What is the scientific term for the expectation, that a personal experience positively deviates from what first- or second-hand experience suggests?

Question

What is the scientific term for the tendency of people to believe, that their expected experience positively deviates from what their first- or second-hand experience suggests?

An example for this effect would be an older European Lady dating a young African man and - despite knowing that many such relationships are dominated by asymmetric economical and romantical interests - believes, that her own relationship will be different. Another example are people who are educated and experienced enough to know how cults work, yet fail to identify the cult they themselves are currently involved in.

Generally, I would say it is a form of self-delusion, or hope, if you want to give it a positive spin - but I am looking for a more specific term for this particular type of self-delusion.

Answer 1

Are you referring to the optimism bias from a social psychology perspective?

Your brain has a built-in optimism bias. The phenomenon is also often referred to as "the illusion of invulnerability," "unrealistic optimism," and a "personal fable."

This bias leads us to believe that we are less likely to suffer from misfortune and more likely to attain success than reality would suggest.2 We believe that we will live longer than the average, that our children will be smarter than the average, and that we will be more successful in life than the average. But by definition, we can't all be above average.

Source: VeryWellMind