Unrealistic Optimism: Self-Enhancement or Person Positivity?

Abstract

Researchers interested in unrealistic optimism disagree on whether the phenomenon reflects self-enhancement or person positivity. Past research in this area has used a paradigm that confounds the self/other dimension with the individual aggregate dimension, making it difficult to determine which alternative is correct. Two studies examined whether people are unrealistically optimistic only for their own futures or whether they are unrealistically optimistic for the future of any individual. Study 1 revealed that, in comparison with an aggregate of same-sex peers, participants were unrealistically optimistic for their own and a close friend's futures but not for the future of a non-self-relevant other Study 2 employed unconfounded measures and demonstrated that, in comparison with other individual social objects, participants continued to be unrealistically optimistic for their own futures. These results suggest that unrealistic optimism is a form of self-enhancement rather than person positivity bias.

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