Positivity bias in academic future expectations: Evidence from production and recall tasks in first-year university...

Individuals tend to process positive information more preferentially than negative information, a phenomenon known as positivity bias. This study examined the presence of this bias in academic expectations among first-year university students. Participants generated academic expectations in response to positive (e.g., achieve, collaborate) and negative (e.g., quit, lose) cues and rated the emotional intensity of these expectations. After completing several distractor tasks, they were asked to recall the generated expectations freely, and finally completed measures of academic satisfaction, self-concept, and resilience. Results showed a clear positivity bias, with participants generating and recalling more positive than negative expectations. Positive expectations were rated as more emotionally intense during recall, whereas the corresponding difference during production did not reach statistical significance. Negative-to-positive cue-valence shifts were also observed (e.g., "Quit… my fears"). Academic satisfaction and academic self-concept were associated with positivity in production, whereas resilience was associated with positivity in recall. Additionally, thematic lexical analyses revealed negative expectations centered on time management, adaptation to university life, academic anxiety, and failure. In contrast, positive ones emphasized learning, social interaction, professional development, and academic performance. These findings extend research on positivity bias to academic future expectations and identify common aspirations and concerns among first-year students, which may offer preliminary insights for future support and orientation initiatives in higher education.