![]() If adversity is perceived as unpleasant at the time but sufficiently replete with opportunity for personal growth and learning as to be beneficial overall, this element of non-congruence between actuality and expectation is reduced or disappears. The question is whether it is irrational to view adversity as anything other than bad. It also refers to the presumed non-congruence between the inevitability of adversity and the anticipation of experiencing life as more good than bad. The term ‘unrealistic’ in unrealistic optimism (Weinstein, 1989) describes the objective mismatch between the expectations of dispositional optimism and actuarial evidence about probability of life events occurring.As a personality trait, it is presumed to be stable with little scope for change and is alternatively described as big optimism (Peterson, 2000). Dispositional optimism is defined as a global expectation that more good (desirable) things than bad (undesirable) will happen in the future (Scheier and Carver, 1985).In order to gain a better understanding of optimism, it is important to consider the different types of optimism that researchers consider today. Methodologies, research problems and the influence of publication bias, possibly itself the product of optimism, will be discussed followed by a few examples of beneficial outcomes arising from the application of research on optimism. This essay will examine definitions and components of optimism as a background to understanding the mechanisms by which it acts and then present research findings about benefits and harm. ![]() A substantial body of research now supports this but confirms that optimism is not without risk. Work by Tiger (1979) suggested that optimism is prevalent because it has adaptive utility. Helen Keller’s words reflect the popular upbeat concept of the word which has been gaining ground since the 1960s as an increasing body of research has demonstrated a consistent tendency of healthy successful people to think in generally positive ways. It was concluded that unrealistic optimism is broader than perceived risk, being evident for all elements of the HBM.‘Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement …no pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new doorway for the human spirit’. 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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