A Primer on Unrealistic Optimism
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 23318285 |
|---|---|
| Authors | James A Shepperd (0000-0002-5329-6760, University of Florida), E A Waters (0000-0001-7402-0133, Department of Surgery, Division of Public Health Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis), Neil D Weinstein (Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey), William M P Klein (0000-0002-8847-8193, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland) |
| Year | 2015 |
| Volume | 24 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 232-237 |
| Publication date | 2015-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Current Directions in Psychological Science (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0963-7214 • E-ISSN: 1467-8721 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0963721414568341 |
| PMID | 26089606 |
| PMCID | PMC4467896 |
| OpenAlex | W1913755146 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 57 |
| References cited | 38 |
People display unrealistic optimism in their predictions about countless events, believing that their personal future outcomes will be more desirable than can possibly be true. We summarize the vast literature on unrealistic optimism by focusing on four broad questions: What is unrealistic optimism, when does it occur, why does it occur, and what are its consequences? Unrealistic optimism can be operationalized in multiple ways; is commonplace yet has well-established boundary conditions; occurs for a variety of reasons; and has consequences for affect, decision making, and behavior.
Optimism · Optimism bias · Optimism, Hope, and Well-being · Psychological and Temporal Perspectives Research · Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction · Psychology · Social Psychology
Unrealistic optimism
The effectiveness of a positively vs. negatively valenced PSA against sexually transmitted diseases – evidence from an experimental study
Do Remittances Enhance Elderly Adults’ Healthy Social and Physical Functioning? A Cross-Sectional Study in Nigeria
A role-game laboratory experiment on the influence of country prospects reports on investment decisions in two artificial organizational settings
Perceptions of Danger
Rethinking the message on alcohol and breast cancer with UK women
Age Differences in Covid-19 Risk Perceptions and Mental Health
Learning From One’s Mistakes
Mindsets Affect Risk Perception and Risk-Taking Behavior
Are Older Adults More Optimistic? Evidence From China, Israel, and the United States
Pessimistic health and optimistic wealth distributions perceptions in Germany and the UK
From experiential attachment to nonattachment
Are People Optimistically Biased about the Risk of Covid-19 Infection? Lessons from the First Wave of the Pandemic in Europe
Comparing personal and social optimism biases
Staying or leaving
Compensatory Optimism as Adaptive Resilience in a Warming World
The Role of Optimism in Adolescent Mental Health
Optimism Bias Among Gun Owners
The effect of anthropomorphic competence-warmth congruence of service robots on recommendation intention
“Threatened-Me” Rule
Booster vs. attenuator
The Roles of Understanding and Belief in Prognostic Awareness
Dispositional optimism and pessimism in relation to physical activity and fitness in adulthood – a 15-year follow-up study
Looking on the (B)right Side of Life
Cultural Differences in Vicarious Optimism
The Improvement Default
The Best-Case Heuristic
Fast optimism, slow realism? Causal evidence for a two-step model of future thinking
Is my risk lower than yours? The role of compared risk, illness perceptions, and self-efficacy as determinants of perceived risk for Covid-19
The automatic nature of motivated belief updating
Anticipating academic performance and feedback
Trajectories of unrealistic optimism in grade expectation
Relationships between present/future orientation and life satisfaction over two decades
Comparative Optimism and Event Skewness
Reporting bias inflates the reputation of medical treatments
Risk-based regulation and reforms to fitness to practise tribunals in the United Kingdom
The hubris hypothesis
Understanding the coherence of the severity effect and optimism phenomena
Covid-19 and a biased public mentality toward infection and vaccination
Australian drinkers’ perceptions of alcohol-related risk by consumption status
Rethinking rose-tinted glasses
Risk Perception
Perceived Risk of Developing Diabetes in the General Population and Asian Americans
Think Positive? Examining the Impact of Optimism on Academic Achievement in Early Adolescents
Personality and Crisis Preparedness
Does optimism predict academic performance? Exploring the moderating roles of conscientiousness and gender
It's not like they're selling drugs over the counter” A qualitative exploration of risks, regulations and packaging attribute perceptions of sports foods in non-athletes
Does misperception of fruit and vegetable intake adequacy affect progression through the stages of behavior change after nutritional intervention
Expecting exclusion
The Political Consequences of an Optimistic Personality
Money Mules and Cybercrime Involvement Mechanisms
Should I just listen to you or change your mind too? Target's perceived efficacy of agents' interpersonal affect improvement strategies
Optimistic bias in young adults for cancer, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases
Behavioural and neural characterization of optimistic reinforcement learning
A healthy dose of realism
I don't feel sick
Personal attributes and (mis)perceptions of local environmental risk
Situated Optimism
Dispositional, Unrealistic, and Comparative Optimism
Perceived Control and the Optimistic Bias
Do Moderators of the Optimistic Bias Affect Personal or Target Risk Estimates? A Review of the Literature
Features of similarity.
Taking Stock of Unrealistic Optimism
Resistance of personal risk perceptions to debiasing interventions
The costs of optimism and the benefits of pessimism
Self–other judgments and perceived vulnerability to victimization
Optimism, coping, psychological distress, and high-risk sexual behavior among men at risk for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (Aids)
Optimism, Pessimism, and the Direction of Self–Other Comparisons
Holier Than Thou
The person-positivity bias
Examining self-presentation as a motivational explanation for comparative optimism
Abandoning unrealistic optimism
"Feeling "holier than thou
Testing the limits of optimistic bias
Positive illusions about the self
Error and bias in comparative judgment
Unrealistic optimism about future life events
| Unique citing works | 57 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 5,7 |
| Citation span | 2016 - 2026 (11) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 53 |