- Paperback: 319 pages
- Publisher: Pocket Books; Reissue edition (1 Mar 1998)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0671019112
- ISBN-13: 978-0671019112
- Product Dimensions: 20.8 x 14 x 2.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 281,124 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life
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Product Description
Review
Dr. Robert H. Schuller author of "Tough Times Never Last, But Tough People Do" One of the most important books of the century -- an absolute must-read for all persons interested in genuinely understanding and helping our fellow human beings.
Product Description
You can significantly improve your life -- starting today -- with the power of recognize your "explanatory style" -- what to say to yourself when you experience set-backs -- and how it influences your life boost your mood and your immune system -- with healthful thoughts help your children to practice the thought patterns that encourage optimism break the "I-give-up" habit with Dr. Seligman's ABC techniques change your interior dialogue and experience the astonishing positive results
Learned Optimism
In this groundbreaking national bestseller, Martin E.P. Seligman shows you how to chart a new approach to living with "flexible optimism." Drawing from more than twenty years of clinical research, Dr. Seligman outlines easy-to-follow techniques that have helped thousands of people rise above pessimism and the depression that accompanies negative thoughts and build a life of rewards and lasting happiness. "Learned Optimism "shows you how to:
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First Sentence
THE FATHER is looking down into the crib at his sleeping newborn daughter, just home from the hospital. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
THE FATHER is looking down into the crib at his sleeping newborn daughter, just home from the hospital. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
49 of 49 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
While many books explain the personal benefits of "positive thinking", repeating positive mantras, and taking positive action, this book is critically important because it shows you just how much advantage an optimistic outlook provides. The evidence is so overwhelming that I found myself realizing that everyone needs to adopt more optimism in the important areas of their life. I liked the self-administered tests in the book for checking my optimism, that of my wife, and that of my children. I have always prided myself on being realistic, and still value that quality. What I learned is that being realistic should be combined with feeling optimistic about creating ways to improve the realistic situation as I understand it. That distinction is one that has been critically valuable in my life. I strongly recommend that you read this book, and share it with people you care about. For an organization, thinking about these issues could be a critical advantage.
58 of 59 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Unlike most self help books Seligman's work is based on actual research. I would really recommend this book for people who are sick of the positive thinking movement but would still like some of the benefits. From the reviews here you might think this is just another Polyanna book. Seligman does not say that optimistic people are superior to others. In fact, he says that pessimists are more realistic. Optimists make good sales people, but you wouldn't want them to be elevator inspectors.
Seligman advocates mature optimism. Basically the higher the cost of being wrong, the more it pays to be a pessimist. With that said there are a host of benefits to be had from optimism.
137 of 144 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
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 thìs 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.
Coert Visser
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Seminal book on optimism
Seligman's seminal book on optimism. I think it helped me to understand who I was - a pessimist at heart. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Peter W. Burden
Long winded but worth it
Could be briefer.
Pessimism is very human and can be bad for you.
Optimism can be learnt [by changing beliefs ] and feels better.
Not the same as being naive. Read more
Pessimism is very human and can be bad for you.
Optimism can be learnt [by changing beliefs ] and feels better.
Not the same as being naive. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Robert E
Highly recommended
This is an amazing book - written in a really easy to read format with some very good food for thought. Read more
Published 14 months ago by mammylove
A super read!
This book held me spellbound from start to finish. It is primarily about how optimism can change the way we look at events and situations in our lives. Read more
Published 16 months ago by E. Sihera
Very Useful
This is full of practical and useful advice and techniques, it is not just about being "optimistic"
I do think that the author oversells it on occasion. Read more
I do think that the author oversells it on occasion. Read more
Published 18 months ago by The Emperor
If you've been depressed, give it a read.
If you've suffered from depression, as I have, it might come as a refreshing change for someone to say "maybe it's not a disease or an affliction, maybe you're just in a really low... Read more
Published 21 months ago by kwalsh121
More than the power of positive thinking
This book, published in 1990, by Martin Seligman, is very useful for measuring how we feel about ourselves, and the dangers of negative thinking. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Peter Buckley
Rigorous evidence based approach to dealing with 'learned...
Learned optimism is a very readable account of how Seligman came to his theory of learned optimism and helped in developing a validated and successful approach to regaining a sense... Read more
Published on 8 Feb 2009 by Nick SC
Practical Evidence-Based Optimism!
Contrary to what the negative review of this book says, 'Learned Optimism' is based on decades of psychological research. Read more
Published on 17 Sep 2008 by Achilles
A join the dots book has more substance - an insult to your...
When I finished this book ( with great difficulty ) I asked myself the question. Has this book one original idea ?, I came to the conclusion the answer was no. Read more
Published on 30 Jun 2008 by Richard Vasquez
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