Book Titles

One of the benefits of an optimistic temperament is that it encourages persistence in the face of obstacles. But persistence can be costly.

…the financial benefits of self-employment are mediocre: given the same qualifications, people achieve higher average returns by selling their skills to employers than by setting out on their own.

…people tend to be overly optimistic about their relative standing on any activity in which they do moderately well.

…the outcome of a start-up depends as much on the achievements of its competitors and on changes in the market as on its own efforts.

Organizations that take the word of overconfident experts can expect costly consequences.

…there are periods in which competition, among experts and among organizations, creates powerful forces that favor a collective blindness to risk and uncertainty.

Experts who acknowledge the full extent of their ignorance may expect to be replaced by more confident competitors, who are better able to gain the trust of clients.

…the emotional, cognitive, and social factors that support exaggerated optimism are a heady brew, which sometimes leads people to take risks that they would avoid if they knew the odds.

The main benefit of optimism is resilience in the face of setbacks.

Every significant choice we make in life comes with uncertainty – which is why students of decision making hope that some of the lessons learned in the model situation will be applicable to more interesting everyday problems.