Optimism is known to buffer against negative mood. Thus, understanding the factors that contribute to individual variation in optimism may inform interventions for mood disorders. Preliminary evidence suggests that the generation of mental imagery-based representations of positive relative to negative future scenarios is related to optimism. This study investigated the hypothesis that an elevated tendency to generate positive relative to negative mental imagery during spontaneous future thinking would be associated with reduced negative mood via its relationship to higher optimism. Participants (N = 44) with varied levels of naturally occurring negative mood reported current levels of optimism and the real-time occurrence and characteristics of spontaneous thoughts during a sustained attention computer task. Consistent with hypotheses, higher optimism statistically mediated the relationship between a higher proportional frequency of positive relative to negative mental imagery during spontaneous future thinking and lower negative mood. Further, the relationship between emotional mental imagery and optimism was found for future, but not past, thinking, nor for verbal future or past thinking. Thus, a greater tendency to generate positive rather than negative imagery-based mental representations when spontaneously thinking about the future may influence how optimistic one feels, which in turn may influence one’s experience of negative mood.

众所周知，乐观可以缓冲负面情绪。因此，了解导致个体乐观差异的因素可能会为情绪障碍的干预提供信息。初步证据表明，基于心理意象的积极相对于消极未来情景的表征的产生与乐观主义有关。这项研究调查了这样一个假设，即在自发的未来思考过程中，相对于消极心理意象而言，产生积极意象的倾向增加会通过与更高乐观主义的关系减少消极情绪。参与者（N = 44) 不同程度的自然产生的负面情绪报告了当前的乐观程度以及在持续关注计算机任务期间自发想法的实时发生和特征。与假设一致，在自发的未来思考过程中，较高的乐观情绪在统计上介导了积极相对于消极心理意象的较高比例频率与较低的消极情绪之间的关系。此外，情绪心理意象和乐观之间的关系被发现是针对未来的，而不是过去的思维，也不是口头的未来或过去的思维。因此，当自发思考未来时，更倾向于产生积极而非消极的基于意象的心理表征，这可能会影响一个人的乐观情绪，进而可能影响一个人的消极情绪体验。