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optimism
You believe your future is better than your present.
The optimism bias is a persistent cognitive error where you underestimate the likelihood of negative events and overestimate the likelihood of positive ones.
In a 2007 neuroimaging study, researchers found that the brain processes positive future events more efficiently than negative ones. You act as if your life is an outlier exempt from statistical averages.
Your default setting is to assume you are luckier than you actually are.
Where this comes from
- Study
- Sharot, 2007, Nature
- What the check found
- The definition is standard and the cited study (Sharot et al., 2007, Nature) is a seminal work establishing the neural mechanism behind this bias.
- Confidence
- Well replicated
Related
One of these every day, and every one names the study it came from. When a finding is contested, it says so.