Start the testFree
All tests

About the test

Optimism test

Do you tend to see possibilities or difficulties? Ten statements about your outlook on life, with an explanation of your optimism score.

  • 10 questions
  • About 2 min

Questionnaire / instrument: IPIP Optimism

Start the test See an example result

What does it measure?

Your general tendency to expect positive or negative outcomes. The questions explore expectations about the future and your sense of direction and confidence.

Where does it come from?

The test uses the ten-item IPIP Optimism scale associated with Scheier, Carver and Bridges’ work on dispositional optimism. It is an IPIP alternative, not the Life Orientation Test–Revised (LOT-R).

How is the result calculated?

Four positively and six negatively keyed items are combined after reverse scoring. The mean is displayed on a 0–100 response scale with descriptive feedback.

What can the result tell you?

The score does not predict what will happen to you, and it is not a population percentile. Current adversity can affect answers. Optimism is one perspective on expectations rather than a complete measure of well-being.

Languages and adaptations

Some item translations are reused from our existing IPIP banks; other wording was translated for this site with AI assistance. Translation does not by itself establish that a scale has the same measurement properties in another language.

License and reuse

Public domain

IPIP places its items and scales in the public domain. They may be used, copied, adapted and translated for commercial and non-commercial purposes without a fee or separate permission.

The terms below apply to the test materials. Articles, translations, software and our result descriptions may have separate terms.

Sources and further reading

IPIP Optimism scale keyed to Scheier, M. F., Carver, C. S., & Bridges, M. W. (1994). Distinguishing optimism from neuroticism (and trait anxiety, self-mastery, and self-esteem): A reevaluation of the Life Orientation Test. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67, 1063–1078. IPIP key: https://www.ipip.ori.org/newSingleConstructsKey.htm

Start the test