Pollyanna principle

The Pollyanna principle or Pollyannaism describes the tendency for people to agree with positive statements describing themselves. It is sometimes called positivity bias. The phenomenon is similar to the Forer effect. Research indicates that, at the unconscious 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 unconscious bias towards the positive is often described as 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 like 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
• Dunning-Kruger effect
• Illusory superiority
• Self-serving bias
• Superiority (short story)

References

• Furnham A, Schofield S (1987). Accepting personality test feedback: A review of the Barnum effect. Current Psychological Research and Reviews.
• Hildebrandt HW (1979) The Pollyanna Principle in Business Writing: Initial Results, Suggestions for Research.
• Matlin MW, ​Gawron VJ (1979). Individual Differences in Pollyannaism. Journal of Personality Assessment, Vol. 43, No. 4, Pages 411-412
• Paul AM (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