Selvbedrag, overoptimisme og depressiv realisme

Depressive realism

Studies by psychologists Alloy and Abramson (1979) and Dobson and Franche (1989) showed that depressed people appear to have a more realistic perception of their importance, reputation, locus of control, and abilities than those who are not depressed.

People without depression are more likely to have inflated self-images and look at the world through “rose-colored glasses”, thanks to cognitive dissonance elimination and a variety of other defense mechanisms.

This does not necessarily imply that a happy person is delusional or deny that some depressed individuals may be unrealistically negative (as in studies by Pacini, Muir and Epstein, 1998).

Og,

Dykman et al. (1989) argued that, although depressive people make more accurate judgments about having no control in situations where in fact they have no control, they also believe they have no control when in fact they do; and so their perceptions are not more accurate overall.

Jeg har begynt å helle mot at velvalgte selvbedrag og moderat overoptimisme kan være OK i en del sammenhenger.