Pollyanna principle

The Pollyanna principle (also called Pollyannaism or positive bias) is the tendency for people to agree with positive statements describing them. The phenomenon is similar to the Forer effect. Research indicates that, at the subconscious level, our minds have a tendency to focus on the optimistic while, at the conscious level, we have a tendency to focus on the negative. This subconscious bias towards the positive is often described as the Pollyanna principle.

The concept as described by Matlin and Stang in 1978 used the archetype of Pollyanna, a young girl with infectious optimism. Critics of personality tests such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator argue that the tests are considered accurate by people exhibiting Pollyannaism.

IBM Pollyanna principle

The "IBM Pollyanna principle" is an axiom that states "machines should work; people should think." This can be understood as a statement of extreme optimism, that machines should do all the hard work, freeing people to think (hence the reference to Pollyanna), or as a cynical statement, suggesting that most of the world's major problems result from machines that fail to work, and people who fail to think.

See also

• Cornucopian
• Confirmation bias
• Illusory superiority
• Optimism bias
• Overconfidence effect
• Self-serving bias

References

• Matlin, M.W.; D.J. Stang (1978). The Pollyanna Principle: Selectivity in Language, Memory, and Thought. ISBN 978-0-87073-815-9. 
• Pearrow, M. (2002). The Wireless Web Usability Handbook. Boston, MA: Charles River Media. ISBN 1-58450-056-5. 
• Furnham, A.; S. Schofield (1987). "Accepting personality test feedback: A review of the Barnum effect". Current Psychological Research and Reviews. 
• Hildebrandt, H.W. (1979). The Pollyanna Principle in Business Writing: Initial Results, Suggestions for Research. 
• Matlin, M.W.; V.J. Gawron (1979). "Individual Differences in Pollyannaism". Journal of Personality Assessment 43 (4): 411–412. doi:10.1207/s15327752jpa4304_14. PMID 16366974. 
• Paul, A.M. (2004). The Cult of Personality: How Personality Tests Are Leading Us to Miseducate Our Children, Mismanage Our Companies, and Misunderstand Ourselves. Free Press. ISBN 978-0-7432-4356-8. 
• Bloch, Arthur (1977). Murphy's Law and other reasons why things go wrong. Price Stern Sloan. p. 41. ISBN 978-0843104288.