Attribute	Description: word categories used in the lexicons associated with each attribute, Diction 7.0^a
Optimism+	Language endorsing some person, group, concept or event or highlighting their positive entailments. Formula: [Praise + Satisfaction + Inspiration] − [Blame + Hardship + Denial] (For definitions of these terms see the rows that follow).
Certainty+	Language indicating resoluteness, inflexibility, and completeness and a tendency to speak ex cathedra. Formula: [Tenacity + Leveling + Collectives + Insistence] – [Numerical Terms + Ambivalence + Self Reference + Variety] (For definitions of these terms see the rows that follow).
Elements of the Optimism Metric
Praise+	Affirmations of some person, group, or abstract entity. Included are terms isolating important social qualities (dear, delightful, witty), physical qualities (mighty, handsome, beautiful), intellectual qualities (shrewd, bright, vigilant, reasonable), entrepreneurial qualities (successful, conscientious, renowned), and moral qualities (faithful, good, noble). All terms in this dictionary are adjectives.
Satisfaction+	Terms associated with positive affective states (cheerful, passionate, happiness), with moments of undiminished joy (thanks, smile, welcome) and pleasurable diversion (excited, fun, lucky), or with moments of triumph (celebrating, pride, auspicious). Also included are words of nurturance: healing, encourage, secure, relieved.
Inspiration+	Abstract virtues deserving of universal respect. Most of the terms in this Dictionary are nouns isolating desirable moral qualities (faith, honesty, self-sacrifice, virtue) as well as attractive personal qualities (courage, dedication, wisdom, mercy). Social and political ideals are also included: patriotism, success, education, justice.
Blame−	Terms designating social inappropriateness (mean, naive, sloppy, stupid) as well as downright evil (fascist, blood-thirsty, repugnant, malicious) compose this Dictionary. In addition, adjectives describing unfortunate circumstances (bankrupt, rash, morbid, embarrassing) or unplanned vicissitudes (weary, nervous, painful, detrimental) are included. The Dictionary also contains outright denigrations: cruel, illegitimate, offensive, miserly.
Hardship−	This Dictionary contains natural disasters (earthquake, starvation, tornado, pollution), hostile actions (killers, bankruptcy, enemies, vices) and censurable human behavior (infidelity, despots, betrayal). It also includes unsavory political outcomes (injustice, slavery, exploitation, rebellion) as well as normal human fears (grief, unemployment, died, apprehension) and in capacities (error, cop-outs, weakness).
Denial−	A Dictionary consisting of standard negative contractions (aren’t, shouldn’t, don’t), negative functions words (nor, not, nay), and terms designating null sets (nothing, nobody, none).
Elements of the Certainty Metric
Tenacity+	All uses of the verb to be (is, am, will, shall) three definitive verb forms (has, must, do) and their variants, as well as all associated contractions (he’ll, they’ve, ain’t). These verbs connote confidence and totality.
Leveling Terms+	Words used to ignore individual differences and to build a sense of completeness and assurance. Included are totalizing terms (everybody, anyone, each, fully), adverbs of permanence (always, completely, inevitably, consistently), and resolute adjectives (unconditional, consummate, absolute, open-and-shut).
Collectives+	Singular nouns connoting plurality that function to decrease specificity. These words reflect a dependence on categorical modes of thought. Included are social groupings (crowd, choir, team, humanity), task groups (army, congress, legislature, staff) and geographical entities (county, world, kingdom, republic).
Insistence+	This is a measure of code-restriction and semantic contentedness. The assumption is that repetition of key terms indicates a preference for a limited, ordered world. In calculating Insistence, all words occurring three or more times that function as nouns or noun-derived adjectives are identified (either cybernetically or your assistance) and the following calculation performed: [Number of Eligible Words x Sum of their Occurrences]/10].
Numerical Terms−	Any sum, date, or product specifying the facts in a given case. This dictionary treats each isolated integer as a single word and each separate group of integers as a single word. In addition, the Dictionary contains common numbers in lexical format (one, tenfold, hundred, zero) as well as terms indicated numerical operations (subtract, divide, multiply, percentage) and quantitative topics (digitize, tally, mathematics). The presumption is that Numerical Terms hyper-specify a claim, thus detracting from its universality.
Ambivalence−	Words expressing hesitation or uncertainty, implying a speaker’s inability or unwillingness to commit to the verbalization being made. Included are hedges (allegedly, perhaps, might), statements of inexactness (almost, approximate, vague, somewhere) and confusion (baffled, puzzling, hesitate). Also included are words of restrained possibility (could, would, he’d) and mystery (dilemma, guess, suppose, seems).
Self-reference−	All first-person references, including I, I’d, I’m, I’ve, me, mine, my myself). Self-references are treated as acts of indexing whereby the locus of action appears to reside in the speaker and not in the world at large thereby implicitly acknowledging the speaker’s limited vision.
Variety−	This measure conforms to Wendell Johnson’s (1948) Type-Token Ratio which divides the number of different words in a passage by the passage’s total words. A high score indicates a speaker’s avoidance of overstatement and a preference for precise, molecular statements.
Other Attributes Relevant to Optimism
Rapport+	This Dictionary describes attitudinal similarities among groups of people. Included are terms of affinity (congenial, camaraderie, companion), assent (approve, vouched, warrants), deference (tolerant, willing, permission), and identity (equivalent, resemble, consensus).
Accomplishment+	Words expressing task-completion (establish, finish, influence, proceed) and organized human behavior (motivated, influence, leader, manage). Includes capitalistic terms (buy, produce, employees, sell), modes of expansion (grow, increase, generate, construction) and general functionality (handling, strengthen, succeed, outputs). Also included is programmatic language: agenda, enacted, working, leadership.