Highlights•Interventions that change risk perceptions subsequently change health
behaviors.•Individuals form risk perceptions tailored to specific health threats.•Risk …

Of the hundreds of studies published on unrealistic optimism (ie, expecting a better personal
future than is reasonably likely), most have focused on demonstrating the phenomenon …

People display unrealistic optimism in their predictions about countless events, believing
that their personal future outcomes will be more desirable than can possibly be true. We …

When forming and updating beliefs about future life outcomes, people tend to consider good
news and to disregard bad news. This tendency is assumed to support the optimism bias …

Researchers have used terms such as unrealistic optimism and optimistic bias to refer to
concepts that are similar but not synonymous. Drawing from 3 decades of research, we …

Unrealistic optimism, the underestimation of one's risk of experiencing harm, has been
investigated extensively to understand better and predict behavioural responses to health …

People generally believe that their own future will be better than the one of comparable
others. Robust evidence documents such unrealistic optimism in many domains of life. Here …

This study focuses on levels of concern for hurricanes among individuals living along the
Gulf Coast during the quiescent two‐year period following the exceptionally destructive …

Numerous studies on unrealistic optimism (UO) have shown that people claim they are less
exposed to COVID-19 infection than others. Yet, it has not been assessed if this bias …

Measuring perceptions associated with e-cigarette use can provide valuable information to
help explain why youth and adults initiate and continue to use e-cigarettes. However, given …