Concepts
Health psychology/Cognitive biases · Social cognition
Optimism bias
What it means
Unrealistic optimism: systematically underestimating one’s OWN risk of a negative outcome relative to others — a key barrier to health-behaviour change.
Worked example
A smoker accepts that smoking causes cancer in general, yet believes he personally is unlikely to be affected.
In the exam
A heavy smoker fully accepts that smoking causes lung cancer, yet is convinced that he himself is far less likely than other smokers to develop it.
What settles it
Optimism bias accepts the general threat but discounts one’s PERSONAL risk (lowers perceived susceptibility — a barrier to change). Denial refuses the reality of the threat altogether.
Classically confused with
Denial
Source: Weinstein; health psychology