Health and life

Central to unrealistic optimism is the notion of risk perception and the proposal that individuals can process risk information in ways that enables them to continue their unhealthy behaviour. In fact research suggests that those least persuaded by risk data are often those most at risk (Sherman et al. 2000). An example of this is [...]

Weinstein (1983, 1984) suggested that one of the reasons that people continue to practise unhealthy behaviours is due to inaccurate perceptions of risk and susceptibility – their unrealistic optimism. He asked subjects to examine a list of health problems and to state ‘compared to other people of your age and sex, what are your chances [...]