Idealism awareness results in more realism

MADISON, Wis., Nov. 18 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers say they have uncovered a specific process that they say contributes to unrealistic optimism.

Study authors Robin J. Tanner of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Kurt A. Carlson of Duke University say consumers adopt the tentative hypothesis that they will behave in an ideal fashion when predicting their future behavior.

"Unrealistic optimism by consumers may have negative consequences for both marketers and consumers," the study authors said in a statement. "For example, if a consumer holds unrealistically optimistic beliefs about how often they will work out in the future, then they may overpay for home exercise equipment."

When researchers explicitly instructed participants not to be idealistic, the experiment backfired and led to even more unrealistic estimates, the researchers say.

"An important potential consequence of being overly optimistic about one's future behavior is that such optimistic beliefs may contribute to overbuying of products that see little use," the authors add.

The study also found that more decisive people were less realistic.