Previous research has identified a correlation between optimism and increased persistence. Existing research also suggests that optimism can be manipulated to induce a mindset of positive outcome expectancies. Writing about and imagining one’s best possible self (BPS) has resulted in an increase in an individual’s positive outcome expectancies, but the effect of BPS on related constructs has yet to be examined. Thirty university students participated in a study to investigate whether participants primed with optimism using BPS would persist longer on an impossible anagram task. A t-test revealed that participants primed with BPS spent significantly longer on the anagrams than control participants. These results suggest that priming optimism using BPS can successfully bolster persistence
