The spillover effect of unrealistic optimism and its temporal aspects
The spillover effect of unrealistic optimism and its temporal aspects
StatusVoR
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Authors
Kulesza, Wojciech
Muniak, Paweł
Doliński, Dariusz
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Date
2026-11-13
Publisher
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Current Psychology
Issue
22
Volume
45
Pages
Pages
1-17
ISSN
1046-1310
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2026-11-13
Abstract PL
Abstract EN
Unrealistic optimism is a phenomenon in which a person perceives oneself as less threatened than another person in the same situation leading to the feeling of control and fear reduction during and before threatening events. A small amount of research on unrealistic pessimism delivers the opposite picture: people perceive themselves as more exposed to negative consequences compared to others. The consequences of these biased perceptions of reality are seminal: the first leads to an increased risk of disregarded negative consequences, whilst the second leads to proactive actions toward self-protection. The present paper tries to replicate the unrealistic pessimism effect in a new context: floods. Surprisingly, results show that people affected by floods report unrealistic optimism. Non-affected participants shared this bias, described as the ‘spillover effect.’ Finally, this illusion persists over time, even when the risk is no longer present, challenging its fear-reduction explanation.
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Keywords PL
Keywords EN
Unrealistic optimism
Unrealistic pessimism
Spillover effect
Temporal aspects
Flood
Unrealistic pessimism
Spillover effect
Temporal aspects
Flood
Keywords other
Sustainable Development Goals
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