Democracy and Capitalism: Property, Community, and the Contradictions of Modern Social Thought

The self-serving illusions we create about ourselves and the world may actually promote mental and physical well-being, according to UCLA professor Taylor ( Health Psychology ). Recovered cancer patients who believe they will never have a relapse, rape victims who claim newfound control and mastery over their social environment, and victims of disasters or life-threatening events all benefit from the benign fictions they invent, Taylor convincingly argues, citing clinical studies, interviews and surveys in support of her theory. Her excursion into the terrain of manic-depressive geniuses and mad poets sifts clues to mental factors that fuel creative enterprise. Closely argued, carefully annotated, this brief for restorative optimism builds from the dual premise that memory is selectively egocentric, and that our daily perceptions have a self-enhancing bias. (Sept.)