The second section explores possible consequences of unrealistic optimism, including reasons to expect that unrealistic optimism can be both harmful and beneficial. The first section distinguishes between two operations of unrealistic optimism (i.e., absolute and comparative unrealistic optimism). Rather, we examine how researchers typically evaluate unrealistic optimism and its consequences, discuss potential methodological roadblocks to investigating such consequences, and offer possible paths for future investigations. We devote little space here to reviewing the findings of studies that aimed to examine the consequences of unrealistic optimism, to discussing other forms of optimism, or to risk perceptions more generally. The present article represents a methodological review and critique of research examining the consequences of unrealistic optimism. The paucity of studies may have occurred because of early evidence demonstrating the difficulty of reducing unrealistic optimism (Weinstein & Klein, 1995). Nevertheless, precious few papers have actually investigated the consequences of unrealistic optimism (see Dillard et al., 2009, Hevey et al., 2014 for notable exceptions). For example, unrealistic optimism about health outcomes could lead people to engage in risky behavior or fail to take adequate precautions. Researchers’ interest in unrealistic optimism likely stems, at least in part, from its presumed consequences. Research on unrealistic optimism appears in a variety of disciplines including psychology, economics, business, medicine, and philosophy. Unrealistic optimism-expecting future outcomes that are better than is reasonably likely-has received enormous attention over the last four decades, with over 1000 articles published on the topic since the first publication on the topic by Weinstein (1980).
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