Behavioural Economics Primer: Optimism bias

Crawford Hollingworth

This article gives an overview of the behavioural economics concept of optimism bias, our tendency to overestimate our likelihood of experiencing good events in our lives.

Behavioural Economics Primer: Optimism bias

Crawford Hollingworth The Behavioural Architects

Behavioural economics

This article is part of Warc's Behavioural Economics Primer.

The optimism bias describes our tendency to overestimate our likelihood of experiencing good events in our lives, and underestimate the likelihood of suffering negative events in our lives. More simply, people think they'll be luckier than they are likely to be. Neuroscientists estimate that 80% of us are affected by optimism bias to some degree.

Related to optimism bias is the planning fallacy. The planning fallacy is a tendency for people and organisations to underestimate how...

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