of optimism on problem solving as well as on solving everyday situations. Optimists in comparison to pessimists solve problem situations significantly more heuristically (t=5.784, P<0.001). Further results confirm the relationship between the so called evening types and pessimism, or between the morning types and optimism. The difference in the time it takes to fall asleep is also significant: pessimists needed significantly longer to fall asleep (t=2.027, P<0.05). We did not find a significant gender difference in the total score of O-P (t=0.412).