Pessimism bias

Pessimism bias is an effect in which people exaggerate the likelihood that negative things will happen to them. It contrasts with optimism bias, which is a more general, systematic tendency to underestimate personal risks and overestimate the likelihood of positive life events.[1][2] Depressed people are particularly likely to exhibit a pessimism bias.[3][4] Surveys of smokers have found that their ratings of their risk of heart disease showed a small but significant pessimism bias.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b SR Sutton, How accurate are smokers' perceptions of risk?, Health, Risk & Society, 1999, http://www.informaworld.com/index/784101725.pdf 
  2. ^ de Palma, Andre; Picard, Nathalie (2009). "Behaviour Under Uncertainty". In Kitamura, Ryūichi; Yoshii, Toshio; Yamamoto, Toshiyuki. The Expanding Sphere of Travel Behaviour Research: Selected Papers from the 11th International Conference on Travel Behaviour Research. Emerald Group Publishing. pp. 423–. ISBN 9781848559363. http://books.google.com/books?id=qlp8itjp-RcC&pg=PA423. Retrieved 6 January 2011. 
  3. ^ Sharot, Tali; Riccardi, Alison M.; Raio, Candace M.; Phelps, Elizabeth A. (2007). "Neural mechanisms mediating optimism bias". Nature 450 (7166): 102–105. doi:10.1038/nature06280. ISSN 0028-0836. PMID 17960136. 
  4. ^ Wang, PS; AL Beck, P Berglund (2004), "Effects of major depression on moment-in-time work performance", American Journal of Psychiatry (American Psychiatric Association) 161: 1885–1891, http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/abstract/161/10/1885