In the “Optimism Bias” TED talk Tali Sharot sheds light on an important theme that we deal with as humans in our daily lives which is Optimism Bias. This theme is translated by Sharot as “our tendency to overestimate our likelihood of experiencing good events in our lives and underestimate our likelihood of experiencing bad events” (Sharot, Optimism Bias).
Life is hard. Even if you have a good job and live in a war free country like the US, there are bills to pay, children to rear, aging parents to care for, home repairs, car repairs, and a myriad of deadlines and problems every day. To cope and feel good about ourselves we tend more often than not to irrationally assume glowing futures for us and those we love. We forget about bad events in
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When envisioning how life will be in the time ahead people envision themselves as wealthier, happier, and more fulfilled than their present circumstances. This is weird on its face since the future brings with it old age and death, which isn’t something to look forward to with anticipation, so perhaps there’s another reason for this psychological disposition.
In The Optimism Bias, Tali Sharot argues that there is. If humans can visualize a bright future, they are more likely to take actions that bring it about. One can see how people who imagined and planned for the future would be better off than those who lived only for the present, while those who viewed life as a futile race to the grave may be more likely to despair and less likely to struggle for survival.
Using this as a jumping off point, Sharot then describes the results of numerous experiments pertaining to optimism and our vision of the future. These experiments consistently show that people are likely to underestimate negative risks such as cancer, illness and divorce, while overestimating positive attributes like driving ability, attractiveness and health. She also examines such topics as the self-fulfilling prophesy, the desirability of anticipation and factors that effect a person’s overall