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Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life (平装)
by Martin E. Seligman
| Category:
Personal improvement, Psychology, Motivation |
| Market price: ¥ 158.00
MSL price:
¥ 148.00
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| Stock:
Pre-order item, lead time 3-7 weeks upon payment [ COD term does not apply to pre-order items ] |
MSL rating:
 Good for Gifts |
| MSL Pointer Review:
Healing, encouraging, and life-changing, this book is an excellent treatise on how thinking patterns affect how we perform and feel. |
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AllReviews |
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Kelvin Chung (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-15 00:00>
Dr. Martin Seligman, professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, started his scientific, methodical and well-documented research on "helplessness" when he was a grad student back in Yale during the late 1960s. Seligman spends a great amount of effort in the first half of this book in illustrating cases, rather then inventing or formulating, on how he became interested in the idea of "learned helplessness" and the difference between Behavioral and Cognitive Psychology.
Seligman introduces Cognitive and Behavioral Psychology so that he can bring the less informed readers up to speed for what's to come. Then he gets into the details of his experiments throughout late 1960s to near the end of 1970s. His experiments were on animals at first - and I must note that he first struggled with the idea of doing these experiments that involved animals - however, he found a MAJOR difference between the "controlled" group and the "uncontrolled" group. Most of the animals in the "controlled" group, after a series of intended disappointment, simply stopped trying even when the opportunity presents itself. These animals had learned to be "helpless." But there are exceptions, who just won't quit despite the adversity, this is even more true for the human subjects. Nonetheless, Seligman did not stop here, as his true intention is to help people and not to make them more depressed.
Seligman then helped his test subjects to unlearn the "helplessness" that they had experienced, and he was 100% successful in doing that. But Seligman notices that there is something beyond his experiment that's driving some of his test subjects to "think to fail" even before the battle begins, likewise, there is also something else that drive the minority to keep on struggling even if there is no solution.
Seligman then gets into the "explanatory method" concept in great detail to explain what truly influences a person's thinking.
This book is much more than "feel good" positive self-talk. Seligman's theory and solutions are backed by scientific research including those who challenged him at one point or another. Seligman befriended with his oppositions and worked with them to refine his ideas.
Parts of this book are more academic than some people would like, but this is what make Seligman a professor and not a talk-show host on TV. Definitely check it out if you are interested in taking on a more optimistic outlook.
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Coert Visser (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-15 00:00>
The important message of this book is that optimistic thinking is a very important skill that can be learned. But what is meant by optimistic thinking in this book? Well, to make sense of what happens in their life, people tend to attach explanations to events after they have happened. This process is usually referred to as "attribution." Seligman describes how people differ in their explanatory style, in other words, they have different "habits of explanation." He distinguishes three dimensions of attribution: 1) permanence (is the cause of the event permanent or temporary?), 2) pervasiveness (is the cause of the event general or specific?), and 3) personalization (is the cause of the even internal -personal- or external - caused by the sitution?). The difference between optimists and pessimist can be described using these three dimensions.
Pessimists tend to believe that negative things that happen to them 1) will have a long-lasting effect, 2) will affect many situations, and 3) are caused by themselves. Also, when something positive happens the pessimist tends to explains this negatively by 1) thinking this is just temporary success, 2) won't help him in other situations than this specific one, 3) and is caused by the situation more than by his own competence.
Optimists explain situations exactly the other way around. They tend to think that negative events 1) are just a temporary setback, 2) only affect ths situation, and 3) are externally caused (not their own fault). Positive things are also explained positively by the optimistic thinker. He will think 1) that the success will last long, 2) that the success will positively affect other situations as well, and 3) that the success was caused by his own doing.
What's the relevance of this? Pessimists, by their way of thinking, constantly tend to destroy their own hope and build self-blame en guilt. A pessimistic thinking style causes many problems: emotional problems, under-utilization of your potential, and health-problems. Thinking pessimistically is a dangerous habit. It is a self-fulfilling prophecy: by thinking you have no way of influencing a bad situation, this becomes true. Optimists, on the other hand, build hope and maintain a positive self-image. They perform better at school and/or work, and are, on average, healthier. If this sounds interesting to you, maybe you should read this book. It will help you to assess your own habits of explanation and helps you to develop the skill of thinking positively.
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1 2 Total 2 pages 12 items |
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