Monday, October 10th 2011, 5:58 PM
Turns out there's a downside to always looking on the bright side.
A new British study found that blind optimism is related to faulty functioning of the brain's frontal lobe - and could, in part, be blamed for the financial crisis, unsafe sex and bad health habits.
Scientists at the University College of London studied the brain function of volunteers who were asked to estimate their personal likelihood of contracting different diseases, having their car stolen, losing their job, getting a divorce or experiencing dozens of other misfortunes.
The subjects, hooked up to brain imaging devices, were then given the true probabilities.
If the news was better than they expected, the volunteers showed activity in the frontal lobe and tended to revise their first estimates to be even more positive, the researchers found.
If the real odds were more bleak, respondents who rated highest for optimism overall tended to show the least activity in the frontal lobe and revise their original estimates the least - if at all.
They were in denial, the study found, displaying a hard-wired bias for hope in the face of cautionary information.
"Seeing the glass as half full rather than half empty can be a positive thing - it can lower stress and anxiety and be good for our health and well-being," the study's author Dr. Tali Sharot said, according to the Daily Mail. "But it can also mean that we are less likely to take precautionary action, such as practicing safe sex or saving for retirement."
Dr. Sharot said many experts believe the financial crisis in 2008 was precipitated by analysts overestimating the performance of their assets even in the face of shakey property values, questionable loans and rising debt.
The brain imaging study was published in the journal Nature Neuroscience.
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario