overconfidence paradox

the bonanno article from my last post has another interesting insight:

...there appear to be multiple and sometimes unexpected ways to be resilient, and sometimes resilience is achieved by means that are not fully adaptive under normal circumstances.

one such method is trait self-enhancement, the propensity to exhibit self-serving bias in both perception and attribution of desert and guilt. that is, it's a flawed, overly rosy picture of oneself. this research indicates that one who exhibits trait self-enhancement tends to be more resilient, healthy, and happy after traumatic events.

interestingly, in a previous post i noted that perhaps flawed self-assessment leads to an unrealistic assessment of one's ability to ride out a storm (or succeed at other risky endeavors) as well. combined with this research, it seems then that folks with a tendency for trait self-enhancement, although better at weathering disaster, may put themselves in more risky environs in the first place, creating a type of "overconfidence paradox. "

source: bonanno, george. resilience in the face of potential trauma. psychological science, june 2005

Labels: well being