Wishful thinking

For other uses, see Wishful thinking (disambiguation).
Cartoon of a child sitting in a cart hitched to a much smaller toy horse, as if expecting the horse to pull her along
Illustration from St. Nicholas: an Illustrated Magazine for Young Folks (1884) of a child imagining that a small, toy horse might pull his cart

Wishful thinking is the formation of beliefs based on what might be pleasing to imagine, rather than on evidence, rationality, or reality. It is a product of resolving conflicts between belief and desire.[1] Methodologies to examine wishful thinking are diverse. Various disciplines and schools of thought examine related mechanisms such as neural circuitry, human cognition and emotion, types of bias, procrastination, motivation, optimism, attention and environment. This concept has been examined as a fallacy. It is related to the concept of wishful seeing.

Some psychologists believe that positive thinking is able to positively influence behavior and so bring about better results. This is called the "Pygmalion effect".[2][3] Christopher Booker discussed wishful thinking in terms of "the fantasy cycle", which he described as "a pattern that recurs in personal lives, in politics, in history – and in storytelling." He added: "When we embark on a course of action which is unconsciously driven by wishful thinking, all may seem to go well for a time, in what may be called the 'dream stage'. But because this make-believe can never be reconciled with reality, it leads to a 'frustration stage' as things start to go wrong, prompting a more determined effort to keep the fantasy in being. As reality presses in, it leads to a 'nightmare stage' as everything goes wrong, culminating in an 'explosion into reality', when the fantasy finally falls apart."[4]

Studies have consistently shown that holding all else equal, subjects will have unrealistic optimism and predict positive outcomes to be more likely than negative outcomes. Research also suggests that under certain circumstances, such as when threat increases, a reverse phenomenon occurs.[5]

  1. ^ Bastardi, A.; Uhlmann, E. L.; Ross, L. (2011). "Wishful Thinking: Belief, Desire, and the Motivated Evaluation of Scientific Evidence". Psychological Science. 22 (6): 731–732. doi:10.1177/0956797611406447. PMID 21515736. S2CID 35422463.
  2. ^ Rosenthal, Robert; Jacobson, Lenore (1992). Pygmalion in the classroom : teacher expectation and pupils' intellectual development (Newly expanded ed.). Bancyfelin, Carmarthen, Wales: Crown House Pub. ISBN 978-1904424062.[page needed]
  3. ^ "The Pygmalion Effect". www.duq.edu. Duquesne University. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
  4. ^ Booker, Christopher (9 April 2011). "What happens when the great fantasies, like wind power or European Union, collide with reality?". Telegraph.co.uk. Archived from the original on 11 April 2011. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
  5. ^ Dunning, D.; Balcetis, E. (2013). "Wishful Seeing: How Preferences Shape Visual Perception". Current Directions in Psychological. doi:10.1177/0963721412463693. S2CID 32186366.