Categories of Positive Illusions - Essay Example

Psychology Positive Illusions People have always sought a positive, stable, and accurate self-concept. This is achieved through self-enhancement traits. Self-enhancement needs are eminent in many people and seem to be predominant most of the time in an individual’s life. Consequently, following events that threaten the self-esteem of an individual, their self-enhancement needs are more pronounced. To be in a position to satisfy self- enhancement necessities, individuals hold exaggerated perceptions and false positivity as pertains to their social skills, talents, and abilities. These exaggerated self-perceptions are what are referred to as positive illusions (Bromgard, David and Irina 85-94). Positive illusions are broadly classified into three categories. One category entails when individuals perceive themselves more positive than they actually are. The second category is characterized by individuals believing they have more control over situations happening in their lives than they actually have. The third type of positive illusion is evidenced when individuals are unrealistically optimistic as concerns their future (Bromgard, David and Irina 85-94). A case scenario of positive illusions is documented in a study that was carried out among students. They were expected to use personal adjectives to rate themselves and others. The resulted evidenced that students involved in the experiment rated themselves more positively than they rated others. Consequently this was affirmed in a similar study where the participants’ self-perception were more positive than the perceptions elicited by other concerning them (Bromgard, David and Irina 85-94). The impact of positive illusions has also been documented in case scenarios pertaining o memory research. Results from participants involved in the memory research evidenced that they preserved optimistic information about themselves as compared to negative information. In affirmation, another study on memory revealed that participants recalled and voiced their successes more in comparison to their failures (Bromgard, David and Irina 85-94). Those who have positive illusions perceive events differently from those who do not. Evidence from attribution theory has if when individuals who have positive illusions have positive outcomes, they attribute them to themselves than to external factors. An example of a case scenario is a gambler who wins and attributes it to his own skill. Consequently, if the same individual was to loose, he would attribute this not to his failure, but to the good luck of the individual who won. This evidences the optimism of individuals with positive illusions, affecting how they perceive success and failure (Bromgard, David and Irina 85-94). Positive illusions have been documented to affect the tasks performed by these individuals. This is since these individuals perceive themselves as more competent that others and their positive illusions enhance their self-enhancement. This has been documented to be an evidence of successful self-adjustment and hence these individuals engage in more productive work compared to individuals who do not have positive illusions. The sense of well- being in people with positive illusions enables them to perform tasks, which they would have not otherwise performed. This encourages them to perform the task longer and invest their perfectionism in it, in order to garner the acknowledgement and credit (Bromgard, David and Irina 85-94). Positive illusions have also been documented to affect relationships between partners. An individual who has positive illusions views the partner in a relationship and the significant others in his life to be better than the individual. This has been cited as a way of avoiding conflict between partners in a relationship as positive illusions enable individuals to concentrate on the positives of the partner. However some critics have cited this as a compensatory mechanism used by individuals to shield themselves from the imperfections of their loved ones (Bromgard, David and Irina 85-94). Positive illusions have been attributed as the sole reason why marriages succeed. It is related with the inability of two diverse people living together and not conflicting with each other. Individuals with positive illusions spend more time concentrating on the strengths of their spouses and rarely invest on their weaknesses. This is since they believe that the future belongs to those who are currently happy and contented with what they have. It has been avowed that two optimistic individuals are more likely to survive a marriage, compared to two pessimistic people (Bromgard, David and Irina 85-94). Consequently, individual with positive illusions do not to suffer from mental disorders compared to those who do not have positive illusions. They are able to maintain a healthy mental state by avoiding worry and anxiety that translates to fear and doubt. It is hypothesized that individuals with positive illusions do not concentrate on the mishaps of life like sickness, economic crises and hence rarely suffer from mental incapacitation (Bromgard, David and Irina 85-94). Additionally, positive illusions have been documented to have an impact on health outcome of patients. Patients who have positive illusions have been documented to survive out of cancers and other long-term diseases. This is because of their exaggerated positivity that makes them believe that there is still hope even if the medical practitioners say otherwise. These individuals have also been documented to be rational to death and adverse health outcomes in their family members and friends. Positive illusions among pregnant women has also been found to aid in acceptance of the pregnancy and hence limited complications during pregnancy and delivery (Bromgard, David and Irina 85-94). Despite the benefits of positive illusions on individuals, there has been documented evidence of negative effects of positive illusions on individuals. Due to their exaggerated self-enhancement and perception, these individuals are prone to engaging in high risky behaviors. They are the main culprits that engage in substance abuse, high-risk sexual behavior, and reckless driving. This is because of the overconfidence they have in themselves and the notion that they control the activities in their life. In a case scenario, majority of individuals who engage in life threatening activities like boxing, use of firearms and peddling drugs are those with positive illusions (Bromgard, David and Irina 85-94). Individuals with positive illusions have also been documented to perform adversely in business. Though business requires risk taking initiatives through strategic planning, people with positive illusions because of their excess optimism do not evaluate the options. They do not consult prior to undertaking a risky venture since they perceive themselves better than they perceive those around them. Following a failure in an investment venture, they do not see the opportunity cost in walking out and they continue persisting in the business. This leads to massive losses and blame to others as individuals with positive illusions do not accept responsibility for their failures (Bromgard, David and Irina 85-94). Moreover, positive illusions have also been documented to make individuals delirious. They have been stipulated to live in a trance and in a world that does not exist. They have been stipulated as people who do not know how to maintain positive relationships with other individuals. This is since they will not stop at anything to accomplish what to them is ideal even though it means harming other people in the process. The curtailing factor of these individuals is that upon overwhelming activities, due to denial they are predisposed to heart attacks. This is as a result of inability to cope with failure and they will stretch themselves to unbearable points, in bid to avoiding pre- eminent failure (Bromgard, David and Irina 85-94). Research has evidenced that majority of individuals who do not have positive illusions suffer from feelings of low self- esteem. A significant number of them suffer from depression and instead of recalling the positive events in their life; they also recall the negative events in their life. Research has documented that these individuals tend to concur with the perceptions that people have about them. This culminates to these individuals attributing bias to positive outcomes and evidence self-ration attribution bias in receiving credit for their activities (Bromgard, David and Irina 85-94). Subsequently, individuals who do not have positive illusions have a very pessimistic view to life. They always believe that they are not worth anything good that is happening in their life and live wishing they were other people. They are afraid of trying out anything new and complex as they are not certain of what their friends will say about them. This makes them to have a stagnant life and resort to solitary. These individuals will only pursue a venture if they have seen another one pursue and succeed. Majority of them are not innovators and will always run away from responsibility (Bromgard, David and Irina 85-94). Despite the shortcomings that befall individuals who do not have positive illusions, there are benefits that accrue to their personality. To begin with, these individuals have been documented to have many friends since they never perceive themselves superior to their friends. Consequently, they are good with routine work that does not require generation of new ideas and this is their area of expertise. These individuals because of their caution do not engage in risky behaviors and have been found to live longer and healthy lives. (Bromgard, David and Irina 85-94). In conclusion, positive illusions are helpful as they enable individuals to feel better about themselves increasing their self- esteem. In contrast, individuals with law self-esteem and no positive illusions are unable to maintain relationships and may end up in solitary. It is however important for individuals to have moderate positive illusions to appreciate their peers and their colleagues. This is since over rated positive illusions translate to alienation of an individual from his peers. Since positive illusions are perceptions held by individuals, it is important that individual device strategies to cope with positive illusions that will affect them negatively. Individuals should learn how to control their optimism and should appreciate others and not view themselves as of more value in comparison to others. Work cited Bromgard, Gregg, David Trafimow, and Irina Bromgard, "Valence of Self-Cognitions: The Positivity of Individual Self-Statements." The Journal of social psychology 146.1 (2006): 85-94. ABI/INFORM Complete. Web. 29 Nov. 2011 Read More