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Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life Paperback – January 3, 2006

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Martin E. P. Seligman (Author)
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Martin Seligman, a renowned psychologist and clinical researcher, has been studying optimists and pessimists for 25 years. Pessimists believe that bad events are their fault, will last a long time, and undermine everything. They feel helpless and may sink into depression, which is epidemic today, especially among youths. Optimists, on the other hand, believe that defeat is a temporary setback or a challenge--it doesn't knock them down. "Pessimism is escapable," asserts Seligman, by learning a new set of cognitive skills that will enable you to take charge, resist depression, and make yourself feel better and accomplish more.

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. --Joan Price --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

The author, a leading expert on the theory and treatment of depression, has written a lively, very accessible book on the power of a positive outlook and how to develop it. Basing his theories on his original research on "learned helplessness," Seligman goes on to develop a systematic model for the cognitive treatment of depression. This book summarizes his more recent work on a person's characteristic predisposition toward optimism or pessimism. Convincingly demonstrating that an optimistic mood contributes to one's success and happiness, Seligman goes on to demonstrate how a more optimistic outlook can be developed. Presented for lay readers, this book can be highly recommended to professionals as well for its lucid and informative introduction to cognitive therapy and its approach to issues of mood and depression.
- Paul Hymowitz, New York Medical Coll.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 319 pages
  • Publisher: Vintage; Reprint edition (January 3, 2006)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1400078393
  • ISBN-13: 978-1400078394
  • Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.7 x 7.9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (365 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,367 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

420 of 436 people found the following review helpful
Life Changing Book - Evidence That Changed Me From a Pessimist To An Optimist
By E. N. Cook on November 30, 2006
Format: Paperback
I have always been very skeptical of all "self help" books, believing they were mainly fluff and a waste of time. On a whim I thought I would buy this book since it was written by a psychologist and clinical researcher, and claimed to have evidence that optimists actually do succeed more and accomplish more.

As stated earlier, the author is a psychologist and clinical researcher who has spent the majority of his life studying learned helplessness and optimism. After many clinical trials, he has been hired in many "real world" situations (including Met Life Insurance and sports teams) to improve results and test optimism and success. The results are astounding. The book describes the results using these real-life projects. As evidenced by these studies, optimism helps persons succeed in business, sports, politics, health, school, and literally all walks of life.

The book demonstrated over and over again how I was handicapping myself by being negative and a pessimist. I am a very logical person and it took a book like this, written factually instead of emotionally, to open my eyes to pessimism. Since reading this book, I have dedicated myself to being an optimist, and I must say I have already noticed major differences in my life. I am succeeding at things I never would have even attempted before, and I have become very resilient in non-favorable situations. I have surprised myself over and over again.

Not too many "life changing" books come along, but this book was definitely one for me. If you are a pessimist, this book can transform your life. If you are average or only slightly positive, this book can improve your life greatly. Do yourself a favor and read this book!
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357 of 371 people found the following review helpful
Surprising and Convincing
By Karen on September 15, 1999
Format: Paperback
The thing that consistently surprised me about this book was the way that the author was able to provide extensive scientific verification for his claims. Most "self-help" books have anecdotal evidence at best to support their hypotheses. This book solidly supports its conclusions by means of numerous formal studies. Moreover, some of the material is very counter-intuitive. Attitudes one would have assumed were optimistic turn out to be pessimistic, and vice-versa.
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. This requires careful, systematic definitions of terms, which he provides.
Equally interesting was Seligman's analysis of the consequenses of optimism and pessimism, and his demonstration that optimism can be learned, with beneficial results that extend well beyond "feeling good."
I highly recommend this book.
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186 of 196 people found the following review helpful
An intelligent self-help work that is both very readable and extremely compelling
By doctor_beth #1 HALL OF FAMETOP 50 REVIEWERVINE VOICE on August 9, 2006
Format: Paperback
I am a psychologist myself, and ever since i first began studying psychology, I have been fascinated by the work of Dr. Seligman. Once I started working as a therapist, I purchased and this book to facilitate my work with clients. Dr. Seligman is a talented, amusing, and engaging writer who presents an extremely pursuasive review of his research into the effects of learned optimism on mood, performance, health, etc. Because his research includes areas as diverse as including health (showing greater breast cancer survival rates for those who are more optimistic), sales success (proving that optimistic salesman are more successful), and sports/politics (providing evidence that both sports teams and political candidates are more likely to win when optimism is increased), his methods are beleivable to even the most die-hard psychological skeptic.

Dr. Seligman explains your attribution style--that is, how you explain your successes/failures--can have a major impact on mood as well as all of the other dimensions mentioned above. He provides the reader with a concrete, easily understandible model to asses their own thinking style, emphasizing that being able to monitor your thoughts is the first step towards changing them. Finally, he presents a simple plan for changing though patterns which involves easy to implement steps. This book will definitely help you to better understand how your thought patterns affect your mood and how to go about making changes in order to live a happier, healthier life; highly recommended.
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149 of 158 people found the following review helpful
This Stuff Works
By A Customer on November 24, 1999
Format: Paperback
I am a commercial real estate broker. Some years back, when I was involved in apartment rentals, and shortly after the first edition of the book was published, I decided, in an effort to enhance my production, to try the "Adversity-Belief-Consequences-Disputation-Energization" technique the author described. I was nothing short of amazed at the results. My production shot up! I had the two best months ever in the business. Perhaps luck was involved, but I have repeated the process numerous times over the years, particularly when I am suffering from an emotional lull, and invariably, something positive happens to me, in either my business or personal life. There is something almost eerie about this, and frankly if I didn't experience this myself, I doubt I would believe someone else recounting the same experience. I can only assume that by requiring you to LOGICALLY come up with reasons for thinking positively (rather than the b.s. along the lines of "I'm getting better and better every day")this manifests itself in small, subtle but detectible changes in your behavior. I highly recommend this book as a "thinking man's" self-help book, for people who are too well-educated to respond to meaningless self-talk.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

Practical advice on becoming more optimistic

Read chapters 12 through 14 for techniques in determining and altering thought patterns from pessimism to optimism. Read more

Published 2 days ago by J. Zinner
Four Stars

Good book!

Published 3 days ago by Marybeth Adams
Liked it but went into too much detail of the ...

Liked it but went into too much detail of the experiments and then talked about the results and what they mean. Overall good book

Published 8 days ago by Alex
Convincing, based on sound research

Dr. Seligman makes a compelling argument for the causes and cures for pessimism. I'd recommend this book to entrepreneurs who struggle with the constant stress, and ups and downs,... Read more

Published 10 days ago by Tim Turner
Two Stars

Not that great. Not worth the money

Published 12 days ago by sandy amstutz
Very good book. I've read many self-help and psychology-based books...

Very good book. I've read many self-help and psychology-based books over the years, but this book is one I hadn't heard of nor read. Read more

Published 15 days ago by Elmofan
Two Stars

It is ok. I guess I am more of a realist.

Published 17 days ago by Traci D. Zigan
Excellent book. Read it!

Great book!!! I highly recommend this book.

Published 21 days ago by Melody Hall
Item scratched

This item is scratched. I went to listen to it a few weeks after purchase and am "outside the window" to return it.

Published 22 days ago by Lisa Wollett
Four Stars

A good representation of some of the tenets of positive psychology.

Published 24 days ago by Shoey

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