What is the optimism bias?

About this episode

Today we're going to talk about a cognitive bias that causes people to believe, often mistakenly, that they are less likely to experience negative events and more likely to experience positive events than others. Estimates suggest that 80% of us display what’s known as the optimism bias. For example, we might think that we are less likely to get sick, lose our job, or have a car accident than the average person. We might also think that we are more likely to live longer, be successful, or win the lottery than others. Why do we have such a bias? And how does it affect our decisions and actions? What are the drawbacks of optimism bias? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions ! To listen to the latest episodes, click here: ⁠⁠Is it bad to hold in your pee?⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Why does looking at the sun make me sneeze?⁠⁠ ⁠⁠What is “Act your Wage”, Gen Z’s latest work-life trend?⁠⁠ A Bababam Originals podcast written and realised by Joseph Chance. First Broadcast : 7/6/2023 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices