Learned Optimism
How to Change Your Mind and Your Life
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4.4 • 5 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • The father of positive psychology draws on more than twenty years of clinical research to show you how to overcome depression, boost your immune system, and make yourself happier.
"Vaulted me out of my funk.... So, fellow moderate pessimists, go buy this book." —The New York Times Book Review
Offering many simple techniques anyone can practice, Dr. Seligman explains how to break an “I–give–up” habit, develop a more constructive explanatory style for interpreting your behavior, and experience the benefits of a more positive interior dialogue.
With generous additional advice on how to encourage optimistic behavior at school, at work and in children, Learned Optimism is both profound and practical—and valuable for every phase of life.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Not just another paean to positive thinking, psychologist Seligman's pep talk is grounded in clinical evidence that pessimists give up more easily, get depressed more often and are more susceptible to disease than are optimists. Our ``explanatory style,'' the way we rationalize our setbacks, is a key to our personal outlook, and this style crystallizes in childhood by age eight, according to the author, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania. To cure ``learned helplessness,'' he outlines a set of cognitive techniques designed to foster healthy optimism. Included are tests enabling readers to measure levels of pessimism or optimism and degrees of depression. Seligman also offers advice to parents on helping their children escape defeatism. Written in a popular, conversational style, yet incorporating much new research, this upbeat guide may help even closet negativists change their attitudes and behavior. BOMC alternate.
