Focusing on the Focusing Illusion

Abstract

The paper presents evidence that validate the focusing illusion. Specifically, the forecasted impact of a basketball championship on students' subjective well-being was exaggerated because of their intense focus on the event. However, the self-reported states of being for life domains not closely associated with the focal event remained stable throughout the survey periods. Further analysis of the data finds that the exaggerated level of subjective well-being brought about by the focusing illusion had minimal spillover effects on the reported levels of subjective well-being for the other life domains.