Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
no discussion whether or not to start. It would be obvious to wait until
the assignment was checked.
Case 2
Drivers who don
t become frustrated when a car in front is driving at
a slow pace, because they accept that safe driving is sometimes just
slow, won
'
'
t try unsafe maneuvers to pass.
5.6 UNREALISTIC OPTIMISM: DENYING THE RISK PROBABILITY
Another bias in our nonconscious system leads to a reducing assess-
ment of possible risks due to our optimism. A recent study of Sharot,
Korn, & Dolan (2011) shows that we have a selective way of integrat-
ing information about risks. This leads to an asymmetry in the process
of updating our beliefs of what might go wrong in the future. In the
modern brain, we have a region that calculates the possible risks that
might be involved in an action, based on previous experience. This
region is more active in integrating positive news or estimations than
in integrating negative news in the total risk assessment. So if we hear
that something is safe, we incorporate this positive feedback much
more easily into our database compared to negative feedback that
something might be unsafe. Optimism is tied to a selective update fail-
ure and diminished neural coding of undesirable information regarding
the future. We call this an attribution failure. Compensating for this
unbalance with the selectivity of communication can be an option
(stressing more the dangers than the safety).
We are more sensitive to positive feedback about risks than to negative.
More feedback makes us more optimistic.
Case 1
Because the mechanics are well experienced with this type of cooler,
they have received a lot of feedback in the past. Habituation has reduced
some anxiety, so the mechanics are quite relaxed, maybe too relaxed.
Case 2
If drivers are used to passing many times a day, they will integrate the
successful passings more than the near hits. Their positive self-image as
drivers who have everything under control will increase.
