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? What harm does constant reading of motivational books do and what naive optimism can lead to.
It is unlikely that in the modern world there is a place where you can hide from the bombing with advice in the spirit of "how to change yourself and become happy." From every corner, motivating posts, inspiring publics, books of varying degrees of scientificity creep in. Beach reading - ladies' novels - was replaced by non-fiction with an goal important: to make people happier, more successful and, yes, to teach how to cook chicken breast according to Jamie Oliver. Of course, it's nice to read this post with three steps to happiness, two of which are "close your eyes tightly" and "make a wish." And it cannot be said that all this is complete nonsense. There are serious scientific calculations confirming that the one who is now really screwing up his eyes and rejoicing (optimist) will live longer than any gloomy skeptics, and his health will be stronger.
Science testifies that being so enlightened is really good for health, although it would seem that only an excessively pink view of the world makes people mix cocktails that cannot be mixed in their right mind.
The heyday of positive psychology came in 1998 when Martin Seligman of the University of Pennsylvania was elected president of the American Psychological Association. For thirty years, Seligman worked studying depression, and in his welcoming speech he suddenly announced that all this time the researchers were looking in the wrong for example, on the vigorous, healthy and contented.
According to Seligman, optimism is a special style of thinking, when a person considering all favorable events to be natural and logical, and failures are random and in no way connected with his personality.
A very convenient solution! Not "I could have done something," but "she drowned"; not "I blew my last pants in the casino," but "no luck - black did not fall out."
Both pundits and various charlatans have written a lot of books on how to move towards happiness, that is, to think positively - to train to see in the notorious glass not the cause of tomorrow's hangover, but something good. This idea has been oversimplified by marketers pushing everyday little things into a recipe for happiness in life. Here is a wonderful blanket, you can wrap yourself in it and rejoice looking at the winter yard; here is a new gadget with which you will smile and cut selfies three times more often; here, at worst, a chocolate bar. Don't forget to roll your eyes in delight. The idea of happiness as a picture from a simple movie - everyone is constantly smiling there - leads into a trap: it seems that in order to become an optimist, you just need to put on a smile and focus on the good (today , for example,
Flat marketing optimism (“Look for a ray of sunshine in every day!”) Is opposed to another optimism that is so widespread in our culture that it's not even clear why it should be specially trained. It is expressed by a short but capacious word "maybe" or by the formula "Yes, everything will be fine - forget it!"
All the wonderful incidents, the participants of which receive the Darwin Prize, unsuccessful jumps on stilts, news from the series "decided to get through the roof to the balcony", "died during a pancake-eating contest" and other similar episodes indicate that we are already too a lot of stupid optimism.
Woodiallen's urban neurotic with obsessive-compulsive disorder will never understand how to compete in a speed pancake-eating competition. And here the game of evolution is visible: it is better to wash your hands with soap and water eighty-five times a day and look at those around you with a gloomy look from under your brows than to wait for the next future elections with the mood “Everything will be fine!”. Well, it is unprofitable for a person to watch an avalanche go towards him, and giggle: "Yes, I'll get out somehow!" Anxious creatures, control freaks, perfectionists - these are what we are conceived according to the Darwinian theory and the Darwin Prize. In cave times, it was much better to shy away from every rustle and wash fruits in a stream than to walk carelessly in an open area, believing that those bushes were swaying solely from the wind.
And all the same, we have very, very much unnecessary optimism, even if we do not have the habit of pasting photos from a glossy magazine on the refrigerator in the unreasonable hope of “luring the same machine out of the Universe”.
Yes, today saber-toothed tigers do not jump on us, but there is still harm from rose-colored glasses. Here's one, for example.
1. We misunderstand ourselves
Neuroscientist Sharoth Tali believes that optimism is a cognitive illusion in 80% of people. This trait is evident in the polls: “How do you drive? How attractive / interesting to other people / honest and modest are you? "Most assess themselves in all these parameters as" above average ", which, of course, is impossible statistically, and indeed, sheer nonsense: if you are driving, it is clear that only you drive decently on the whole street - everyone else unconsciously presses on different pedals and turns steering wheel.
Ask any newlywed woman how likely they are to get divorced. Then show him the statistics and laugh spitefully.
However, this will not work. When it comes to ourselves, we usually overestimate the likelihood of a good event (“If you run across the Volokolamskoe highway in the wrong place at night, the truck will have time to slow down”) and underestimate the likelihood of a bad event ( “The bride's mother will not sing”).
Well, the confidence that "you are interesting to other people" makes some unfortunate people take the floor at a corporate party and cause universal hatred towards themselves.
2. We make unrealizable plans
When taking on important work, it is better to think not about Paulo Coelho and the fact that the Universe is coming to meet us, but about the "planning error". The term was coined by behavioral economist Daniel Kahneman with colleague Amos Tversky, referring to the cognitive bias associated with over-optimism and miscalculation of the timing of the task (time, as a rule, takes much longer than anticipated). Research confirms that people arrogantly assess the prospects of writing a term paper, finishing a project before the deadline or quickly building Zenit-Arena as the most real. And every time - on the same rake. Moreover, as scientists have found out, past experience does not affect human optimism - we will have time for the World Championship! Even knowing that it was not possible to cope with the previous task on time, we still hope that now everything will work out: “Yes, of course! We'll get ready for Friday's event, yeah! "And on Friday, optimism will also come in handy:" Maybe it will blow! We must believe in the best."
3. We make mistakes more often
Scientists advise against hiring people who are eternally radiating joy. Many bosses intuitively feel this and try in every possible way to spoil the mood of their subordinates.[/HEADING]
For example, there is research showing that people in a bad mood have better memory.
And other experiments show that disputants with negative attitudes find more convincing arguments than their upbeat opponents. Therefore, if you are suddenly invited to a debate, do not believe the stories about optimism, but try to put yourself in a darker frame of mind.
4. From the imposed dogma "Positive thoughts!" it only gets worse
For some people it is enough to say: "Believe in the best, look ahead, communism will come in five years!" - and with a contented look they begin to admire the happiness looming in the distance. Others need much more effort (and antidepressants). What if you don't believe in the “Optimistic Thoughts!” Mantra?
The authors of a 2012 study at the University of Queensland came to a paradoxical conclusion.
When people think that everyone around them is expecting a solid positive, they experience more negative emotions.
Surely everyone has been to humorous shows that cause suicidal thoughts, and the louder the people in the neighboring chairs laugh, the more you want to do something terrible.
Or take positive affirmations about yourself. You smile at your reflection in the mirror, look at the bags under your eyes, but the psychology of success insists: self-hypnosis will help now better than a cold compress (“I'm just handsome!”). Canadian psychologist Joanna Wood asked students to utter a controversial statement: "I am an attractive person" - and then watched how their self-esteem changed from this rather ridiculous statement. And indeed, it has changed! It increased in those who were confident enough in themselves before the experiment. But the subjects who rated themselves not so highly felt that the mantra played a cruel joke on them: they became even more embarrassed.
Installations that we take from the air or from a demotivator with a picture of a sunset, instead of a useful effect, bring harm.
It seems that with the idea of "Look at life with optimism!" humanity has overdone it a little. And it's not a sin to be a nervous bore: not to rejoice at a snowflake flying in your eye, not to have fun at a bad party, and in general when there is no reason. This is exactly what the popular proverb says: "Optimism without a reason is a sign of Dale Carnegie."
It is unlikely that in the modern world there is a place where you can hide from the bombing with advice in the spirit of "how to change yourself and become happy." From every corner, motivating posts, inspiring publics, books of varying degrees of scientificity creep in. Beach reading - ladies' novels - was replaced by non-fiction with an goal important: to make people happier, more successful and, yes, to teach how to cook chicken breast according to Jamie Oliver. Of course, it's nice to read this post with three steps to happiness, two of which are "close your eyes tightly" and "make a wish." And it cannot be said that all this is complete nonsense. There are serious scientific calculations confirming that the one who is now really screwing up his eyes and rejoicing (optimist) will live longer than any gloomy skeptics, and his health will be stronger.
Science testifies that being so enlightened is really good for health, although it would seem that only an excessively pink view of the world makes people mix cocktails that cannot be mixed in their right mind.
The heyday of positive psychology came in 1998 when Martin Seligman of the University of Pennsylvania was elected president of the American Psychological Association. For thirty years, Seligman worked studying depression, and in his welcoming speech he suddenly announced that all this time the researchers were looking in the wrong for example, on the vigorous, healthy and contented.
According to Seligman, optimism is a special style of thinking, when a person considering all favorable events to be natural and logical, and failures are random and in no way connected with his personality.
A very convenient solution! Not "I could have done something," but "she drowned"; not "I blew my last pants in the casino," but "no luck - black did not fall out."
Both pundits and various charlatans have written a lot of books on how to move towards happiness, that is, to think positively - to train to see in the notorious glass not the cause of tomorrow's hangover, but something good. This idea has been oversimplified by marketers pushing everyday little things into a recipe for happiness in life. Here is a wonderful blanket, you can wrap yourself in it and rejoice looking at the winter yard; here is a new gadget with which you will smile and cut selfies three times more often; here, at worst, a chocolate bar. Don't forget to roll your eyes in delight. The idea of happiness as a picture from a simple movie - everyone is constantly smiling there - leads into a trap: it seems that in order to become an optimist, you just need to put on a smile and focus on the good (today , for example,
Flat marketing optimism (“Look for a ray of sunshine in every day!”) Is opposed to another optimism that is so widespread in our culture that it's not even clear why it should be specially trained. It is expressed by a short but capacious word "maybe" or by the formula "Yes, everything will be fine - forget it!"
All the wonderful incidents, the participants of which receive the Darwin Prize, unsuccessful jumps on stilts, news from the series "decided to get through the roof to the balcony", "died during a pancake-eating contest" and other similar episodes indicate that we are already too a lot of stupid optimism.
Woodiallen's urban neurotic with obsessive-compulsive disorder will never understand how to compete in a speed pancake-eating competition. And here the game of evolution is visible: it is better to wash your hands with soap and water eighty-five times a day and look at those around you with a gloomy look from under your brows than to wait for the next future elections with the mood “Everything will be fine!”. Well, it is unprofitable for a person to watch an avalanche go towards him, and giggle: "Yes, I'll get out somehow!" Anxious creatures, control freaks, perfectionists - these are what we are conceived according to the Darwinian theory and the Darwin Prize. In cave times, it was much better to shy away from every rustle and wash fruits in a stream than to walk carelessly in an open area, believing that those bushes were swaying solely from the wind.
And all the same, we have very, very much unnecessary optimism, even if we do not have the habit of pasting photos from a glossy magazine on the refrigerator in the unreasonable hope of “luring the same machine out of the Universe”.
Yes, today saber-toothed tigers do not jump on us, but there is still harm from rose-colored glasses. Here's one, for example.
1. We misunderstand ourselves
Neuroscientist Sharoth Tali believes that optimism is a cognitive illusion in 80% of people. This trait is evident in the polls: “How do you drive? How attractive / interesting to other people / honest and modest are you? "Most assess themselves in all these parameters as" above average ", which, of course, is impossible statistically, and indeed, sheer nonsense: if you are driving, it is clear that only you drive decently on the whole street - everyone else unconsciously presses on different pedals and turns steering wheel.
Ask any newlywed woman how likely they are to get divorced. Then show him the statistics and laugh spitefully.
However, this will not work. When it comes to ourselves, we usually overestimate the likelihood of a good event (“If you run across the Volokolamskoe highway in the wrong place at night, the truck will have time to slow down”) and underestimate the likelihood of a bad event ( “The bride's mother will not sing”).
Well, the confidence that "you are interesting to other people" makes some unfortunate people take the floor at a corporate party and cause universal hatred towards themselves.
2. We make unrealizable plans
When taking on important work, it is better to think not about Paulo Coelho and the fact that the Universe is coming to meet us, but about the "planning error". The term was coined by behavioral economist Daniel Kahneman with colleague Amos Tversky, referring to the cognitive bias associated with over-optimism and miscalculation of the timing of the task (time, as a rule, takes much longer than anticipated). Research confirms that people arrogantly assess the prospects of writing a term paper, finishing a project before the deadline or quickly building Zenit-Arena as the most real. And every time - on the same rake. Moreover, as scientists have found out, past experience does not affect human optimism - we will have time for the World Championship! Even knowing that it was not possible to cope with the previous task on time, we still hope that now everything will work out: “Yes, of course! We'll get ready for Friday's event, yeah! "And on Friday, optimism will also come in handy:" Maybe it will blow! We must believe in the best."
3. We make mistakes more often
Scientists advise against hiring people who are eternally radiating joy. Many bosses intuitively feel this and try in every possible way to spoil the mood of their subordinates.[/HEADING]
For example, there is research showing that people in a bad mood have better memory.
And other experiments show that disputants with negative attitudes find more convincing arguments than their upbeat opponents. Therefore, if you are suddenly invited to a debate, do not believe the stories about optimism, but try to put yourself in a darker frame of mind.
4. From the imposed dogma "Positive thoughts!" it only gets worse
For some people it is enough to say: "Believe in the best, look ahead, communism will come in five years!" - and with a contented look they begin to admire the happiness looming in the distance. Others need much more effort (and antidepressants). What if you don't believe in the “Optimistic Thoughts!” Mantra?
The authors of a 2012 study at the University of Queensland came to a paradoxical conclusion.
When people think that everyone around them is expecting a solid positive, they experience more negative emotions.
Surely everyone has been to humorous shows that cause suicidal thoughts, and the louder the people in the neighboring chairs laugh, the more you want to do something terrible.
Or take positive affirmations about yourself. You smile at your reflection in the mirror, look at the bags under your eyes, but the psychology of success insists: self-hypnosis will help now better than a cold compress (“I'm just handsome!”). Canadian psychologist Joanna Wood asked students to utter a controversial statement: "I am an attractive person" - and then watched how their self-esteem changed from this rather ridiculous statement. And indeed, it has changed! It increased in those who were confident enough in themselves before the experiment. But the subjects who rated themselves not so highly felt that the mantra played a cruel joke on them: they became even more embarrassed.
Installations that we take from the air or from a demotivator with a picture of a sunset, instead of a useful effect, bring harm.
It seems that with the idea of "Look at life with optimism!" humanity has overdone it a little. And it's not a sin to be a nervous bore: not to rejoice at a snowflake flying in your eye, not to have fun at a bad party, and in general when there is no reason. This is exactly what the popular proverb says: "Optimism without a reason is a sign of Dale Carnegie."
