I loved this book when I first read it so I’m delighted to share some further great resources around the concept of “Learned Optimism”.
Essentially the author, Dr Seligman posits in this very readable book, using plenty of good stories to make his point, that optimistic people become more successful people, he explains how optimism or pessimism is LEARNED behaviour and how you can change how you think and thus how successful you can become.
About two-thirds of this book is a psychological discussion of pessimism, optimism, learned helplessness (giving up because you feel unable to change things), explanatory style (how you habitually explain to yourself why events happen), and depression, and how these affect success, health, and quality of life. Seligman supports his points with animal research and human cases. He includes tests for you and your child–whose achievement may be related more to his or her level of optimism/pessimism than ability. The final chapters teach the skills of changing from pessimism to optimism, with worksheet pages to guide you and your child.
Seligman shows repeatedly where actual, testable predictions have been made based on his notions of optimism/pessimism, and the predictions have turned out to be well-founded…
Read More & Order The Book On Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk
Leave a Reply