Don’t Think Too Positive, By Professor Oettingen

[Afro_Vacancy]

Don’t think too positive
https://aeon.co/essays/thinking-positive-is-a-surprisingly-risky-manoeuvre

Do you believe that positive thinking can help you achieve your goals? Many people today do. Pop psychology and the $12 billion self-help industry reinforce a widespread belief that positive thinking can improve our moods and lead to beneficial life changes. In her book The Secret Daily Teachings (2008), the self-help author Rhonda Byrne suggested that: ‘Whatever big thing you are asking for, consider having the celebration now as though you have received it.’

Yet research in psychology reveals a more complicated picture. Indulging in undirected positive flights of fancy isn’t always in our interest. Positive thinking can make us feel better in the short term, but over the long term it saps our motivation, preventing us from achieving our wishes and goals, and leaving us feeling frustrated, stymied and stuck. If we really want to move ahead in our lives, engage with the world and feel energised, we need to go beyond positive thinking and connect as well with the obstacles that stand in our way. By bringing our dreams into contact with reality, we can unleash our greatest energies and make the most progress in our lives.

Now, you might wonder if positive thinking is really as harmful as I’m suggesting. In fact, it is. In a number of studies over two decades, my colleagues and I have discovered a powerful link between positive thinking and poor performance. In one study, we asked college students who had a crush on someone from afar to tell us how likely they would be to strike up a relationship with that person. Then we asked them to complete some open-ended scenarios related to dating. ‘You are at a party,’ one scenario read. ‘While you are talking to [your crush], you see a girl/boy, whom you believe [your crush] might like, come into the room. As she/he approaches the two of you, you imagine…’

Some of the students completed the scenarios by spinning a tale of romantic success. ‘The two of us leave the party, everyone watches, especially the other girl.’ Others offered negative fantasies about love thwarted: ‘My crush and the other girl begin to converse about things which I know nothing. They seem to be much more comfortable with each other than he and I….’

We checked back with the students after five months to see if they had initiated a relationship with their crush. The more students had engaged in positive fantasies about the future, the less likely they were actually to have started up a romantic relationship.

 

[Afro_Vacancy]

The article's points seem to be that:

- Delusional optimism first fails because it gives a sense of satisfaction, removing the stress needed for effortful investment;
- It then fails due to people being disappointed by lack of results;

This is kind of common sense, but I'm honestly surprised to see such strong results in psychology studies. They normally measure very weak effects.

 

[lickawrist]

The article's points seem to be that:

- Delusional optimism first fails because it gives a sense of satisfaction, removing the stress needed for effortful investment;
- It then fails due to people being disappointed by lack of results;

This is kind of common sense, but I'm honestly surprised to see such strong results in psychology studies. They normally measure very weak effects.

i think it is common sense. as a kid, did you ever hype yourself up for a videogame, but later found yourself disappointed? i think that in itself reinforces the reality that not all things that glitter are gold, or rather the situation in itself represents some type of fundamental reasoning that all humans genetically inherit?