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1-Page Summary of The Optimism Bias
Overview
So, you’re a pessimist. You’ve always told people that’s what you are and have used it as an excuse to be negative about everything. However, being a pessimist doesn’t protect you from disappointment.
The following passage is taken from the TED talk by Shawn Achor titled “The Happy Secret To Better Work.”
“So what we know now from neuroscience is that if your brain can’t find enough good things in the present moment to focus on, then it automatically goes into this pattern of negativity bias where it starts focusing on all the bad stuff instead because there’s more of it than good stuff in our lives.
In this passage, the author introduces how optimistic people are more successful. Optimism is a great mindset to have and it can help you achieve success in your life.
In this article, you’ll learn why people are mostly optimistic; how the choices we make in life are based on our level of optimism; and which holiday destination is best for us.
Big Idea #1: The human mind is not rational, but prone to bias.
People like to view themselves as rational beings. In fact, this belief is so central to our self-perception that we even included it in the name of our species: Homo sapiens, the “wise man.” However, as you’ll soon discover, we may have been a bit too optimistic.
Why? We are biased in our views of reality. In fact, we often see things differently than they really are. To demonstrate how irrational we can be, consider the following questions and then rate yourself relative to the rest of the population: Am I a good team player? Am I a safe driver? How honest am I on a scale from 1-10 (1 being not at all honest)?
So, did you rate yourself in the bottom 25 percent or top 25 percent? Most people will have rated themselves above average. Maybe even in the top 25 percentile!
It’s statistically impossible for most people to be better than the rest. How can that happen? Superiority bias is one of many cognitive biases that shape our perception of the world.
It’s hard to avoid delusional thoughts about the world. We tend to trust our perceptions, and don’t realize that we see the world in a way that is usually misguided.
To prove this point, consider a study conducted by cognitive scientist Petter Johansson. In the experiment, participants were asked to compare photos of women and pick which they liked better.
The participants were asked to justify their decision, but this time they were shown pictures of the women that they had actually rated lower. Seventy-five percent of the people didn’t notice the switch, and justified a choice that they hadn’t made.
It’s amazing how people can be fooled by simple things. Even when they know that something is wrong, they can still be tricked into believing it’s right. For example, if you were to ask someone what color a pen is and then switch the pen with a green one while their backs are turned, most people wouldn’t notice the switch because of preconceived notions about colors. This shows that people are often blind to things that don’t fit their beliefs or expectations.
Big Idea #2: The optimism bias changes the way we view reality.
People tend to be overly optimistic about their future. They believe they’re less likely to experience negative events and more likely to experience positive ones. However, this is not true for everyone. Some people are realistic in assessing the likelihood of experiencing good or bad things in life.
What’s more, optimism bias can sometimes turn into extreme forms. For example, when couples get married in the Western world, about 40% of them end up getting divorced. However, they usually think that there is a 0% chance of divorce happening to them.
