Yet, there exists a level of optimism within adults in regards to their own behavior. Whereas adults categorize health behaviors as risky because of their own life experiences, adolescents are inclined to classify their behaviors as safe and not risk related due to the fact that they simply do not know better because they have yet to experience the consequences or have not been exposed to the information that provides evidence for harm related with such behaviors as smoking, unprotected sex , and drunk driving. Also, adolescents are more susceptible to the belief that they will not be subjected to one of the leading threats to adolescent health. In general, teenagers are perceived as more likely to demonstrate the illusion of invulnerability that stems from a lack of understanding of the risks associated with particular behaviors. The imaginary audience is based on the desire for conformity.
Adolescents engage in risk related health behaviors because their peers are doing so.
For instance if an teen witnesses a friend smoking marijuana, then that teen is more likely to smoke pot for one of two reasons. Either the teen will smoke pot because the experimental action is not perceived as harmful since friends are doing it and no harm is evident, or the adolescent will smoke the pot in order to not appear different from the other teen. On the other hand, the personal fable specifically deals with the individual s own need to be an invincible force. The underlying idea of this principle is overdifferentiation from peers, exerting a sense of uniqueness which separates the adolescent from any other teen. Adolescents and adults are both susceptible to the optimistic bias in processing information regarding health.