There once was an experiment…
When a person was asked for a set of questions, such as
“What is the chance you will die of heart attack in the next 10 years?”, this
person may take a best guess. A correct answer then is given right away to
compare to his best guess. He is either too optimistic or too pessimistic.
That’s OK as it was just a wild guess. The
same set of questions will be given shortly after. This experiment was done on
a group of random adults.
Interesting finding is that human will register the correct
answers a lot easier when the answers are in their favour. People have
difficult register the answers that are not in their favour and keeping giving a
wrong answer that is too optimistic.
Scientists attribute this phenomenon to a human trait that
this hopeful perception help us strive challenging situations. Having amplified hopes help we
keep fighting.
I starting re-evaluate should I be hopeful when truths and my
perceptions contradict each other?
Where is the balance to accept the truth, when it is not hopeful,
and still be hopeful?
Am I mentally strong enough to recognize the hopeless situation and still fight?
