Do positive illusions foster mental health? An examination of the Taylor and Brown formulation.

1994/01/01 by C. Randall Colvin, Jack Block · 486 citations
Psychology · Medicine · #Optimism, Hope, and Well-being #Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction #Psychological and Temporal Perspectives Research #Illusion #Mental health #Psychology #Optimism #Proposition #Argument (complex analysis) #Generalization #Empirical examination #Social psychology #Empirical research #Cognitive psychology #Psychiatry #Epistemology #Medicine #Economics

paper · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.116.1.3

published in Psychological Bulletin 116(1), 3-20 (American Psychological Association)

openalex publication_date 1994/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01

Abstract

The proposition recently offered by S. E. Taylor and J. D. Brown (1988) that positive illusions foster mental health has garnered considerable attention and acceptance. However, the significant theoretical and applied implications of their view for mental health require a critical evaluation of their argument. An examination of the logic and empirical evidence used to relate mental health to three key positive illusions--unrealistically positive views of the self, illusions of control, and unrealistic optimism--failed to substantiate Taylor and Brown's thesis. Further survey of more recent studies on positive illusions and mental health also failed to lend support to the Taylor and Brown generalization. Close consideration of several assumptions underlying the formulation raises further questions regarding their thesis. The present article concludes that it remains unproven that positive illusions foster mental health.

Citations

• Construct validity in psychological tests.
• The illusion of control.
• Global self-evaluation as determined by the desirability and controllability of trait adjectives.
• The Illusion of Control Among Depressed Patients.
• Accuracy and bias in self-perception: Individual differences in self-enhancement and the role of narcissism.
• Are positive illusions necessary for self-esteem: a research note
• Heads I win, tails it's chance: The illusion of control as a function of the sequence of outcomes in a purely chance task.
• The role of cognition in depression: A critical appraisal.
• Negative affectivity: The disposition to experience aversive emotional states.
• Probabilistic mental models: A Brunswikian theory of confidence.
• Illusion and well-being: A social psychological perspective on mental health.

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• Self-Threat Magnifies the Self-Serving Bias: A Meta-Analytic Integration
• Being better than others but otherwise perfectly normal: Perceptions of uniqueness and similarity in close relationships
• Enhancement Bias in Descriptions of Self and Others
• Self-evaluation bias and academic performance: Some ways and some reasons why
• Moderators of the adaptiveness of self-enhancement: Operationalization, motivational domain, adjustment facet, and evaluator
• Is there a universal need for positive self-regard?
• Individual and collective processes in the construction of the self: Self-enhancement in the United States and self-criticism in Japan.
• Cultural variation in unrealistic optimism: Does the West feel more vulnerable than the East?
• Perceived superiority in close relationships: Why it exists and persists.
• Know thyself: Misperceptions of actual performance undermine achievement motivation, future performance, and subjective well-being.
• The Quest for Conviction: Motivated Cognition in Romantic Relationships
• Do Chinese Self-Enhance or Self-Efface? It's a Matter of Domain
• Culture, Self-Discrepancies, and Self-Satisfaction
• The evolution and psychology of self-deception
• Cognitive biases, organization, and entrepreneurial firm survival
• Positive illusions [wikipedia]