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Types of IllusionsA common way in which our brains create illusions to create happiness is in optimism. Optimism for a lot of people is a way of seeing the world the way they would like for it to be. This way, daydreaming about how we would like the world to be, gives us hope, and ultimately makes us happy. It is a way to cope with the difficulties in life. Something similar happens with memories. Usually when remembering pleasurable moments in our lives, we tend to modify them slightly every time. We add in details that we would have liked at the moment, to make them perfect memories. This is subconscious, and something everyone does. It's called rosy retrospection, and is something so human as breathing is. There is nothing wrong with it, but it is a way for us to be happy in the present, as we remember those moments of joy. Similarly, Dan Gilbert explains about a way in which we remember called the peak-end rule. This states that we remember only the peaks and dips in our lives, and that those memories are what determine how we feel about our past. For instance, if we enjoyed most of a movie but the last seconds were incredibly disappointing, we are likely to have a bitter feeling about the movie rather than a good one. In the same way, we remember incredibly happy moments more than moments when we are feeling calm. This may be used for the advantage of happiness, since we tend to remember those events with high happiness, or it may be used to remember not so pleasant moments in our lives.
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