Optimism Bias Among College of Education Students

Abstract

The research aims to:
Identify the level of optimistic bias among students of the College of Education.
Determine statistically significant differences in optimistic bias among College of Education students based on the specialization variable (scientific vs. humanities).
Determine statistically significant differences in optimistic bias among College of Education students based on the gender variable (male vs. female).
To achieve these objectives, the researcher adopted the optimistic bias scale developed by Abbas (2000), which was constructed based on Tali Sharot's theory. In its initial form, the scale consisted of 30 items using a five-point Likert scale (Always applies to me, Often applies to me, Sometimes applies to me, Rarely applies to me, Never applies to me). Its psychometric properties were verified by presenting it to a panel of experts specializing in educational psychology, measurement and evaluation, and teaching methods, thereby establishing its face validity. The reliability coefficient was calculated using Cronbach's alpha, yielding a value of 0.89; the final version of the scale comprised 30 items. The final scale was administered to a research sample of 80 male and female students from the College of Education, representing both scientific and humanities specializations. The results were as follows:
1- College of Education students exhibited optimistic bias; the calculated t-value (5.666) exceeded the critical t-value (1.96) at the 0.05 significance level. 2- There was no statistically significant difference based on the gender variable, as the results showed that the calculated t-value (0.689) was lower than the critical t-value (1.96) at a significance level of 0.05.