![]() This is particularly true regarding risks falling under the ambit of personal control, such as alcoholism, lung cancer, and STDs. It was hypothesized that, if the person of comparison is judged as very competent, a pessimistic bias should be produced. ![]() It is the unrealistic optimism of the latter which is detrimental to health.Weinstein first establishes that the majority of people are unrealistically optimistic about their health and future health risks. This work analyzed the effects of unrealistic optimism in the interaction between the emotional valence of future events, the perception of control over these events, and the person with whom one compares oneself. Finally, Taylor differentiates between ‘constructive optimists,’ who are proactive in matters of health, and ‘naïve optimists,’ who abdicate effort in the blind confidence that things will take care of themselves. She contends that there is no evidence showing unrealistic optimism to be the cause of smoking or its continuance. employees think their managers are overly optimistic and unrealistic. Taylor cites an interesting scientific study that associates optimism with higher immunity against illness and infection. The higher you go in an organization, the more resilient and optimistic people. Taylor also links optimism with “good coping strategies” (Taylor, P.5), which incorporate successful interpersonal relationships, which lead, in turn, to a beneficial social support mechanism in problem resolution. Likewise, in the case of heart transplant patients and those recovering from coronary artery by-pass surgery, unrealistic optimism is associated with faster, better quality recovery. ![]() This is also true in the case of cancer patients, where the optimists live longer. Taylor further bolsters her argument by citing studies that show that AIDS patients with unrealistically optimistic outlooks follow better health habits and have a longer lifespan than their more pessimistic fellow patients. She supports this claim by stating that such optimists are more aware of pertinent information regarding health. The management consultancy McKinsey in its April 2020 paper on the subject describes bounded optimism as ‘confidence combined with realism’, acknowledging that leaders don’t have to make a binary choice between pessimism and optimism, but that there’s a spectrum of potential outlooks and behaviours available. However, she asserts that such “unrealistic optimism may actually lead people to practice better health habits” (Taylor, Paragraph 2). Taylor concedes that the majority of people are unrealistically optimistic about their health.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |