Fantasies about the future increase the motivation to act. In the book “The Big Gold Dream” written by Chester Himes we can see, how fantasies motivate people. One example is the behavior of a furniture man, called Abie, who found $35,000 in a mattress he bought cheaply. Since then he became to buy old mattresses to search for similar finds again and again. He was so obsessed with the idea that he can find money in another mattress that the factors of reality and probability extinguished for him.
The examples of motivation by a fantasy can be seen almost in all spheres of a person’s life activity, for example, in health care, interpersonal relations or family life. The above mentioned story can even be compared to gambling fantasies, which motivate a person for unreasonable risks. A fantasy of a gambling gain leads a person to unsafe behavior and thoughtless wastes.
Daydreams or fantasies about future career are very likely for young people. Even if they don’t become, what they dreamed of, some of them get really close to their dreams (Fries 160). That is a bright example of adaptive and functional thinking. It can stimulate a person to strive for the aim of life and gives a big chance for success. Before a person can reach a goal, the goal should be set.
Positive fantasies are associated with optimistic thinking. It can be beneficial to mental and physical health of a person. It can serve as an antidote for depression, obesity and substance abuse (Oettingen 236). However, unrealistic optimism can result in dangerous and irrational decision making based on false assumptions.
Fantasies should also be distinguished from expectations. Fantasies are based on anticipation of positive events or results and these anticipations are not based on cognitive mechanisms. Expectations are more related to the reality. They are based on real events, which can lead to definite positive or negative outcomes. And on the contrary, in fantasies people can imagine some future developments, which are very far from the reality.
Positive fantasies about the weight loss can be drawn as one of the examples of such a line of thinking. People, who indulge in fantasies of how slim they will look in future, are usually less motivated to act in order to lose weight. Their weight loss is hindered by the fantasies of losing weight without making any effort (Oettingen 240). These daydreams do not help to succeed in weight loss, because a person does not concentrate on the process of resisting food temptations and active physical training.
The situation, which influenced Abie, the hero of the first example, has it’s relation to positive events in the past. This way the reality influenced these fantasies of some future gains. Fantasy-reality contrast appears here as a powerful stimulus for the man to act. His high expectations turned into fantasies, which became a goal of his life. These fantasies plus optimistic expectations did their job of engaging the person in a task of searching for a new gain.
Abie was indulging in positive fantasies and behaved irrationally not thinking and acting according to very subjective probabilities of success (Oettingen 252). If Abie could contrast his expectations with the reality of an actual possibility of the new discovery, he would clearly see that there is very little chance to have a similar luck.
Fantasies are really great motivators and their realization depends on the reality to a high degree. If there is a negative reality contrasted to a fantasy, some fanciful images would fade and the whole daydream would be doomed to failure. And on the contrary, if a positive reality is added up to fantasies, they become quite realizable and the motivation to achieve them and to face a happy ending is getting much higher. Illusory optimism backed up by positive fantasies can be really helpful, if a person is able to adjust and contrast it to the reality of life.
Works Cited
Oettingen, Gabriele. Positive fantasy and motivation. New York: Guilford, 1996. Print.
Fries, Amy. Daydreams at work: wake up your creative powers. Virginia: Herndon, 2009. Print.
