Self Serving Bias

According to Dictionary.com, the definition of optimism is “A disposition or tendency to look on the more favorable side of events or conditions and to expect the most favorable outcome.” Looking on the more favorable side can help in the most difficult times. Having a positive attitude is the best response to conflict, especially in time of war. Optimists such as Winston Churchill and Anne Frank kept hope for a better future throughout World War II.

“An appreciation of the power of self-justification helps us understand, therefore, why people who have low self-esteem, or who simply believe that they are incompetent in some domain, are not totally overjoyed when they do something well.” (p..

An article written by Kendra Cherry states, “By nurturing positive emotions, even in the face of terrible events, people can reap both short-term and long-term rewards, including managing stress levels, lessening depression, and building coping skills that will serve them well in the future” (Cherry). Optimism has allowed for people to deal with conflicts in a healthy way. Neuroscientist Tali Sharot in her book The Science of Optimism: Why We’re Hard-Wired for Hope argues that optimism provides an adaptive advantage. According to her, “Expecting our future to be good reduces stress and anxiety, which is good for our health. Researchers studying heart attack patients have found that optimists were more likely than nonoptimistic patients to take vitamins, eat low-fat diets, and exercise, thereby reducing their overall coronary risk” (Popova). Dealing with conflicts positively is better for your health and it decreases bad health

Humans are judgmental creatures. One of our most significant philosophy is “not judging a book by its cover”, which examines our habit to judge. We did not purposely develop this questionable characteristic; we seem to have been with this evolutionary trait. We judge everything as a survival instinct to protect ourselves; the perception we create from our personal opinions determine whether we believe something is friendly or foe. As with everything, we judge ourselves, and we tend to be our biggest critic. We constantly judge ourselves, but why? People have referred to this type of judgement as self-esteem. Self-esteem is measured by how positive we view ourselves: the more positive our perception of our self, the higher our self-esteem and

Self-esteem and self-concept may not be synonymous on the surface, but after looking over their meanings, they appear interconnected. Just as self-esteem becomes impacted by personal surroundings and environments, McGraw posits that one’s “self” is, “like a chameleon, takes[ing] on the emotional colors of history and environment in which is has existed” (McGraw, 63). A person’s family, parents, and other negative life experiences shapes self-esteem impacts self and self-esteem. Throughout class discussions, the idea rose that even with environmental factors shaping self-perception or self-esteem, these emotions or feelings do not have to impact a person’s future. McGraw in his first chapter appears to be leading a reader down the same path to reach the realization that distorted self-concepts do not have to stay or

Nothing is more important in life than having positive self-esteem and a positive outlook on life. With positive self-esteem, a person can accomplish just about anything they put their mind to. Developing self-esteem starts from the day a baby is born and continues throughout their life, but unfortunately, this development is not always complete for some by the time they are adults. If we have low confidence in ourselves and our ability to succeed, it’s time to take another look at how we can build confidence. First of all, it’s important to recognize and believe that positive

The concept of self esteem is widespread in life. When it comes to academics and extracurricular actives people associate high self esteem is necessary for success. Society makes promoting self esteem an important goal. With that in mind, it is surprising that only recently scientific literature began providing insight into the nature of development of self esteem.

The idea of self is a significant part of every individual’s life. The way we visualise ourselves can be altered by feelings of self worth and self esteem and lead to a change or influence in the way we act. The evaluation of one’s attitude towards self can be seen to be improved by the individual believing they are worthy which could lead to a self fulfilling prophecy. The better-than-average effect can depict this theory by assessing individuals on their motivational bias and attributes (Brown, 2011). In this particular study, participants are given a questionnaire regarding ten traits, half of high importance and half of low importance. They were then told to rate these attributes on importance of possession. As predicted, the results show that the

Self esteem can bring positive or negative outcomes when it comes to task performance. Thus, people with greater levels of self-esteem and no stereotype presence build on personal strengths to succeed, whereas people with lower levels of self-esteem and stereotype presence attempt to deal with their flaws to be accepted (Baumeister & Tice, 1985; Brown & Dutton, 1995). Therefore, we wish to determine whether stereotype threat effects could be reduced or eliminated by activating self-esteem. We hypothesized that by directly addressing the need to maintain a sense of self-worth through affirming a valued characteristic that is not under threat, we would reduce or eliminated the impact of the stereotype threat, allowing people to feel more confident to deal with the situation and perform better.

Cambridge Dictionary (2016) defines Optimism as “the quality of being full of hope and emphasizing the good parts of a situation, or a belief that something good will happen” Cambridge Dictionary, 2016. To me, being optimistic can help any situation. For example, I work around 25 hours per week whilst studying full time, which results in me being stressed. Having a more positive behaviour towards my studies and work has helped me immensely with reducing my stress levels. Being a student, it can be very hard to deal with getting bad feedback or not finding the resources you need to complete a great assignment. I use my optimism to

When I started thinking critically about this assignment, I realized that I was stuck. I couldn’t think of a single bias that I could possibly have against someone but then it donned on me that I would have to go deeper and understand that biases can come in many different forms. And since I am not a professional therefore have never provided therapy to someone on a professional level, I am virtually unaware of what my potential biases are. So to solve this problem, I decided to think about my personal experiences and document the ones that caused me to have any sort of negative emotions about.

In the American culture we have a tendency to put blame on others for our own mistakes. Some people do not want to take the blame so they will just blame it on someone else because it’s easier than to admit to their undoing. An example, maybe you have not received a raise this year because you are thinking my new manager is unfair or is too hard on you and you not owning up to your mistakes that you have made in the past year and that's why you did not get a raise. Some people like to be the victim to get remorse and sympathy from other people to make themselves feel better. Finger pointing and blaming others for your own demise is a victimology approach. Some people are too vain to take responsibility for their own actions and they

In the words of Winston Churchill, "The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty." When we are optimistic that we can get a job done, or that we can find a cure for a disease, we are more motivated, and we work harder. A scientist who is pessimistic that they will never find a cure for a specific disease will have a mental mind block against finding a cure for a disease, making it considerably harder for them to find a cure. However, a scientist who is optimistic about finding a cure for a disease will be motivated and more focused on their dedication to discovering a cure for a disease such as cancer. When you are optimistic, you are more motivated, and when you are motivated, you are more productive, consequently making optimism a particularly important priority in everyday

Being optimistic is the main principle for most people. We may often hear the statement about “be an optimist, not a pessimist!” shouted by people. Sometimes you do it for yourself too. When facing such a failure or problem, this will not only help to relieve your heart. Being optimistic will help someone to be healthy in physical and mental. An optimist will find the best way in any circumstance and hope for every good thing can come to him/her. You may have gone through thousands of hard times. However, if you are a born optimist then you will not care of anything destructing you.

Optimistic and pessimistic attitudes constantly affect the outcome of people's lives. In my life, I try to keep an optimistic attitude about the things I do because I know it will help lead me to more desirable ends. There have been many situations in which optimism has helped me through difficult times. Two areas in particular have provided me optimistic experiences: athletics