Review by Choice Review
Neuroscientist Sharot (Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, Univ. College London, UK) builds on historical and recent investigative studies by other psychologists and neuroscientists along with her own research to explore the characteristics of the "optimism bias." The author's focus is using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in the amygdala and rostral anterior cingulate cortex (rACC) during experimental conditions. The optimism bias is an innate cognitive illusion, integral to human species achievements and prevalent in every age group, race, and socioeconomic level, and even in some subhumans. It promotes diverse positive expectations for future developments including hope, although it is possible to overestimate positive outcomes or even underestimate negatives. Paradoxically, pessimism fosters negativity, passivity, and hopelessness; along with other factors, its ultimate biological outcome can be clinical depression. The author adroitly and instructively distinguishes between correlation, and cause and effect. She considers topics such as prospection, dread, choice, memory, and happiness. She also describes subjects' recollections about tragedies such as 9/11, presidential assassinations (Lincoln, Kennedy), and other circumstances. Replicable investigative projects will enhance the accuracy and understanding of these neurobiological and psychological concerns. Chapter references are provided at the end of the book. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through researchers/faculty. J. N. Muzio emeritus, CUNY Kingsborough Community College
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
Why is it that many Americans swear to the veracity of their memories of 9/11, unaware that those memories are riddled with inaccuracies? In investigating that question, Sharot found herself exploring the much more general and pervasive phenomenon of groundless mental confidence. Whether defying statistical odds in (re)marriage, endorsing a recklessly bold coach's prediction of victory, or clinging to hope in the face of a grim cancer diagnosis, humans manifest optimism that resists rational explanation. Yet from the latest neurological research, Sharot adduces evidence that such irrationality actually improves job performance and enhances well-being. Indeed, further probing into the dynamics of optimism identifies the capacity to imagine a promising future as a characteristic unique to Homo sapiens. This is a capacity laced with risks, however, as Sharot shows by examining the fates of optimists who can no longer resist reality-defying fantasies. Still, most readers will turn the last page not only buoyed by hope but also aware of the sources and benefits of that hope.--Christensen, Bryc. Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Our mind deceives us by parking rose-colored glasses on our nose, writes neuroscientist Sharot, but only with the best of intentions.In this lively, conversational book, the author puts on firm footing what many of us have sensed all alongthat we are, by and large, a pretty optimistic bunch. Indeed, "optimism may be so essential to our survival that it is hardwired into our most complex organ, the brain." So prevalent are these optimistic tendencies that they compose a bias, a steady inclination to overestimate the likelihood of encountering more positive events in the future than negative ones. The optimism bias protects us from being stymied by the inevitable tribulations of everyday life, or to perceive that our options are limited in some manner; it helps us relax, improves our health and motivates us to act. Sharot is a friendly writerher book brims with anecdotes and scientific studies that attest to optimism's gentling handthough no empty smiley face: There is plenty in these pages about how we cope with root canals and chemotherapy, disappointment and dread. Sharot presents this evolutionary scenario: "an ability to imagine the future had to develop side by side with positive biases. The knowledge of death had to emerge at the same time as its irrational denial...It is this couplingconscious prospection and optimismthat underlies the extraordinary achievements of the human species." Otherwise, considering the future would be paralyzing. The author circulates through much of the optimism/pessimism map, touching down on the importance of control, relativity and anticipation. What is most stunning, however, are the ways in which optimism not only evokes new behavior in the individual (optimistic heart-attack victim modeling healthy new behavior), but helps deliver the irrationally expected goods (Joe Namath guaranteeing victory in Super Bowl III).A well-told, heartening report from neuroscience's front lines.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
