It challenged the traditional idea that “accurate perceptions of the self, the world, and the future are essential for mental health.” After all, the authors reasoned, as much as we might aspire to have a realistic outlook on life, having an unrealistically positive attitude might have benefits of its own. One of the first psychology papers to explicitly make that case was published in 1988 by Shelley Taylor and Jonathon Brown, under the title Illusion and Well-being.

Research conducted within this optimism tradition has tended to confirm these predictions optimism has been associated, directly or indirectly, with reports of good health, with quicker recovery from health difficulties (Aspinwall & Taylor, 1992 Bachen et al., 1991 Scheier & Carver, 1985, 1987, 1991, 1992 Scheier et al., 1989 Strack, Carver, & Blaney, 1987), and with psychological well-being (Carver & Gaines, 1987 Scheier & Carver, 1991 Scheier et al., 1989 Taylor et al.Having a realistic view of the world might be overrated. Conversely, negative affect and psychological distress are expected to characterize those low in optimism (Scheier & Carver, 1992). Further, optimists are expected to experience positive affect and psychological well-being stemming from the expectation of goal attainment and from the visible and salient rewards of sustained problem-solving activity. Individuals lacking in this trait(1) are expected to frequently disengage from goal attainment efforts. According to this theoretical framework, optimists, when they believe a goal to be attainable, will continue to strive toward it, even when progress is difficult or slow (Scheier & Carver, 1992). This stable predisposition has been thought to influence health-enhancing or health-promoting behavior through the coping styles employed by these individuals-for example, increased problem-focused and decreased avoidant strategies (Scheier & Carver, 1992). In the first tradition, optimists are individuals who have the tendency to believe that they will generally experience good outcomes in life (Scheier & Carver, 1985). We examined the interrelations of constructs from two traditions-optimism and unrealistic optimism-and their joint ability to predict exercise behavior change and health-knowledge attainment. However, within this global optimism framework, different conceptualizations, measures, and predictions about the consequences of positive expectancies have arisen (John & Robins, 1994 Norem & Illingworth, 1993 Scheier & Carver, 1985 Weinstein, 1980). Individual differences in expectation of positive outcomes-or an optimistic bias-are thought to lead to differences in motivation, effort exertion, and goal attainment. This popular belief has led to numerous empirical investigations into the contribution that positive expectancies may have for health outcomes in general (Aspinwall & Taylor, 1992 Bachen, Manuck, Muldoon, Cohen, & Rabin, 1991 Scheier & Carver, 1985, 1987, 1991, 1992 Scheier et al., 1989) and for health-enhancing behavior in particular (Maroto, Shepperd, & Pbert, 1990 Robbins, Spence, & Clark, 1991 Taylor et al., 1992).

There has been a long-standing belief that a positive outlook on life has mental and physical benefits (Cousins, 1977). The results support the discriminant validity of the two optimism personality constructs while also implicating their joint importance as determinants of health-promoting behaviors. In Study 2 (n = 60), those high on both dimensions showed the smallest increase in their coronary heart disease (CHD) prevention knowledge after attending a CHD prevention lecture. In Study 1 (n = 72), unrealistic optimism and optimism interacted to predict changes in exercise behavior across 6 weeks those high on both dimensions showed the largest decrease in their reports of exercise. A general predisposition toward hopefulness (optimism) and a negation of relative risk of later health problems (unrealistic optimism) have both been thought to predict health-promoting behavior, albeit in dIffering directions.

Examples of unrealistic optimism