The Value of Illusion
Traditionally speaking, mentally healthy individuals process the realities of self and environment accurately, regardless of whether he or she may wish them to be different. However, whereas delusions are rarely, if ever, considered adaptive, there is some argument as to whether an illusion of perceived control is potentially adaptive, especially with individuals who have a fatal prognosis (e.g., diagnosis of terminal cancer, or HIV).
Illusions of control and unrealistic optimism are likely to generate persistence and perseverance, both indubitably beneficial qualities. In the process of goal making, both an illusion of control and unrealistic optimism may even be in some form, and to a moderate extent, necessary (as in Adler’s description of fictional finalism where the creative self strives for an ultimately unrealistic, unattainable goal, which thrusts the individual to success. An especially critical circumstance in which the power of illusion, or even delusion, could potentially be adaptive is in the face of death, fighting for survival. In such instances, the individual’s psychological (and, perhaps, physical) well-being, may depend on these mild illusions.
Thus, using a correlational approach, with physical, psychological, social and spiritual well-being as criterion variables, and perceived control and prognosis as predictor variables, we propose a preliminary study to determine whether people diagnosed with cancer benefit from the illusion of control. The methodology and data analyses will be based largely on published studies conducted by Taylor—a leading social psychologist at UCLA—as well as her chief contender, Colvin.
It is our hope that information found in this study (in conjunction with results from previous studies conducted by advocates of the illusion of control (i.e., Taylor)) will give the college of health sciences insight on how to improve the quality of—and, perhaps, extend—the life of terminal cancer patients in rural areas. Studies comparable to this have been conducted elsewhere, especially in more urban areas (i.e., UCLA). This preliminary study is a replication in the context of northern Louisiana, a rural area, in which we hope the positive correlation as evidenced by Taylor and her colleagues will maintain.