Journal article
Wishful Thinking about the Future: Does Desire Impact Optimism?
Social and personality psychology compass, Vol.3(3), pp.227-243
05/2009
DOI: 10.1111/j.1751-9004.2009.00169.x
Abstract
The notion that desire for an outcome inflates optimism about that outcome has been dubbed the desirability bias or wishful thinking. In this paper, we discuss the importance of distinguishing wishful thinking from the more general concept of motivated reasoning, and we explain why documenting overoptimism or correlations between preferences and optimism is not sufficient to infer a desirability bias. Then, we discuss results from a review and meta-analysis of the experimental literature on wishful thinking. These findings, in conjunction with more recent work, not only highlight important moderators and mediators of the desirability bias but also point out limitations of the empirical research on the bias. These results also reveal an important difference between how likelihood judgments and discrete outcome predictions respond to desirability of outcomes. We conclude by presenting avenues for future research useful for understanding wishful thinking's manifestation in everyday environments and its integration with related phenomena.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Wishful Thinking about the Future: Does Desire Impact Optimism?
- Creators
- Zlatan Krizan - Iowa State UniversityPaul D Windschitl - University of Iowa
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Social and personality psychology compass, Vol.3(3), pp.227-243
- Publisher
- Blackwell Publishing Ltd
- DOI
- 10.1111/j.1751-9004.2009.00169.x
- ISSN
- 1751-9004
- eISSN
- 1751-9004
- Number of pages
- 17
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 05/2009
- Academic Unit
- Psychological and Brain Sciences
- Record Identifier
- 9984214734502771
Metrics
6 Record Views