As a personality trait, it is presumed to be stable with little scope for change and is alternatively described as big optimism (Peterson, 2000). Asian J. Soc. Shweder, R. A., Jensen, L. A., and Goldstein, W. M. (1995). It was considered important to sample from different socioeconomic groups not only in relation to the study’s particular interest in inequality but also because psychology in general has been guilty of oversampling from a very restricted age and educational pool with possible consequent problems for the generalizability of studies’ results (Henrich et al., 2010). Culture and self: an empirical assessment of Markus and Kitayama’s theory of independent and interdependent self-construals. Psychol. Henrich, J., Heine, S. J., and Norenzayan, A. Delhi: Indian Council for Social Science Research. 31, 71–82. (2005). United Nations Development Programme. For judgments about controllability participants were asked to rate each good item using a 4-point scale – It is impossible/slightly possible/reasonably possible/certainly possible to make this happen, and rate each bad event using a 4-point scale – It is impossible/slightly possible/reasonably possible/certainly possible to prevent this happening. Neuropsychologists such Sharot et al. Shweder, R. A., and Bourne, E. J. Since for this group optimism regarding having a heart attack correlated very highly with optimism on many other items such as not going bankrupt, and not having an accident while on public transport, it can be safely interpreted that the optimism relates to a general psychological orientation rather than reflecting the practice of actual health promoting behaviors. Anandalakshmi, S. (1978). 43, 1191–1204. Learn more about optimism, how it differs from pessimism, and more. Few if any studies have compared rates of unrealistic optimism and self-enhancement for different socioeconomic groups within a culture. Abramson, L. Y., Seligman, M. E., and Teasdale, J. D. (1978). (2010). Closely related to the distinction between independent and interdependent concepts of self is the description of cultures as individualistic or collectivist, and just as East Asian cultures have been categorized as collectivist, so too has India (Hoftsede, 1980; Triandis and Suh, 2002)2. There were four versions of the questionnaire, varying order of self-other rating and varying whether the example given was optimistic or pessimistic. A universalist approach is also taken by those who emphasize the role of cognitive biases in social comparative judgments (Windschitl et al., 2008). Indian participants gave relatively high controllability scores to “son/daughter doing well at school” and “son/daughter being happily married,” and a relatively low controllability score to “exotic foreign travel.” In contrast English participants gave relatively high controllability scores to “exotic foreign travel” and “moving to a better house,” and a relatively low controllability score to “son/daughter being happily married.”. Participants were asked to rank the 11 good events from the very best to the least good event, and the 11 bad items from the very worst event to the least bad event. Taken as a whole the results show that, for three of the four groups studied, neither event controllability/desirability nor frequency played a part in the determination of relative optimism for bad events. However, closer scrutiny of the key method for assessing In the current study even the rarer bad events were judged to be quite common. (2008). Cultural differences in unrealistic optimism and pessimism: the role of egocentrism and direct versus indirect comparison measures. Noting that many studies only ask participants to make judgments of life events chosen by the researcher, Hoorens et al. Lorant, V., Croux, C., Weich, S., Deliege, D., Mackenbach, J., and Ansseay, M. (2007). Perceived control and the optimistic bias: a meta-analytic review. J. Exp. Optimism sounds like a sales pitch, while pessimism sounds like someone trying to help you. Develop. In contrast, in comparative unrealistic optimism, people are unrealistically optimistic about their chances compared to those of others. Psychol. In addition to addressing theoretical issues concerning culture and unrealistic optimism, the results of the study may have some bearing on applied health issues. More highly valued events were judged more controllable and more frequent than less valued events, and were more subject to relative optimism (or as in the case of the lower SES Indian sample were less subject to relative pessimism). The ratio scores give more transparent information on score distribution than is evident from the standard deviation of the average difference scores. Of both theoretical and applied relevance, unrealistic optimism has been dubbed “the most significant of the cognitive biases” (Kahneman, 2011). Wilkinson, R., and Pickett, K. (2010). (2011) proposed that self-enhancement relates to income inequality and their measure of choice was the Gini coefficient. The term refers to a bias whereby “people rate negative events as less likely to happen to themselves than to the average person and positive events as more likely to happen to themselves than to the average person” (Harris and Hahn, 2011, p. 135). Unrealistic optimism is defined by a general tendency to overestimate the probability of experiencing positive life events, and to underestimate the probability of experiencing adverse life events compared to a similar other person's risk (Weinstein, 1980; Weinstein et al., 2005). Answer and Explanation: No, optimism is not an emotion. Chang, E. C., Asakawa, K., and Sanna, L. J. The Spirit Level: Why Equality is Better for Everyone. Bull. “Optimism is defined as expectancy judgments that you can do certain things in the future,” she says. Savani, K., Markus, H. R., and Conner, A. L. (2008). “Collectivism vs individualism: a reconceptualization of a basic concept in cross-cultural psychology,” in Personality, Cognition and Values, eds C. Bagley and G. K. Verma (London: Macmillan), 60–95. 11, 93–102. The current study sets out to explore unrealistic optimism in India and in England among two socioeconomic groups. 95, 253–273. Good events: comparative likelihood estimates, India. Examining conformity in in-groups and the reference group effect. The sample was divided into two socioeconomic status (SES) groups contrasted in terms of education and occupation. Researchers have spent considerable effort examining unrealistic absolute optimism and unrealistic comparative optimism, yet there is a lack of research exploring them concurrently. Further research is needed to examine the relationship between optimism and event frequency, by varying events by their absolute frequency as well as by their frequency relative to each other. Both unrealistic optimism and overly pessimistic attitudes impact wellbeing. But in this study Indian participants showed even higher levels of unrealistic optimism, particularly for bad events, than did English participants. Taylor, S. E., and Brown, J. D. (1988). Lack of unrealistic optimism is held to relate to a reluctance to self-enhance thought to be characteristic of a collectivist culture comprised of interdependent selves (Heine, 2003). Treat. The higher SES Indians were the only group in the study to show optimism for both bad and good events. But in general, most of the time, optimism is the correct default setting, and pessimism can be as big a sales pitch as anything – especially if it's around emotional topics like money and politics. Subjecting the four financial good items to Cronbach reliability testing only generated an alpha of 0.374 for the lower SES Indians (and was no higher for any of the other groups) indicating that for individuals pessimism/optimism judgments on financial items do not cohere13. Int. For bad events, participants from both socioeconomic groups in India and England showed comparative optimism as they considered their chances of experiencing such events to be less than the chances of other people like themselves experiencing those events. Triandis, H. C., and Suh, E. M. (2002). People are unrealistically optimistic about future health outcomes, believing that they are less likely to experience adverse health outcomes relative to their peers and relatively to objective indicators of what is likely to occur. Annu. A modeling approach to understanding bias and accuracy in people’s optimism. Further, Bardhan (2009) has suggested that a like-with-like measure of income (as opposed to consumption) inequality would give India a Gini coefficient of income inequality of 53.5%, i.e., much higher than the UK’s score of 36%. London: Nicholas Brealey Publishing. © AskingLot.com LTD 2021 All Rights Reserved. Cross Cult. For example, higher SES Indians expected to be less likely than similar others to win the lottery (a less valued event judged as relatively uncommon and uncontrollable), but they expected to be more likely than similar others to experience success at work (a highly valued event judged to be relatively common and controllable). In the years following the work of Hoftsede (1980, 2001) and Triandis (1988, 1995), it has been suggested that the collectivism of some cultures such as Japan has been overstated and, in any event, is locally variable and has been subject to change (Matsumoto, 1999, 2002; Takano and Sogon, 2008; Yamawaki, 2012). Caste in 21st Century India: competing narratives. See Figure 2. Also Know, what is the problem with excessive optimism? 11, 4–27. Sci. Also, by not taking account of the extent of optimism and pessimism, the ratio scores are not subject to the averaging problem where, as in the case of the lower SES Indian group’s good event scores, an average difference score of −2.6% came about through a slightly smaller group of respondents being very pessimistic outweighing a slightly larger group of participants being mildly optimistic. meta-analysis of a perceived control and optimistic bias, Klein and Helweg-Larsen, 2002) and it was some time before psychologists questioned the ubiquity of the unrealistic optimism bias. (2007). 53, 133–160. 68, 595–607. It is unlikely that the current study is subject to this problem as few of the events were very rare or of the kind associated with firm probability forecasts. Psychol. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Context sensitivity and balancing in Indian organizational behavior. Sci. (2011). Psychology of Optimism Bias: To experience conscious mental time travel (moving back & forth in time/picturing scenarios), Tali Sharot explained that during evolution, when human beings came to an understanding of death as inevitable, irrational/unrealistic optimism had to arise alongside. What kind of paint do you use on ceramic crafts? What is internal and external criticism of historical sources? (2007). J. Triandis, H. C. (1995). London: Sage. A pessimistic person is a downer. Optimism is a mental attitude reflecting a belief or hope that the outcome of some specific endeavor, or outcomes in general, will be positive, favorable, and desirable. Soc. Cardiovascular disease (and coronary heart disease in particular) is the main cause of death in England (British Heart Foundation, 2012). So pessimistic people are usually pretty negative. , Much research indicates that people underestimate their personal probability of encountering negative events. Srinivas, M. N. (1996). A. Tyler, T. R. & Cook, F. L. (1984). Optimism is typically defined by psychologists as (1) having a generally positive view of the future, (2) attributing negative life events to factors unlikely to cause problems again, or (3) estimating one’s personal chances of experiencing specific negative outcomes to be low (and positive outcomes high). High levels of unrealistic optimism in England or India in respect of items such as “risk of a heart attack” would be concerning as optimism is likely to stand in the way of people making health promoting behavioral changes. Unrealistic optimism: still a neglected trait Marta P. Coelho* London School of Economics and Political Science ABSTRACT: Unrealistic optimism is all around us, and it is a well documented psychological phenomenon. Nat. As already indicated, averaging across all good items, 43% of the lower SES Indian group were pessimistic about their relative chances of experiencing those items in comparison to people like themselves. (2003). Cross Cult. 34, 1236–1248. (2008) would produce pessimism for rare events and optimism for frequent events. The term ‘unrealistic’ … Kagitcibasi, C. (2005). At first, the bulk of research was conducted using populations in North America and Northern Europe, the optimistic bias was thought of as universal, and little attention was paid to cultural context. The weirdest people in the world. 14, 55–92. Cultural variation in unrealistic optimism: does the West feel more invulnerable than the East? 32, 311–328. The local researchers reported that all the participants in Pune and Mumbai were Indian nationals, Hindu, and had Marathi as their mother tongue. The results demonstrate that an optimistic bias about susceptibility to harm-a tendency to claim that one is less at risk than one's peers—is not limited to any particular age, sex, educational, or … To be pessimistic means you believe evil outweighs the good and that bad things are more likely to happen. Sixty participants were recruited in India: 30 each (15 male, 15 female) from the two different socioeconomic areas used in the main study. Psychol. The relationship between the controllability/desirability/frequency factor and optimism/pessimism was particularly strong for the lower SES Indian group who, as the final row of Table 4 makes clear, on average were comparatively pessimistic about their chances of experiencing good events. Harkness, J. Hoftsede, G. (2001). (1992). Soc. A further analysis of the perception of good events was conducted in light of the apparent nationality differences in how the items were ranked for desirability and for controllability. Comments on the future of Asian social psychology. The operation of this egocentric bias is held to lead to unrealistic optimism for infrequent negative events and unrealistic pessimism for frequent negative events. Three male and three female English-Marathi bilingual Indian informants were recruited in Mumbai to evaluate the Weinstein future event list (shortened to 22 items to exclude relatively trivial events such as “having gum problems” and “in bed ill for two or more days” and exclude items only relevant to students such as “graduating in top third of class”). Optimism scores for bad events did not vary by gender or by task order/questionnaire version. Windschitl, P. D., Rose, J. P., Stalkfleet, M. T., and Smith, A. R. (2008). Journal of Personality and Social Psychology … Figure 2. Brahmanical idealism, anarchic individualism, and the dynamics of Indian negotiating behaviour. In summary, to date research does suggest that the tendency to self-enhance and show unrealistic optimism is very robust among Westerners, and not subject to methodological nuance. But while higher SES Indians regarded their chances of experiencing such events as being greater than that of similar others, lower SES Indians did not. (2001) found an optimistic bias regarding the likelihood of negative everyday events not only in the responses of European Americans but also of Japanese. Further, if rates of unrealistic pessimism across a number of different types of event are high, this may serve as useful indirect measure of depression at the population level, especially in social cultural contexts where mental illness may be stigmatized, and depression is often presented in somatic as opposed to psychological terms (Bhugra and Mastrogianni, 2004; Jadhav et al., 2007; Ryder et al., 2008). In versions 1 and 2, for each item, the participant firstly rated his/her own chance and then rated the chances for people like themselves. Yamawaki, N. (2012). Psychol. Summary. Table 6. Neurosci. Within-culture variations of collectivism in Japan. That this group may be especially vulnerable to depression tallies with ethnographic depictions of urban “locally oriented middle class” Indians who, notwithstanding rapid economic growth in India during the last three decades, continue to experience limited economic opportunities for themselves and their children (Derné, 2008), and feel insecure in the face of the threat of “real impoverishment” (Shurmer-Smith, 2000, p. 52). The cultural psychology of suffering: the many meanings of health in Orissa, India (and elsewhere). 118, 135–154. Unrealistic optimism about future life events. The clear finding in the current study that Indian participants showed unrealistic optimism on negative items, and that wealthier Indian participants also showed unrealistic optimism on positive items, demonstrates that the lack of unrealistic optimism found in some East Asian cultures is not generalizable to other Asian cultures. In the current study Weinstein’s original list of good and bad events was developed by a small group of Marathi-English speaking Indian advisors to ensure that the list was suitable for use by Indian participants. 109, 374–283. Optimism bias is common and transcends gender, ethnicity, nationality and age. To recruit participants in clerical occupations, a local researcher went door-to-door in several housing associations in a lower middle income area of Kurla, Greater Mumbai. Psychol. Dillard, A., McCaul, K., and Klein, W. (2006). Many of the events listed were similar to standard researcher generated lists, and also showed overlap with some of the new items suggested by Indian participants in the current study (e.g., being involved in a serious accident; early death of spouse/partner). 103, 54–69. Using COVID-19 as an example, Dawson and De Meza explain, “optimist see themselves as less susceptible to the risk of COVID-19 than others and are therefore less likely to take appropriate precautionary measures. Optimism May Be Partly in Your Genes. |, http://geert-hofstede.com/dimensions.html, United Nations Development Programme, 2010, http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/census/2011/index.html, Department of Psychology, Social Work and Public Health, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, UK. Psychol. Canadian respondents showed optimism on both positive and negative items whether they were making relative or absolute judgments about their likelihood of experiencing these events in comparison to their peers. The absolutely unrealistic individual is … This means that optimists are generally happier with their lives than pessimists. And kind of a bummer to be around. People display unrealistic optimism in their predictions about countless events, believing that their personal future outcomes will be more desirable than can possibly be true. Miranda, R., and Mennin, D. S. (2007). This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in other forums, provided the original authors and source are credited and subject to any copyright notices concerning any third-party graphics etc. Chang, E. C., and Asakawa, K. (2003). Sci. For example, you may think that the chance of your having a heart attack is 30% and the chance of people like you having a heart attack is also 30%; or you may think that because your health is very good the chance of your having a heart attack is only 10% and the chance of people like you having a heart attack is 30%.” In versions 2 and 4, the instruction read “The chances of an event occurring in your life may be the same or different from the chances of the event occurring in the lives of people like you. As can be seen in Table 6, multiple regressions indicated that this factor was significantly related to optimism/pessimism in three of the four groups. However, construing unrealistic optimism as a form of self-enhancement, some researchers noted that it was far less common in East Asian cultures. Given the opposing arguments which characterize the background literature, no directional predictions will be made. 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