Are optimists oriented uniquely toward the future? Investigating dispositional optimism from a temporally-expanded perspective

•Dispositional optimism is a general tendency to expect positive future outcomes.•The anticipated future is fundamentally linked to the subjective past and present.•In three studies optimism was not associated uniquely with the personal future.•Optimism was linked with a tendency to evaluate personal life outcomes positively.•Dispositional optimism should be situated within a temporally-expanded landscape.

Dispositional optimism is typically conceptualized as a generalized tendency to expect positive personal future outcomes. The subjective future, however, does not exist in a temporal vacuum. Based on a temporally-expanded perspective, in three studies we evaluated the association between dispositional optimism and temporal orientation, operationalized as momentary and habitual temporal focus (past, present, future) and temporal life evaluations (recollected past, present, anticipated future). Dispositional optimism was not associated uniquely with momentary thoughts about the personal future, habitual focus on the personal future, or positive anticipated outcomes. Instead, dispositional optimism was linked with a generalized tendency to evaluate personal outcomes positively regardless of temporal perspective. The present work thus demonstrates the value of situating dispositional optimism within a temporally-expanded landscape.