Benefits and Liabilities
Positive illusions can have advantages and disadvantages for the individual, and there is a controversy over whether they are evolutionarily adaptive. The illusions may have direct health benefits by helping the person cope with stress, or by promoting work towards success. On the other hand, unrealistically positive expectations may prevent people from taking sensible preventative action for medical risks. Recent research in fact provides evidence that people who have positive illusions may have both short term benefits and long term costs. Specifically, self-enhancement is not correlated with academic success or graduation rates in college.
Read more about this topic: Positive Illusions
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