Abstract:

The planning fallacy refers to people’s overoptimistic tendency to underestimate the time required to complete a future task. Researchers have provided theories to explain the psychological mechanism of planning fallacy, planning fallacy theory and memory bias theory. Evidences show planning fallacy could be influenced by some factors, such as cognitive factors, motivational factors, individual experience level and task property. Previous research findings show that planning fallacy could be avoided by coping strategy. The directions for further researches of planning fallacy are discussed. Future researches are expected to clear up the delicate relationship among planning fallacy, strategic misrepresentation, optimistic bias and overconfidence and explore its original source, cross-cultural significance and practical application values.

Key words: planning fallacy, memory bias, optimistic bias, coping strategies