The Optimism–Pessimism Short Scale–2

The Optimism–Pessimism Short Scale–2 (SOP2) is a 2-item measure of optimism—the tendency to look to the future with confidence and mostly expect good things to happen, rather than to look at the future full of doubt and mostly expect bad things to happen.

Items

  1. The next question deals with optimism. Optimists are people who look to the future with confidence and who mostly expect good things to happen. How would you describe yourself? How optimistic are you in general?
  2. The next question is about pessimism. Pessimists are people who are full of doubt when they look to the future and who mostly expect bad things to happen. How would you describe yourself? How pessimistic are you in general?

Response options

Each question is rated on a 7-point scale, but only the first and last option is labelled.

For the optimism item:

  • not at all optimistic
  • very optimistic

For the pessimism item:

  • not at all pessimistic
  • very pessimistic

Download

Reference

Nießen, D., Groskurth, K., Kemper, C. J., Rammstedt, B., & Lechner, C. M. (2022). The OptimismPessimism Short Scale2 (SOP2): A comprehensive validation of the English-language adaptation. Measurement Instruments for the Social Sciences, 4(1), 1. https://doi.org/10.1186/s42409-021-00027-6