'Learned Optimism' by Martin E. P. Seligman
notes by J. Zimmerman
J. Zimmerman on
Learned Optimism
by Martin E. P. Seligman.
Seligman's
Learned Optimism
has become so important in the self-help field because it justifies its claims through
its scientific foundation.
The book is not only about optimism.
It also validates the possibility of personal change
through one's efforts and will.
Seligman on Explanatory Style
Seligman observes that there are three enormous differences in the
Explanatory Style (the way in which a person
tends to explain situations to herself)
between pessimistic people
and optimistic people:
- Temporary versus Permanent: how long something lasts and how frequently it occurs.
"People who give up easily believe the causes of the bad events that happen to them are permanent:
The bad events will persist, [and] will always be there to affect their lives."
"The permanence dimension determines how long a person gives up for.
'Permanent' explanations of bad events produce long-lasting helplessness
and 'temporary' explanations produce resilience."
"Optimistic people explain good events to themselves in terms of permanent causes:
traits, abilities, always's. Pessimists name transient causes:
moods, effects, sometimes's."
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- Pervasiveness, which concerns how widespread something is:
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| When something wanted ...
| When something unwanted ...
|
| ... happens to an optimist
| Success is attributed to a universal explanation
such as a widespread skill (e.g. 'I am smart').
| Failure is attributed to a specific explanation (e.g. 'Professor Seligman is not fair').
|
| ... happens to a pessimist
| Success is attributed to a specific instance (e.g. 'I am smart at memorizing phone numbers'.)
| Failure is attributed to a universal explanation or generalization
(e.g., 'All teachers are unfair').
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- Personalization: Internal versus External attribution:
Is it about you or about other people?
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"When bad things happen, we can blame ourselves (internalize)
or we can blame other people or circumstances (externalize).
People who blame themselves when they fail have low self-esteem as a consequence.
They think they are worthless, talentless, and unlovable.
People who blame external events do not lose self-esteem when bad
events strike. On the whole, they like themselves a lot better than people that blame themselves do.
"
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Seligman says that you can use a different, more optimistic,
way of explaining setbacks to yourself, and that this can
protect you from allowing a crisis to drop you into depression.
Seligman found that people who
give up easily have not argued against their negative interpretation of failure
and their self-disparagement.
Those who avoid being snared by depression tend to listen to their internal
dialogue, and then argue with themselves against their self-limiting thoughts,
and quickly find more positive thought about the event that concerns them.
How can you figure out your style?
Seligman includes a series of tests that you can take, so that you can
measure your
explanatory style,
and determine how you use those three dimensions
(permanence, pervasiveness, and personalization).
How can you change your style?
The final third of Seligman's book is Changing: From Pessimism to Optimism.
Using techniques of cognitive therapy developed by Steven Hollon
and Arthur Freeman, he asks the reader to identify the ABC's:
- Adversity that is encountered.
- Beliefs that arise - what you think.
- Consequences - what you do.
Initially you simply record what happens.
Then he teaches you two techniques:
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"There are two general ways for you to deal with your pessimistic beliefs once you are aware of them.
The first is simply to distract yourself when they occur -
try to think of something else.
The second is to dispute them.
Disputing is more effective in the long run,
because successfully disputed beliefs are less likely to recur when the same
situation presents itself again."
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Who is Martin Seligman? A brief bio
Martin Seligman
is a cognitive psychologist.
He asks "What makes a
person keep going after the death of a spouse or a child, or pick themselves
up after their company folds."
He is credited with developing the learned helplessness theory of
depression, and with discovering ways that people can become more optimistic
and therefore less likely to succumb to depression.
Martin Seligman grew up in Albany, New York. As an undergraduate at Princeton,
he majored in
modern philosophy. Shifting to psychology, he
became licensed as a psychologist in 1973, and then
directed the clinical training program of the University of Pennsylvania
psychology department.
Seligman has written over a dozen books and almost 200 articles.
We highly recommend
Learned Optimism
by Martin E. P. Seligman.
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