Customer Reviews

Positivity: Groundbreaking Research Reveals How to Embrace the Hidden Strength of Positive Emotions, Overcome Negativity, and Thrive

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I've read 4 books on the subject of positive psychology and this here was my least favorite. It isn't terrible by any stretch of the imagination, but I'll outline my final judgment with a list of pros and cons.

Pros:

1. The author's research and contribution to the field of positive psychology is both interesting and useful. The awareness that positive emotions "broaden and build" is insightful and intuitively makes sense.

2. Decent introduction and overview of positive emotions and psychology.

3. Some useful exercises.

Cons:

1. Much of the book is written in a way that, like many self help books, is just bloated. The author, like many others, spends pages and pages telling you what the book is going to do for you when it could be telling what it should be telling you so that it could do something for you. In short, I don't want a book to spend pages and pages pumping me up by telling me what it's going to do for me over and over. It's like a bad infomercial and a complete waste of pages.

2. There are better books out there on this subject, one of which is titled "The How of Happiness" and which I found to just be better in every respect.

My suggestion is to read the research from the author of "Positivity...", as it seems to be an important and consistently reproduced contribution to the field, and get "The How of Happiness".

Dear Friends: I am somewhat disappointed with this book. The author is clearly a very brilliant scholar in her field, and writes clearly and in an interesting manner.

But she is more focused on how her scientific studies and those of her colleagues provided some of the first testable scientific evidence for the value of increasing one's positive emotions than she is in presenting how the results of those studies can be implemented by people with serious life problems seeking to increase their "positivity."

Some of her techniques involve going to her website, recording daily monitoring of one's emotions, and voluntering to add the reader's results to her database. That's a clever way to find new study volunteers, but not what I'd expect in a self-help book.

Her recommendations for troubled seekers are surprisingly few and bland, given the intense, in-depth amount of research she has clearly done in this field. The book also needed a stronger editor, as there is much repetition of material.

I was also surprised by her showcasing of certain Buddhist techniques that can be used to increase "positivity" with any acknowledgement that similar or identical techniques exist in other religions and spiritualities, such as Judaism, Christianity and Islam. She appeared unaware that the common elements of mysticism and meditation are not confined to Buddhism.

In addition, the examples given in the book of people benefiting from its principles are largely of happily married people with children where everything turned out well for them when they implemented the very few "positivity" techniques that the author suggests

I wondered -- what about the people who implemented these "positivity" techniques, but still had to deal with unfortunate outcomes? Why was no one in her examples single, divorced, widowed, elderly, physically and emotionally disabled, or a teenager?

It seemed that everyone who implemented her principles -- always successfully -- was a happily married academic between the ages of 25 to 60. Where was the rest of the population?

This emphasis on a very narrow segment of the U.S. population caused me to question the value of her book for the rest of us.

The book did spark my interest in "positivity," positive thinking, and the field of positive psychology, and I have gone ahead to purchase other books about it.

Dr. Barbara Fredrickson writes an easy to read stunningly, compelling book. Positivity is rich with the science and research of how and yes why, experiencing positive emotions makes life easier- both in the good and bad times. Fredrickson brings her many gifts as an analytical scientist to the table as she writes about her years of in-depth research (and that of many others) with "the numbers" that document why positive emotions make our lives better. I have read many happiness books but this book is a true joy to read as Fredrickson weaves in her own heartfelt experiences and personal stories from her colleagues and research participants making the "science" come to life. But, that isn't all Fredrickson gives you practical, easy techniques based on the research of how raise your "positivity ratio" and find yourself when you get lost in the busy and uncertain world we live in today. For me once again reading this book narrowed the gap between the major premises of many faith traditions and science. If you are a skeptic she has the numbers that really document how positive emotion shifts your ability to see more options, be physically healthier and how to feel better. Or, if you just want to make a change in life and want to enjoy your life more you will love Positivity.

Bonnie Snyder,Ed.S
Life Balance Coach & Author

There are several problems with most 'self help' 'think positive books':
a. their message does not effect or convince the people who need it most because the claims are unsubstantiated and there is no proven method for implementing
b. many make knowingly or unknowingly false claims.

While most are sincere and a great help - Norman Vincent Peale comes to mind. Others are little more than snake oil salesman, playing off the weakness, vanity, insecurity and fears of people. I won't mention names but its no "Secret" who I am referring to. Such unrealistic claims can actually be DAMAGING to 'self esteem' or having a HEALTHY positive outlook.

This book is great for the skeptic, or those who have been disheartened by the empty, unrealistic claims of most self help hucksters. It offers sound research back advice and REALISTIC expectations along with PRACTICAL ways of carrying the principles out.

You might have heard a lot of the claims in here in other books, but there is a difference this time - the author backs it up with a study and a healthily footnoted index of peer reviewed research. So if your skeptical there are references to literally hundreds of pages of research where you can indulge your skeptical side.

This is important for several reasons. Most self help books make wild claims, tell you just about anything is possible and inevitably, after the high wears off the reader ends up disappointed and in a worse funk than before. Positivity offers simple easy to take steps that BUILD on one another and have a cumulative benefit.

Some of these claims may seem like common sense, but just because we "know" something doesn't mean we DO that thing...and this book provides a 'technique' for implementing them. Some of the things may seem fundamental or basic - and I can only use an analogy I understand well - art - if you don't have the 'basics' of drawing you will never make a satisfactory painting. The basics are easy to understand, difficult to master, and take constant practice, so it is, I think, with the 'art' of positivity.

Again, if your disenchanted, skeptical but would like your life to be a little brighter then I highly recommend this book.

One caveat: the author seems to have some sort of a bias toward religion or belief in God, and I wonder how much that effects her research. For example, one of the things she recommends to increase positivity is simple gratitude, and cites the time honored tradition of saying Grace before meals. But she goes on and says you can give thanks to the farmer, the cook - and offers other suggestions, rather than 'some deity in the sky' (paraphrase) clearly meant as dismissive and mildly pejorative. Why did she choose to do this?

It led me to truly wonder if she and other positive researchers have a built in bias against religion, particularly Christianity, which might lead them to advocate things like meditation (nothing wrong with that great exercise) but ignore the benefits (on the mind, not material) of mindful prayer or religious devotion. Even if it is not your cup of tea, certainly the contentment that people often feel when connecting spiritually (again very different from the mediation she advocates) is worthy of study for any 'positive psychologist'.

Another, "I wonder"; I would have liked to see how these studies broke down across demographic lines, sex in particular. Men might find more 'happiness' in hunting, for example and women in nurturing animals.

Lastly where, in her ten positive feelings to contemplate does beauty and positive sexual attraction fall in? Or the 'sex doesn't explain it all' attraction men sometimes feel for beauty in females that transcends mere sex.

This book has definitely made my life better! It has helped me become a more positive, resilient person.

I read many books, and they helped diminish my negativity, but still it kept creeping back into my life. After reading this book, however, my anxiety began to melt away. I stopped waking up with my heart pounding, afraid to face the day. For the first time in a long time, I really felt good.

The author uses research to demonstrate that genuinely happy, positive, people make better decisions, have improved memory, and get along better with others. She showed me that the "self-analysis" and "problem solving" I thought I was doing when I was negative were actually inaccurate and self-defeating.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not a smiley-face kind of person. The author makes the point that positivity is spontaneous; if you make it routine it becomes fake and loses its benefits.

To be fair, the other books I read gave me insight which prepared me well for this book. But still I needed something positive to replace the negativity, and this book did the job! Plus, it's an easy read!

Frederickson's Positivity introduces readers to a set of practices that have often been associated with alternative offerings and even woo-woo. She's not a rah-rah cheerleader; in fact, she specifically warns against trying to force a change in feelings. She simply demonstrates what works and why.

The best parts of the book were the reports on specific experiments - the forte of academic psychology - and the specific how-to measures. I especially like the suggestion to develop portfolios relating to pride just before job interviews. I'd have liked to see more detail on constructing portfolios. It's not clear how they differ from vision boards.

The chapter on negativity was particularly helpful. I love the notion of a news fast. I appreciate suggestions to find substitutes for gossip and sarcasm and reviewing a day for "land mines." I'm not sure the suggestions for dealing with difficult people will be workable in all situations; sometimes you simply have to get away from them.

I also liked the stories of change, especially Nina's story in Chapter 5. In just three months of guided meditation, Nina's life transformed. And I like the idea of dreaming about the future as a way to gain more resilience and strength.

On the other hand, I'm afraid I didn't have the patience to calculate positivity ratios. Some examples would have been helpful.

Ultimately, while I admire the author's scholarly orientation, I couldn't help wondering, "What's new?" Earlier research on mood found that mood changes produced many effects described by positivity. I once heard a talk by Alice Isen, where she showed that decision processes changed along with mood. Mood changes could be induced experimentally by something as simple as a miniature chocolate bar.

We've also seen considerably research about meditation going back thirty or so years to the TM program. I've read studies (can't remember the source) showing that people remember their own life histories differently when they're primed for positive or negative emotion.

Is positivity an umbrella concept that integrates many of these diverse findings? Or is it a totally new concept that differs from what's already appeared? Most readers probably won't care. They'll just benefit considerably from reading this book.

Already quite familiar with the work of Dr. Fredrickson, there were no a-ha moments in the book. Still, I strongly recommend this book for those people who are struggling to achieve greater positivity in their life. Dr. Fredrickson writes openly about her own life experiences, makes abstract concepts concrete and easy to understand, and does a good job of summarizing a growing body of research in positive psychology. Dr. Fredrickson eagerly recommends mindfulness training and cognitive-behavioral strategies as effective means for increasing one's positivity ratio to a healthy 3:1 (or 2.9013:1 to be precise). She also recommends the typical cadre of interventions used by most evidence-based counselors and psychologists.

I read this book a couple of months ago and have been listening to the Audio CD daily (both rented from my library). For me, the scientific section was interesting and was a good lead-in to the "self-help" section. I am naturally a pessimistic/negative-reacting person and after reading and listening to this book on positivity, I am slowly changing into a more positive, upbeat, joy-filled person. I am able to work through negative situations rather quickly and have changed some painful memories into good ones with helpful suggestions in the second section. This, for me, has been a life-changing book. It really helped to listen to it, too, and I was surprised at how much I had missed the first time through by just reading the book. While driving, I listen to the CD's and rewind (and rewind and rewind) when a section "speaks" to me. I want to "re-wire" my brain towards positivity!

Another book I'd recommend is J. Kelm's "Joy of Appreciative Living".

"Positivity" living is thriving, flourishing, appreciative living. It's looking for what's good and what's right in each person and situation.

And there always IS something good/right in each person and circumstance...you just have to have the "eyes to see" the gift. The book helps you find it. Positivity is not denying the negative, it's looking for the lesson or opportunity in each situation.

If you tend towards negativity and pessimism, I highly recommend this book.
Life is hard...find the good in it, so that you may enjoy what you do have.

I had the joy to collaborate with Barbara Fredrickson in finding and testing the minimum positivity ratio that would lead to flourish. As I read her recollection of the story of our discovery of the 3:1 ratio (2.9013 to be precise) I relived those intense moments of scientific insights into the deep nature of positivity. Barbara has at least two rare talents: First, she is s top notch researcher who doesn't settle for anything less than what's at the frontier of science and, second, she has a heart that beats with the same intensity and passion when it comes to bringing this knowledge to everyone. Not many are capable of straying away from academic circles and have something to say that would literally touch people's hearts.

This is not your run-of-the-mill book on positivity. This one will guarantee that you start walking on the road to flourishing if you follow her advice. Not an easy road to walk, but the road that leads to languishing will, in the end, take your life away. If you are tired of walking this lifeless road, this book offers you the best alternative.

Dr. Marcial F. Losada
Executive Director
Meta Learning Consulting
http://losada.socialpsychology.org

Barbara Fredrickson, Professor of Psychology at the University of North Carolina, and a pioneer of positive psychology, specializes in research on positive emotions and human flourishing. She is best-known for her so-called broaden-and build theory of positive emotions.

This book describes in an accessible and captivating way what the research by her and her colleagues has taught her about what positivity is and what is does. In her explanation of what positivity is, she mentions ten forms of positivity: joy, gratitude, serenity, interest, hope, pride, amusement, inspiration, awe, and love. As to what positivity does, maybe it is best to start with six facts she mentions about positivity: 1) positivity feels good, 2) positivity changes how your mind works, 3) positivity transforms your future, 4) positivity puts the brakes on negativity, 5) positivity obeys a tipping point, 6) you can increase your positivity. A briefer way of describing what positivity amounts to is that it opens your mind and helps you get on a positive trajectory, an upward spiral. In other words: it makes you flourish. Flourishing is more than being happy. In Barbara Fredrickson's words: "Flourishing goes beyond happiness, or satisfaction with life. True, people who flourish are happy. But that's not the half of it. Beyond feeling good, they're also doing good -adding value to the world. People who flourish are highly engaged with their families, work, and communities."

But that is not the whole story. The effects of positivity are not simple and linear. Rather, they are subtle and non-linear. Human flourishing works like a nonlinear dynamic system. In nonlinear systems, there are one or more tipping points at which the properties of the system can suddenly change dramatically. An example of such a non-linear system with a tipping point is how ice melts at zero degrees Celsius. Consultant and researcher Marcial Losada has helped Barbara Fredrickson uncover a tipping point in the positivity ratio. The positivity ratio is the ratio of people's experiences of positive to negative emotions. Fredrickson's and Losada's research show that there is a tipping point above which flourishing starts and below which it doesn't. This positivity ratio tipping point is 3-1. When there are three times or more as many positive experiences than negative ones, flourishing will start with all of its beneficial consequences. There also turns out to be a second tipping point, by the way, of 11-1, which is the upper bound of flourishing. Above this upper bound it seems that there is too much positivity. In other words, there will always remain a useful role for some negativity. Fredrickson has found that most people have more positive than negative experiences but are below the 3-1 tipping point. Fortunately, there are many known ways to raise your positivity (many of them are described in the book) so that flourishing is attainable for anyone.

I can hardly say how impressed I am with this book. This book presents the best that positive psychology has to offer. The writing is very clear and pleasant. At the same time, everything that is being written is linked to scientific findings (which are mentioned explicitly). My suggestion is: do yourself a favor and buy yourself this book.