Unrealistic comparative optimism: An unsuccessful search for evidence of a genuinely motivational bias.

ABSTRACT: One of the most accepted findings across psychology is that people are unrealistically optimistic in their judgments of comparative risk concerning future life events-they judge negative events as less likely to happen to themselves than to the average person. Harris and Hahn (2011), however, demonstrated how unbiased (non-optimistic) responses can result in data patterns commonly interpreted as indicative of optimism due to statistical artifacts. In the current paper, we report the results of 5 studies that control for these statistical confounds and observe no evidence for residual unrealistic optimism, even observing a 'severity effect' whereby severe outcomes were overestimated relative to neutral ones (Studies 3 & 4). We conclude that there is no evidence supporting an optimism interp

SUBMITTER: Harris AJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5344342 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature