learned opbookreview

Learned Optimism by Martin Seligman

My best bits

By Ella Duvall

Why a book review?• Inspiring authorSeligman’s research launched his career

• Paradigm breaking researchLearned helplessness debunked Behaviourism

Broad range of applications Workplace, health, schools, mental health…gambling!

• Self-help based on research Presents a case of optimism being optimal and can be learned.

masters

Seligman and Maier (1967):

Condition 1: dogs received shocks which they could control

Condition 2: dogs received shocks which they did not control

Condition 3: dogs received no shocks

Shuttle box

Why a book review?• Inspiring authorSeligman’s research launched his career

• Paradigm breaking researchLearned helplessness debunked Behaviourism

Broad range of applications Workplace, health, schools, mental health…gambling!

• Self-help based on research Presents a case of optimism being optimal and can be learned.

masters

What is optimism?

“The basis of optimism does not lie in positive phrases or images of victory, but in the way you think about causes” Seligman.

• Optimists have a ‘temporary’, ‘specific’ and ‘external’ attributional style of bad events

• Measured Attribution Style Questionnaire (ASQ) and Content Analysis Verbatim Explanations (CAVE)

What is so good about optimism?

•Bouncing back from defeat

What is so good about optimism?

•Bouncing back from defeat

•Success in work and play

What is so good about optimism?

•Success in work and play

•Bouncing back from defeat

•Good health

Causal model of mental states in health

Loss pessimism catecholamine depletion

endorphin secretion depletion immune

supression

What is so good about optimism?

•Success in work and play

•Bouncing back from defeat

•Good health

•Good mental health- fewer depressions

Are there any benefits to pessimism?

• Rational and realist

Are there any benefits to pessimism?

• Rational and realist

• Appropriateness

Are there any benefits to pessimism?

• Rational and realist

• Appropriateness

• Safer decisions

Can you change your levels of optimism ?.. Yes!• Why? We aren’t all natural optimists

• How? Change explanatory style is the foundation of CBT

1) Distraction 2) Disputation 3) Distancing

• When? Seligman proposes flexible optimism

Some extra take home points about -Research Methods-

• Seligiman has built a research career in the face of a lot skepticism

• “your critic was really your ally helping you advance on reality”

• Seligman’s research experiments were simple and well designed

• Methods: Quanti and quali designs

To conclude, I have chosen to present about a book today for the

richness in personality and history it supplies for a research field.

Thank you for listening.