Customer Reviews

Half Empty, Half Full: Understanding the Psychological Roots of Optimism

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Although I was familiar with most of the research described in this book, I had never connected it all together to understand its full meaning until I read this book. So whether you are new to the subject or an old hand, I think you will like and benefit from what you find here. We are making great strides towards understanding how healthy psychological states are formed, operate, and are improved. This book brings you up-to-date on where much of that thinking is now.

Dr. Vaughan starts with the role that emotions play. Essentially, emotions tend to overload our rational mental processes. Getting those emotions under control helps us then to move on to make more appropriate decisions. There are many beautiful passages in the book that explain how optimism is hard-wired in the brain through parent-child interaction, especially during the infant years. No parent should miss this information. You are building your child's emotional infrastructure with your early attention!

Those hard-wired reactions either allow us to modulate our emotional reactions well (which lets us see the glass as half-full) or poorly (which often leads us to see the same glass as half-empty). These are connected to a sense of confidence about how much control we have over the world around us. Those who have that confidence put forth more effort, find more options, and succeed much more often. This is confirmed in both animal (rats swimming) and human (efforts to solve problems) experiments. So optimism is a very valuable state to nurture.

Now, if your upbringing wasn't perfect, you should still be optimistic because there are things you can do now to overcome those early handicaps that slow down your optimism. Smiling, thinking positive thoughts, changing your physiology in other ways, and exercising can all help. The author (a psycholoanalyst) also believes that this form of therapy can help. She uses a series of fictional cases about problems and dreams to show how discussing those images can sort out the meaning of the imagery to give a person more self-confidence and emotional control.

To further round out your understanding of this subject, I also recommend that you read The Science of Happiness which contains much valuable information on brain physiology that complements the observations here, especially in how depression is overcome and avoided. The two books and subjects are strongly related.

Whatever you do, seek out the best. Ask yourself daily, where is there vast opportunity in front of me that I can grasp now? As you experience finding that opportunity and capturing it, you will grow in optimism about your ability to do so continuously.

Vaughan is a psychiatrist, psychoanalyst and researcher who can write for the public. In my coaching practice, I sometimes have to grapple with another person's innate and deeply-grounded pessimism and this book gave me ammunition. I do believe that optimism can be learned and in my efforts to extend my own and other people's optimism in the face of some bad-to-worse onslaughts from life, this book has been of immeasurable help. From the amygdala to dream analysis, Vaughan makes it all almost deceptively simple. I doubt that many can "do it" as well as she can, but learning about changing one's level of optimism -- in fact just knowing that we can -- is a great first step! This book gave me real information I can put into practice.

The world consists of those who are pessimists(those who continually see the glass as half empty) or optimists (those who continually see the glass as half full.) Through my studies in psychology and years as a counsellor, it has become evident that how one "views the glass" is to a significant degree determined in the early formative years and the positive or negative relationship we had with our parents. Speaking in general terms, those who have been given encouragement and provided with love, security and a positive environment usually have a more optimistic outlook, and higher sense of self-worth and self-esteem, than those who have not had the benefits of such a nurturing relationship.

As the author so aptly points out, it is never to late to become master of your own fate and change your outlook on life and how you "view the glass." Easier said than done - you bet! Lifelong habits and perceptions are difficult to change; however, with self-discipline and a commitment to long-term change, it can be mastered. Short of professional counselling, this book provides some valuable insights into the conditions which foster a pessimistic or optimistic attitude and suggests what one can do to change a formed, life-long way of thinking. Vaughn uses her professional expertise and fictional case studies to demonstrate how to boost one's level of self-confidence in order to "see the glass" (and life)in a more positive, optimistic manner.

This is one of the best self-help style books I've ever read, presenting a new theory of optimism and chock full of studies to support what the author is saying. It's also an enjoyable quick read that will make you think differently about what you do in your own mind as you go about your day to day life. The author's vignettes are not made up (as the first reviewer says), just disguised so that individual patients are not exposed and identifiable. In any case, the theory is founded in reams of research and review of scientific findings, not her own stories anyway. These are used instead to illustrate what the findings say in a personal and engaging way.

Highly recommended!

I enjoyed reading this book for two reasons
1) Its flows well, and easy read
2) The knowledge is straightforward and practical

The book is not very profound or earth shattering in its insights, but friendly,simply and happy in its expression of how to get and maintain and optimistic outlook on life, which you would think it should be. (but we do like to complicate things)
I recommend it. It's a fast easy read that will provide some tools for keeping a smile first in your mind than on your face

In Half Empty Half Full, the author is able to show how optimists brains operate when confronted with both positive and negative life situations. Also, citing journalistic examples such as the "mouse island" the author explains that optimism is created by one's perceived value of the future, not necessarily based on one's past experiences, but on one's perceived perception of past experiences. In other words, viewing an experiences as a growing lesson instead of as a tragedy, optimists are able to fine-tune their thinking to have greater confidence in future results based on having experienced and surpassed past limitations. In addition, optimists are able to rationalize more postive perceptions and hold less grudges on past experiences based on the exciting possibilities the future beholds. The author ends with ways that people who aren't naturally optimistic can achieve a newfound optimism (re-focusing mind on future goals, counseling, medication, surrounding yourself around the right environment). Simple and well written text.

I especially love the studies that the author chose to include in this book. It is written in such a reader friendly manner so that even when I am triggered or as pesimistic as ever, I am still wanting to continue to read and get more information. It seems well thought out and written with very good knowledge of the subject so to make it far more likely that the author's perspective is true. I dont want to be permanently pesimistic.

I picked up this book with great expectations. I have usually found the other readers' rating system on Amazon to be quite accurate, but this book was a complete disappointment. It felt disjointed, naive and lacking in proper content to warrant a full book on the matter.

Basically, the book can be boiled down to two pieces of advice on which optimism depends. These are downward comparison and controlling our inner environment. I find it hard to believe this book will be of real practical benefit to most readers. You have been warned.

The author admit in the acknowledgement that the so-called patient cases are NOT REAL, made up by her. However, if you didn't read the acknowledgement, you would think those are real people and their problems are beautifully explained by the author. In reality, she invent cases to fit her theories. This can mislead readers.

This book NEVER took off!! It was dull and wordy from start to finish. She uses a lot of medical jargon. Really didn't benefit me in ANY way. I wish she would've broken it down to fit any reader. Not the case. Hopefully others will like it more. Good luck!