Facebook users may have ‘optimistic bias’

Facebook users may perceive that bad things are more likely to happen to others, while good things are more likely to happen to them than to anyone else, a new study has found.

Researchers found that Facebook users with so-called optimistic bias think they are less likely to experience cyberbullying, depression and other negative social and psychological effects from using the site.

Optimistic bias or an intrinsic tendency to imagine future events in a favourable light that enhances positive self-regard - in other words, wishful thinking - leaves those Facebook users vulnerable to the negative realities of social media.

“Our findings demonstrate important and novel discrepancies in how people perceive themselves and others concerning the positive and negative outcomes of Facebook use,” said lead author Sunny Jung Kim, a postdoctoral research associate in the Psychiatric Research Center and the Center for Technology.