12/7/2023 0 Comments Tali sharot optimism bias![]() If we can better align with our customers’ innate optimism then surely they will better engage with our messages and connect with our brands. Surely the same theory can be applied to marketing approaches too. How about rethinking the message? Why not put a positive message on cigarette packets to harness the Optimism Bias, for example, ‘80% of people are able to kick the habit after 2 weeks of trying’, or more informative messages such as ‘Visit this website to check your lung health’. Smokers believe that smoking leads to lung cancer but because of their Optimism Bias they don’t believe that they will get lung cancer. This is the wrong approach because people disregard it. Wear a cycle helmet: if you don’t and you are in an accident you will die, despite evidence showing that these campaigns have only minimal impact. Don’t sit in the sun you will get skin cancer. When it comes to health promotion and education it is important to change the way we communicate the hazard. Most awareness campaigns are ‘fear campaigns’ Don’t smoke: you will get lung cancer. Our prediction of the future influences our actions, which in turn determine the outcome”.Ĭan the Optimism Bias be harnessed in healthcare? If you don’t think you are going to win the race, get the promotion or beat the cancer accordingly you put in less effort. ![]() Tali talks generally about a self-fulfilling prophecy attached to the Optimism Bias: “If you expect to do well, that motivates you to act so you put in more effort and more hours therefore are more likely to succeed. It is designed to help us construct future scenarios in our mind, and so memory ends up being a partly constructed process too. ![]() This is partly because the neural system involved in the processes by which you remember the past, are the same ones you use to imagine the future. Studying how emotion changes memory, specifically traumatic memories such as in 9/11, it emerged that people’s memories of these events were filled with errors and inaccuracies. Tali stumbled into this area of research by accident. So what are the psychological and physiological factors which make this happen? As individuals we underestimate our chances of getting divorced (perhaps otherwise we would never get married), or being diagnosed with serious illness whereas we expect our children to be super-talented and our careers to be more successful than our friends and peers. We expect outcomes to be better than they are likely to be in reality. We are not aware of whether our hopes and predictions are realistic or not, it is a subconscious process and is linked to our ability to mentally imagine the future. The Optimism Bias is the over-prediction of positive outcomes. Optimism is the belief that the outcome you hope for will happen. It’s a fascinating concept and one I had to find out more about, so I bought the book and a little while ago I met with Tali in her office at University College London for an enthralling discussion.įirstly, to set the context, some definitions: Hope is what you want to happen. So I was intrigued when I read of neuroscientist Tali Sharot’s research into the Optimism Bias, which has shown that despite all the bad news stories we are bombarded with on a daily basis: war, violence, wrong-doing and financial meltdown, the majority of us are optimistic by nature our brains are hardwired to be so. It seems to me to make for an easier and more enjoyable journey through life. I like to think of myself as a positive and optimistic person.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |