Positive Illusions Predict Better Mental and Ambulatory Cardiovascular Health: Evidence from Singapore Huang, R. Z. & Why, Y. P., Department of Psychology Abstract Positive illusions in an Asian sample were measured by comparing self-evaluations with actual performance. We replicated previous findings in the West, showing that positive illusions were negatively associated with depression. In addition, we also found that positive illu- sions were associated with healthier ambulatory cardiovascular profiles. Methodology 241 Singaporean students (50.2% female) provided self-evaluations of highly-valued academic (memory and reading comprehension) and social (facial emotion recognition) skills. Positive illusions (at Time 1) were determined by comparing self-evaluations of skill with actual performances on a paired-word recall task, the Gray Silent Reading Test (GSRT), and the Micro Expression Training Tool (METT). Partici- pants also completed the following mental health scales: the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression scale (CES-D; Radloff 1977), the Anxiety subscale of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS-A; Zigmond & Snaith, 1983) and the Neuroticism subscale of the Five-factor Inventory (FFI-N; Costa & McCrae, 1992). 122 (54.9% female) participants from Time 1 also participated in a second phase held an average of three weeks later (Time 2), and ret- rospectively evaluated their performance on the three tasks at Time 1. Participants proceeded to wear the BPro (Healthstats International), a watch-like device that measured blood pressure and heart rate every 15 minutes. A validation study shows that the BPro is an accurate and noninvasive ambulatory blood pressure monitor (Nair et al., 2008). Participants also wore a pedometer that measured their walking distance before they carried out their usual activities on campus, and returned the equipment after seven hours of monitoring. Discussion In the present study, we found that positive illusions were associated with better mental health. This result is congruent with findings from a Taiwanese sam- ple (Gaertner, Sedikides & Chang, 2008). Taken together, these studies suggest that positive illusions are not unique to Western cultures, and that positive illu- sions might play a protective role in mental health. In addition, positive illusions measured at Time 2 predicted better cardiovascular functioning, which is con- gruent with the finding that positive illusions predicted better cardiovascular responses to acute laboratory stressors (i.e. lower cardiovascular reactivity; Taylor et al., 2003a). However, positive illusions at Time 1 were unassociated with ambulatory cardiovascular functions at Time 2, suggesting that the protective ef- fects of positive illusions may be transient. Some studies have also suggested that while positive illusions are associated with short term benefits to mental health, they are also associated with narcissism and poorer social acceptance in the long term (e.g., Robins & Beer, 2001). Acknowledging this caveat, our find- ings nevertheless support Taylor and Armor’s (1996) suggestion that positive illusions can be employed as situation-specific coping strategies which confer pro- tective effects for mental and physiological health during periods of adversity. Background Positive illusions refer to unrealistically positive self-evaluations that are highly prevalent in Western cultures (Taylor & Brown, 1988). Researchers have argued that positive illusions have salubrious effects because they serve as psychological buffers and influ- ence physiological responses to stress and illness (Taylor & Armor, 1996). This argument is supported by subsequent research indicat- ing that positive illusions are associated with better general psychological adjustment (Taylor, Lerner, Sherman, Sage & McDowell, 2003b), resilience to trauma (Bonanno, Field, Kovacevic & Kaltman, 2002) and better physiological responses to acute stress (Taylor, Lerner, Sherman, Sage & McDowell, 2003a). In contrast, evidence for the prevalence of positive illusions in Eastern cultures is mixed, suggesting that the expression of positive illusions might be different in the East (Heine & Hanamura, 2007). In addition, to best of knowledge, only one study has demonstrated an association between positive illusions and better mental health in the East (Gaertner, Sedikides & Chang, 2008). Currently, there are no studies that have investigated whether positive illusions can influence physiological responses to stress. The present study examines whether positive illusions are associated with multiple markers of mental health in a Singaporean sample. In addition, noninvasive ambulatory blood pressure monitoring will be used to examine how positive illusions are associated with cardiovascular responses to naturalistic daily stress. References Bonanno, G., Field, N., Kovacevic, A., & Kaltman, S. (2002). Self-enhancement as a buffer against extreme adversity: Civil war in Bosnia and traumatic loss in the United States. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 28, 184-196. Gaertner, L., Sedikides, C., & Chang, K. (2008). On pancultural self-enhancement - Well-adjusted Taiwanese self-enhance on personally valued traits. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 39, 463-477. Heine, S., & Hamamura, T. (2007). In search of East Asian self-enhancement. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 11, 4-27. Nair, D., Tan, S., Gan, H., Lim, S., Tan, J., Zhu, M., et al. (2008). The use of ambulatory tonometric radial arterial wave capture to measure ambulatory blood pressure: the validation of a novel wrist-bound device in adults. Journal Of Human Hypertension, 22, 220-222. Robins, R., & Beer, J. (2001). Positive illusions about the self: Short-term benefits and long-term costs. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80, 340-352. Taylor, S., & Armor, D. (1996). Positive illusions and coping with adversity. Journal of Personality, 64, 873-898. Taylor, S., & Brown, J. (1988). Illusion and well-being: A social psychological perspective on mental health. Psychological Bulletin, 103, 193-210. Taylor, S., Lerner, J., Sherman, D., Sage, R., & McDowell, N. (2003a). Are self-enhancing cognitions associated with healthy or unhealthy biological profiles? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 85, 605-615. Taylor, S., Lerner, J., Sherman, D., Sage, R., & McDowell, N. (2003b). Portrait of the self-enhancer: Well adjusted and well liked or maladjusted and friendless? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 165-176. Acknowledgements This presentation was made possible with a conference travel grant awarded by the National University of Singapore. Contact Information Raymond Huang: raymondhuang@nus.edu.sg; Yong Peng Why, PhD: psywyp@nus.edu.sg Results Alpha levels for all analyses were set at .05. The three self-evaluation scores were standardized and averaged within each participant to create a general index of self-evaluated ability. Similarly, actual performance scores for the GSRT, paired associate learning and METT tasks were standardized and averaged within each participant to form a composite performance score. Self-evaluation scores were then regressed on performance scores and the standardized residual was retained to create an index of positive illusions for each participant (see Robins & Beer, 2001). Positive values on this index reflected positive illusions. Positive illusions at Time 1 were associated with lower anxiety, depression and neuroticism (Table 1). Positive illusions at Time 1 were unassociated with all ambulatory cardiovascular functions measured at Time 2 and were not analyzed further. To examine whether positive illusions at Time 2 predicted ambulatory cardiovascular functions after controlling for the effects of physical activity, three separate hierarchical re- gression analyses were performed, with ambulatory systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and heart rate (HR) as the respective outcomes. In all analyses, physical activity was entered as the predictor in the first step and positive illusions in the second step (Table 2). After controlling for physical activity, positive illusions predicted lower SBP, DBP and HR, indicating that positive illusions at Time 2 were associated with better cardiovascular system functioning. Table 1 Intercorrelations of Positive Illusions and Psychological Adjustment (N = 241) Measure 1 2 3 4 1. Positive Illusions — 2. HADS-A (Anxiety) –.20** — 3. CES-D (Depression) –.19** .56** — 4. NEO-FFI-N (Neuroticism) –.19** .48** .63** — Note. * p < .05. ** p < .01. (1-tailed) Table 2 Summary of Hierarchical Multiple Regression Analyses Predicting Ambulatory Cardiovascular Variables From Physical Activity and Positive Illusions at Time 2 (N = 122) Variable B (SE) β ΔR 2 Outcome measure: SBP Step 1 .025 Physical activity 2.26 (1.28) .16 Step 2 .08** Physical activity 1.53 (1.25) .11 Positive Illusions –4.69 (1.41) –.29** Outcome measure: DBP Step 1 .013 Physical activity –1.0 (0.79) –.12 Step 2 .040* Physical activity –1.31 (0.79) –.15 Positive Illusions –2.0 (0.89) –.20* Outcome measure: HR Step 1 .007 Physical activity 0.60 (0.67) .08 Step 2 .041* Physical activity 0.33 (0.67) .05 Positive Illusions –1.73 (0.76) –.21* Note. SBP = Systolic blood pressure; DBP = Diastolic blood pressure; HR = Heart rate * p < .05. ** p < .01. *** p < .001. (2-tailed)