Unrealistic Optimism in the Time of Coronavirus Pandemic: May It Help to Kill, If So—Whom: Disease or the Person?

Abstract

Objective: The results of numerous empirical studies have showed the occurrence of so-called unrealistic optimism. Thus, we aimed to investigate whether in the situation of an imminent coronavirus pandemic, people would still perceive themselves as being less exposed to the disease than others. Methods: Survey studies were conducted to examine the level of unrealistic optimism. Participants (n = 171, 67.3% of women) in a subjective way judged the risk of their coronavirus infection and the likelihood that this would happen to an average student of the same sex from their class. The survey was conducted in three waves: prior to the announcement of the first case of coronavirus (2-3 March), immediately after that announcement (5-6 March), and a few days later (9-10 March). Results: We showed that women estimated the chances of being infected as significantly higher (M = 4.52, SD = 2.079; t = 2.387; p = 0.018; Cohen's d = 0.393) than men (M = 3.71, SD = 2.042). The phenomenon of unrealistic optimism was observed especially in men (as compared to other male participants) as it appeared in all three measures (M (you) = 3.95 vs. M (other male student) = 4.63; M = 3.71 vs. M = 4.68, and M = 4.46 vs. M = 5.38 in phase one, two, and three, respectively; p ≤ 0.006 for all comparison), but also in women in the last two measures (M (you) = 4.55 vs. M (other female student) = 4.95, and M = 4.99 vs. M = 5.38 in phase 2 and 3, respectively; p ≤ 0.012 for both comparisons). Conclusions: The study revealed a fairly general occurrence of unrealistic optimism, which was mainly observed in men as it appeared in all three measures, but also in women in the last two measures. This result is important for health experts who are responsible for making people comply with regulations concerning social distancing, putting masks on to stop infection, and staying at home. It is possible that unrealistically optimistic people will behave much less in line with the aforementioned recommendations, causing coronavirus to spread widely.

Impact of unrealistic optimism on the risk of contamination during the home confinement of COVID-19 in Algeria

“…In comparison, 5 con rm that unrealistic optimism was mainly observed in men in the three measures, but also women in two measures; therefore, the phenomenon of unrealistic optimism was observed especially among men. This study has several limits related to the time-sensibility of the pandemic (COVID-19).…”

“…The unrealistic optimism is de ned as the tendency for people to believe that they are "less likely to experience negative events and more likely to experience positive events than are other people". 5,6 The optimistic bias has been de ned as the result of the joint efforts of two mechanisms. The rst of these is related to cognitive factors such as lack of information and the poor critical insight into one's cognitive skills.…”

Psychological underpinnings of pandemic denial - patterns of disagreement with scientific experts in the German public during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…A multi-lab study in ten different countries provided evidence for a positive relation between risk assessment and self-reported adoption of containment behaviors in regard to COVID-19 (Dryhurst et al, 2020). Other research supports ENDORSEMENT OF CLAIMS ABOUT COVID-19 6 the notion that the perceived risk of infection is linked to compliance and protective behavior in the Corona pandemic (De Neys et al, 2020;Harper et al, 2020;Dolinski et al, 2020).…”

The bright side of the crisis. The positive aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic according to the Poles

“…The most recent research on COVID-19 refers to optimism bias and its contribution to the spread of the virus. The study revealed a general occurrence of unrealistic optimism: people perceived themselves as less exposed to the disease than others (Dolinski et al 2020). Participants of Kuper-Smith's study (2020) rated the chance of getting infected with COVID-19 lower for themselves than for other people similar to them regarding socio-demographic characteristics.…”