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Makeover Reality
and Manage Stress
Using Positive Illusions to Beat Stress
By Dr. Gregg D. Jacobs, Ph.D.
Psychologists who have conducted research on stress-resistant individuals have identified three factors that characterize these individuals: a mildly distorted positive attitude about themselves; an exaggerated belief in their ability to control what goes on around them; and unrealistic optimistic attitudes about the future. These attitudes appear to be especially important when people are faced with threatening information or stressful events. Psychologist Shelley Taylor at UCLA has coined the term "positive illusions" to describe this constellation of stress-reducing beliefs.
Healthy distortion
Ironically, the traditional definition of mental health is characterized by a worldview in close contact with reality. This "reality testing" became the hallmark of sanity. However, evidence in the 1970s began to show that most people, in fact, are not truly realistic or accurate in how they think. Language and memory are areas in which people are particularly inclined to gild the lily.
Recent research has taken these findings one step further by suggesting that distorting reality in a mild way is actually healthful and that a lack of positive illusions is correlated with depressed or highly anxious individuals. Those who are mildly depressed, in fact, see themselves, the world and their future far more realistically. Severely depressed individuals, however, clearly suffer from negative, distorted views of themselves, the world and future that are directly proportional to the severity of their depression.
Obviously, the mind (and body) can benefit by occasionally suspending our tight attachment to hard-nosed reality.
Allow for ‘time outs’
But can’t positive illusions cause people to ignore or deny important information, make bad decisions or develop a false sense of their abilities or accomplishments? Yes, but positive illusions are subject to feedback from the world, both from failed personal actions and from the reactions of other people. These reality tests usually keep the illusions from becoming too extreme or maladaptive.
Furthermore, individuals experience "time-outs" from their positive illusions, particularly when setting goals and making decisions. Once decisions and goals are established, the illusions are activated to help us carry through with the plan.
Occasional periods of mild depression or melancholy may also allow time-outs from positive illusions to keep them within healthy limits. During these times, we slow down, readjust our appraisals, and tone down our behavior and decisions. Of course, many stressors in life are not amenable to change through positive illusions, and even when stressors are amenable to change, positive illusions can help us to cope, but they do not remove the stressors altogether. (See the Attitudes section for techniques for managing stress).
Help distort other’s realties
These illusions also contribute to positive mood and prosocial behaviors, such as the ability to care for others, both of which are health-enhancing. It makes sense that individuals who handle stress more effectively, experience more positive moods and are more optimistic will have a more positive view of their fellow man, react to others more positively and will be better able to feel empathy for others. In part this is because stress-resistant people are less distressed about themselves. Happy people also attract better social support systems because they’re simply more pleasant to be around.
Don’t grow up
Positive illusions are present in an even stronger degree in children. Young children think more positively of themselves, see themselves as popular and have very positive beliefs about the future. Researchers believe that positive illusions may be especially effective during childhood in facilitating the acquisition of language, problem solving abilities and motor skills. The unrealistic and optimistic beliefs of children may ensure that youngsters persist at learning during the first few years of life, minimize responsiveness to criticism and enhance self-esteem and motivation. So, positive illusions appear as an evolutionary accommodation wired into the brain and essential for emotional health.
As we grow into adulthood, we become more responsive to realistic limits placed on our abilities, and we unlearn the illusions of childhood. But as positive illusions diminish in strength, so too does a more stress-resistant sense of self. One of the unfortunate consequences of the passage to adulthood is the loss of positive illusions of childhood. The most stress-resistant individuals may be those who retain a greater degree of strength in their positive illusions and, as a result, a stronger and more integrated sense of self.
and Manage Stress
Using Positive Illusions to Beat Stress
By Dr. Gregg D. Jacobs, Ph.D.
Psychologists who have conducted research on stress-resistant individuals have identified three factors that characterize these individuals: a mildly distorted positive attitude about themselves; an exaggerated belief in their ability to control what goes on around them; and unrealistic optimistic attitudes about the future. These attitudes appear to be especially important when people are faced with threatening information or stressful events. Psychologist Shelley Taylor at UCLA has coined the term "positive illusions" to describe this constellation of stress-reducing beliefs.
Healthy distortion
Ironically, the traditional definition of mental health is characterized by a worldview in close contact with reality. This "reality testing" became the hallmark of sanity. However, evidence in the 1970s began to show that most people, in fact, are not truly realistic or accurate in how they think. Language and memory are areas in which people are particularly inclined to gild the lily.
Recent research has taken these findings one step further by suggesting that distorting reality in a mild way is actually healthful and that a lack of positive illusions is correlated with depressed or highly anxious individuals. Those who are mildly depressed, in fact, see themselves, the world and their future far more realistically. Severely depressed individuals, however, clearly suffer from negative, distorted views of themselves, the world and future that are directly proportional to the severity of their depression.
Obviously, the mind (and body) can benefit by occasionally suspending our tight attachment to hard-nosed reality.
Allow for ‘time outs’
But can’t positive illusions cause people to ignore or deny important information, make bad decisions or develop a false sense of their abilities or accomplishments? Yes, but positive illusions are subject to feedback from the world, both from failed personal actions and from the reactions of other people. These reality tests usually keep the illusions from becoming too extreme or maladaptive.
Furthermore, individuals experience "time-outs" from their positive illusions, particularly when setting goals and making decisions. Once decisions and goals are established, the illusions are activated to help us carry through with the plan.
Occasional periods of mild depression or melancholy may also allow time-outs from positive illusions to keep them within healthy limits. During these times, we slow down, readjust our appraisals, and tone down our behavior and decisions. Of course, many stressors in life are not amenable to change through positive illusions, and even when stressors are amenable to change, positive illusions can help us to cope, but they do not remove the stressors altogether. (See the Attitudes section for techniques for managing stress).
Help distort other’s realties
These illusions also contribute to positive mood and prosocial behaviors, such as the ability to care for others, both of which are health-enhancing. It makes sense that individuals who handle stress more effectively, experience more positive moods and are more optimistic will have a more positive view of their fellow man, react to others more positively and will be better able to feel empathy for others. In part this is because stress-resistant people are less distressed about themselves. Happy people also attract better social support systems because they’re simply more pleasant to be around.
Don’t grow up
Positive illusions are present in an even stronger degree in children. Young children think more positively of themselves, see themselves as popular and have very positive beliefs about the future. Researchers believe that positive illusions may be especially effective during childhood in facilitating the acquisition of language, problem solving abilities and motor skills. The unrealistic and optimistic beliefs of children may ensure that youngsters persist at learning during the first few years of life, minimize responsiveness to criticism and enhance self-esteem and motivation. So, positive illusions appear as an evolutionary accommodation wired into the brain and essential for emotional health.
As we grow into adulthood, we become more responsive to realistic limits placed on our abilities, and we unlearn the illusions of childhood. But as positive illusions diminish in strength, so too does a more stress-resistant sense of self. One of the unfortunate consequences of the passage to adulthood is the loss of positive illusions of childhood. The most stress-resistant individuals may be those who retain a greater degree of strength in their positive illusions and, as a result, a stronger and more integrated sense of self.