The phenomenon of depressive realism faces a multitude of challenges. The view that there is a trade-off between truth and wellbeing, in which obtaining wellbeing depends on distorting the truth, is revealed as too simplistic. In the emerging picture is the one in which the meaning of depressive realism and unrealistic optimism is shifting and their scope is being refined. Are the psychological benefits of optimistic predictions brought about by their inaccuracy? Are people with depression sadder but wiser than people without depression? In the last couple of years, these issues have been addressed in a significant number of new empirical studies and literature reviews. When depressive realism and unrealistic optimism are examined together (see Refs. For instance, when people think about the future, they tend to underestimate their chances of developing cancer or getting a divorce. Unrealistic optimism tells us that predictions made by people in a nonclinical sample are more optimistic than is objectively warranted by the evidence. For instance, when asked to assess their own performance in a novel task and in the absence of feedback, people with depression are more likely to assess their performance accurately than controls. Depressive realism tells us that people with depression make more accurate judgements and realistic predictions than people without depression. Compare unrealistic optimism and depressive realism. Do accurate cognitions make us happy? It would seem not.
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