The factors leading to the optimistic bias can be categorized into four different groups: desired end states of comparative judgment, cognitive mechanisms, information about the self versus a target, and underlying affect. Different consequences result from these two types of events: positive events often lead to feelings of well being and self-esteem, while negative events lead to consequences involving more risk, such as engaging in risky behaviors and not taking precautionary measures for safety. Īlthough the optimism bias occurs for both positive events (such as believing oneself to be more financially successful than others) and negative events (such as being less likely to have a drinking problem), there is more research and evidence suggesting that the bias is stronger for negative events (the valence effect). For example: people believing that they are less at risk of being a crime victim, smokers believing that they are less likely to contract lung cancer or disease than other smokers, first-time bungee jumpers believing that they are less at risk of an injury than other jumpers, or traders who think they are less exposed to potential losses in the markets. The optimistic bias is seen in a number of situations. Ĥ factors can cause a person to be optimistically biased: their desired end state, their cognitive mechanisms, the information they have about themselves versus others, and overall mood. However, autistic people are less susceptible to optimistic biases. Optimistic biases are even reported in non-human animals such as rats and birds. Optimism bias is common and transcends gender, ethnicity, nationality, and age. It is also known as unrealistic optimism or comparative optimism. It was concluded that unrealistic optimism is broader than perceived risk, being evident for all elements of the HBM.Optimism bias (or the optimistic bias) is a cognitive bias that causes someone to believe that they themselves are less likely to experience a negative event. For prostate cancer, there was an optimistic bias for all HBM variables: risk and severity of prostate cancer and barriers to and benefits of screening. Women had an optimistic bias in relation to breast cancer risk and severity and barriers to having a screening mammogram but not in relation to the benefits of screening. In the first study 164 women aged 50 to 70 years responded to questions about breast cancer and screening mammography, while in the second study 200 men aged 45 to 60 years responded to questions about prostate cancer and screening using the prostate specific antigen test. Data were collected using telephone interviews, dialing numbers randomly selected from the telephone directory. To overcome this compartmentalization, two studies of cancer screening behavior assessed the extent to which unrealistic optimism occurred in relation to each of the elements of the HBM: severity and curability of cancer and the benefits of, and barriers to, having a screening test. Why do people fail to engage in positive behaviors which will promote their health and well-being? Researchers addressing this question adopt primarily one of two perspectives, drawing either on theories of health behavior, such as the Health Belief Model (HBM), or on theories of risk perception, such as unrealistic optimism.
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