On an individual basis, this kind of self-evaluation may or may not be realistic. Those remaining people who fail to consider their driving better than average who, on average, are more realistic tend to be at least somewhat depressed. Well-adjusted people tend not to focus on negative aspects of themselves to begin with. But pressed to acknowledge their flaws, they dismiss them as unimportant, often because everybody s like that. Positive aspects, on the other hand abilities, talents, and virtues are perceived as rare and distinctive.
Depressed people tend to have a more even-handed view of themselves and others.
Most people characterize themselves as more oriented toward the future than the past, and most people believe the future will be better than the past. There s really no way to know beforehand whether such beliefs will turn out to be justified or realistic. But some things point clearly to the fact that most of us are simply not facing reality. Because most of us cultivate comforting illusions about our mortality. Far fewer people believe that they ll ever be in a serious automobile accident, or be a victim of violent crime, than statistics indicate is realistic.