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

作者:Harris Adam J L*; de Moliere Laura; Soh Melinda; Hahn Ulrike
来源:PLos One, 2017, 12(3): e0173136.
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0173136

摘要

One of the most accepted findings across psychology is that people are unrealistically optimistic in their judgments of comparative risk concerning future life events D 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 interpretation of previous results using the prevalent comparison method.

  • 出版日期2017-3-9