People are often presumed to be vulnerable to a desirability bias, namely, a tendency to be overoptimistic about a future outcome as a result of their preferences or desires for that outcome. In this article, this form of wishful thinking is distinguished from the more general concepts of motivated reasoning and overoptimism, and the evidence for this bias is reviewed. The authors argue that despite the prevalence of the idea that desires bias optimism, the empirical evidence regarding this possibility is limited. The potential for desires to depress rather than enhance optimism is discussed, and the authors advocate for greater research attention to mediators of both types of effects. Nine possible mediational accounts are described, and critical issues for future research on the desirability bias are discussed.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 3. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 07 April 2026.
All research outputs
#8,533,995
of 25,371,288 outputs
Outputs from Psychological Bulletin
#1,368
of 2,243 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#45,195
of 168,338 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Psychological Bulletin
#21
of 24 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,371,288 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 43rd percentile – i.e., 43% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 2,243 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 39.7. This one is in the 14th percentile – i.e., 14% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
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We're also able to compare this research output to 24 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one is in the 8th percentile – i.e., 8% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
