For instance, they might think: “Ok, this one professor is unfair, but perhaps the others will better appreciate my work.” However, if they instead thought about the problem they encountered in a specific manner, then they’d focus only on the event itself. Consequently, they might find it a lot harder to study for their next exam. Second, where optimists think of problems as being specific to a certain situation, pessimists tend to generalize.įor example, if a pessimistic student believes that the bad grade they received is unjustified, they might go on to think of grades as unfair in general. For instance, you might think, “I lost this one important client, but I'll do well with other ones.” In contrast, if you use an optimistic explanatory style, then you consider negative events to be fleeting. Whenever we experience a negative event in our lives, we always explain it to ourselves in one of two ways: optimistically or pessimistically.īut what exactly characterizes our explanatory style?įirst, pessimists consider problems to be permanent, while optimists consider them only temporary.įor example, if you lose an important client, you might think, “I always lose the most important clients.” By using the word “always,” you make the explanation permanent: you've always lost important clients, and always will – so what's the point in trying? You'll find out why talking to yourself in a pessimistic way can lead to depression.įinally, and most importantly, you'll discover that our explanatory style is learned, and that it's possible to change your outlook on life for the better. For example, all other things being equal, explanatory style is a predictor of the success and failure of sports teams, especially when under pressure.Īlso in these book summary, you'll discover the reason why optimists tend to be healthier than pessimists. Both optimists and pessimists tend to use very distinct explanatory styles.Īs you'll see in the following book summary, this style does not only pertain to individuals, but also to entire teams. While it is quite normal for people to feel helpless in a situation of defeat, one thing makes the helplessness stick, or enables us to “shrug off” the situation and move on: our so-called explanatory style.Įxplanatory style refers to the way in which we explain the negative events of our lives to ourselves : optimistically or pessimistically. Instead, they would simply lay there, apparently defeated. What fascinated Seligman was that the dogs who couldn’t change their fate in this experiment would later also not even attempt to do anything about their situation when they actually could. Some of these canine subjects had the ability to put an end to the shocks by touching a button with their nose, while others couldn't stop the shocks no matter what they did. In perhaps his most famous experiment, Seligman administered electric shocks to dogs. Its author, Martin Seligman, is considered the father of the positive psychology movement, a movement which began with Seligman's studies of, what he called, “learned helplessness.” Learned Optimism is about exactly this phenomenon. If so, you've probably thought at least once that such people were just “born under a lucky star.” But have you ever considered that perhaps their good fortune is the result of their optimistic outlook on life? Learned Optimism blends hard-edged science with practical advice to give us an understanding of how we hold ourselves back and how we can change for the better.Have you ever wondered why some people seem to find it easier to get through life than others? Or, why some people are far healthier and enjoy more success? * Avoid feelings of helplessness and depression Seligman's principles of reasoned, flexible optimism will help you: More powerful and pragmatic than a simple program of positive thinking, Dr. Martin Seligman, a pioneer in cognitive psychology and motivational research, tells you how to identify your own self-defeating thought patterns - and how to harness the powers of your conscious mind to break those patterns.īased on years of rigorous research, Learned Optimism examines the importance of "explanatory style" - the way in which we explain our problems and setbacks to ourselves - and offers a series of exercises that will help you target unhealthy habits of pessimistic thinking and bring them under your control. Without knowing it, most of us impose limits on our achievement and our happiness by approaching life's problems and challenges with unnecessary pessimism.
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