11/23/2023 0 Comments Tali sharot optimism bias![]() The factor that is most debated is the relationship between happiness and wealth. ![]() The result? They are less anxious and adjust better to stress factors…” A survey conducted by the British research company Ipsos MORI revealed that people believe the following five factors are most likely to enhance our happiness in order of importance, they are: more time with the family, earning more money, better health, more time with friends, and more traveling. Because optimists expect to do better and be healthier, they have fewer subjective reasons for worry and despair. They expect to do well in life, have good relationships, and be productive, healthy, and happy. “By definition, optimists are people who hold positive expectations of the future. Underestimating the probability of future adverse events reduces our level of stress and anxiety which is beneficial to our health. Optimists also experience faster recovery after coronary bypass surgery than pessimists and are less likely to be rehospitalized. The result is that optimists live longer and pessimists die younger. On the other hand, optimists exercise more, are more likely to reduce their body-fat level, take more vitamins and eat low fat diets. Researchers have found that people who react to illness with passive acceptance of their own impending death die prematurely. But what happens when positive expectations do not lead to positive outcomes and cause disappointment? Is it not better to hold lower expectations in order to protect ourselves from frustration? The truth is that low expectations do not diminish the pain of failure and often lead to worse results. Nevertheless by pointing to a new behavior, that is rigorous training and lack of compromise, the claim resulted in a repeat championship.”Therefore, believing in a positive outcome will enhance the probability that the desired outcome will be realized” explains Sharot. No one can know what the future will hold. Riley’s statement was false at the time it was made because no event is predetermined. However, a prediction has an influence on the event it predicts because people’s behavior is determined by their subjective perception of reality. Predicting your team will win does not necessarily make it so. The Lakers was a great team with renowned players like Magic Johnson, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar but it was their head coach, Pat Riley who created a buzz by telling a reporter that he guaranteed his team would win the NBA championship again next year. When the Lakers won the NBA championship after defeating the Boston Celtics in 1987, everyone wanted to know if the Lakers would be able to win the championship a second time since no team had managed a repeat since the Boston Celtics won twice in a row in 1969. Optimism can even transform predictions into reality. Tali Sharot argues that optimism might be so essential to our survival that it is hardwired in our brain where it creates our hopes and dreams. The author, one of the most innovative neuroscientists at work today, provides some fascinating insight into her research on optimism, memory and emotion. This is known as the optimism bias which Tali Sharot describes in her book ‘The Optimism Bias: A Tour of the Irrationally Positive Brain’ as “an inclination to overestimate the likelihood of encountering positive events in the future and to underestimate the likelihood of experiencing negative events.” As we grow older, we should be wiser and be able to distinguish between the harsh reality and the world full of hope that we believe is real. Yes, indeed, whether we are eight or eighty, we wear rose-tinted glasses. We have a tendency to be optimistic but most of us are not aware about it.
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