Unrealistic self-perceptions, illusions of control, and unrealistic optimism

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We’re either under an illusion or depressed. We are living in the same world, but we are interpreting it differently. Are depressed people more opt to be mentally healthy than those who are optimistic? That’s what the research of Taylor and Brown (1988) would have us believe, suggesting that depressed people have a more accurate construct of reality. On the other hand, Taylor and Brown (1988) argue that while depressed people seem to have more accurate self-perception, positive illusions tend to lead to healthy behavior. Colvin (1994) questioned the researchers in saying their evidence was weak. The concept of mental health has been speculated upon throughout the history of psychology. Jahoda (1958) connected a common point in the mental health theories at the time; that is, being in contact with reality was crucial to being mentally healthy. Well-respected psychologists of the past agree with this point, including Erikson, Menninger, and Maslow. Jahoda reached the conclusion, “The perception of reality is called mentally healthy when what the individual sees corresponds to what is actually there.” According to the conventional definition of mental illness, contact with reality is a requirement.
Taylor and Brown (1988) argue that positive illusions are adaptive and are often times related to higher levels of happiness. The definition the researchers used for illusion is “a belief that departs from reality presupposes an objective grasp of reality.” People who have unrealistic self-perceptions have generally been thought of mentally ill while those that have realistic self-perceptions have been thought of to be mentally healthy. However, this may not always be the case. If a person holds unrealistic perceptions of oneself that ar...

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...m that positive illusions lead to mental health. The basis of their argument is that Taylor and Brown’s evidence is weak. Colvin argues that a normative finding does not do a good job at separating the accurate individuals from the inaccurate, self-enhancing individuals. Ranking oneself relative to “most others” is largely problematic because people vary. One person may rate themselves as being exceptional due to their ability to play the piano, and another person may do the same thing due to their ability to hit a baseball. Also, if the comparison group contains few pathologically depressed individuals, then nearly everyone else in the group could be above the average in happiness. Due to this, self-report measures that have self-evalution components may be positively biased and therefore questionable due to individuals having self-enhancing tendencies (Nier 2007).

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