"Crying out for change"

My co-worker currently is reading Martin Seligman's book, Learned Optimism. There's a quiz in it, to determine where you are on the scale of pessimism versus optimism. Of course I already know I'm a pessimist by nature, though I prefer to think of myself as a realist. LOL.

But Stanford U has the test on-line, adapted from his book:

http://www.stanford.edu/class/msande271/onlinetools/LearnedOpt.html

My co-worker is moderately pessimistic, but check out my results (you'll have to enlarge the jpg):

I'm laughing myself silly at the moment, just at the wording. "Moderately hopeless." "Very low self-esteem." "Great pessimism." And my overall score of -10, which equals "very pessimistic."

But the one that cracks me up is my "Total Bad Score": "Crying out for change."

Of course I've not read the book, but somehow I don't think I should find this so funny.

BTW, you can find an outline of the book here:

Comments

Old Kitty said…
Oh NO!! I'm "moderately hopeless and very pessimistic"! lol!! nooooooo!! lol!

Actually this quiz cheered me up - thank you! LOL!!

Take care
x
Katie Isabella said…
I'll have a go at it too. Or mommy will that is.
ANGEL ABBYGRACE said…
I tried my hand at it and it said I was "average" in most categories. Average hopeful etc...
Interesting because I didn't agree with many of the options at all.

xoxoxox
The Cat Guy said…
I tried the test but didn't get far. I'm naturally resistant to being forced into a box that doesn't fit, so many of the provided answers didn't fit and if you skip questions the whole thing falls apart! I guess I'll never know how optimistic I really am now - bummer!

And so Kim, just how are you crying out for change?!? :)
vic said…

The options seemed sort of skewed to me. So many gave you the option of blaming yourself for the situation or offering a rationalization or excuse. Well not much of a choice there if you are being honest and realistic.
Kea said…
@Vic: Yes, you hit the nail on the head with it.

But I still like to do quizzes like that, I find them fun, and I still think the "crying out for change" is hilarious.
E. Smith said…
I must take this quiz!
Hilary said…
I am moderately optimistic...

I think all these tests are ridiculous... So many of the answers I would actually use weren't there....
Rian said…
"Moderately hopeless?" What does THAT mean? The wording kind of bothers me... (could be an oxymoron? like 'hopelessly optimistic)

It reminds me of phrases like 'a little pregnant' or what did I hear recently, oh yes, 'legitimate rape'...
Katie Isabella said…
Me, I was moderatly optimistic and like Mark...the questions didn't fit.