Positive Thinking Martin Seligmans Theory of Learned Helplessness & Learned Optimisim

Positive Thinking

Team Members
Gaurav Jain (8051) Wasim (8157) Anish Jojan (8053) Jaya Pandey (8146) Kashmira Jain (8052) Shashank Pandey (8151) Rahul Ramteke (8155) Rahul Kashyap (8154)

Positive Thinking

WHAT IS POSITIVE THINKING?

Positive Thinking

of concentrating ones mind affirmatively on what is constructive and good, thereby eliminating from it negative or destructive thoughts and emotions

Positive thinking is the practice or result

Positive Thinking

Positive thinking is internally driven by ones purpose. Positive thinking is based in a faith that everything in life happens for a reason. Positive thinking is aided by religious faith. Positive thinking is aided by ones relationship with oneself, ones God, and ones ohana

Positive Thinking

Positive Thinking

A Starting Pace

Born: August 12, 1942, in Albany, New York Career: Assistant Professor, Director of Clinical Training Program, President of APA, Master of Applied Positive Psychology Program (MAPP)

MARTIN SELIGMAN

Positive Thinking

Nikki and the weeds

Seligmans inspiration. Weeding garden. 5-year old daughter throwing weeds. Seligman irritated, yelled at Nikki. Daddy. From when I was 3 until I was 5, I was a whiner. I whined every day. On my 5th birthday, I decided I wasnt going to whine anymore. That was the hardest thing Ive ever done. If I can stop whining, you can stop being such a grouch.

Positive Thinking

Founder of Positive Psychology

Seligman has written about positive psychology topic such as Learned helplessness
Pessimistic

to optimistic

Learned

optimism

Positive Thinking

Seligman Experiment: part 1

Inescapable shock. Got shock. No coping mechanism. No way to terminate shock. Passive

Escapable shock. Had coping mechanism. Press nose button to terminate shock. Active

Positive Thinking

Seligman Experiment: part 2

All groups received the same condition: escapable shock. Put in shuttle box. Light dimmed. 10 second later got shock unless they jumped to safe side.

Positive Thinking

Shuttle box behavior

Dogs in the escapable shock quickly learned to jump to safe side. Dogs in inescapable shock did not jump to safe side. Agitated at first but later laid down and took the shock. Dogs in inescapable shock group learned helplessness

Parallels with Reactive Depression

Positive Thinking

Triggered by traumatic life event (ex. death of loved one). Passivity Difficulty in learning responses that bring relief. Physical symptoms. Stress related disorders.

Positive Thinking

Directive Therapy
Dogs that had been exposed to inescapable shock. Remove barrier and push them to safe side. Reinstall barrier and force them over it. Eventually learn to jump.

Positive Thinking

Parallels to Treating People

Encourage depressed people to get back into life. Ex: not willing to leave home. Small steps. (Go out to movie, then mall.) Increase difficulty. Show them they do have control over their lives. Motivational, learning and emotional gains.

Positive Thinking

Prevention of Helplessness
Seligman suggests the best prevention for helplessness is early experience with mastery. Based on life histories of people who were resilient in situations likely to cure helplessness. Self-efficacy, competence already in existence. Served as a buffer.

Positive Thinking

Human strengths

Despite all the difficulties of life, majority of people manage to live with dignity and purpose. Positive psychology adopts a more optimistic perspective on human potential, motives, and capacities.

Positive Thinking

Positive subjective states

Positive emotions. Happiness. Satisfaction with life. Optimism and hope. Sources of energy and confidence.

Explanatory Style

Positive Thinking

Personal Permanent Pervasive

Attribution Theory

Positive Thinking

HOW DO PEOPLE MAKE ATTRIBUTIONS?

Positive Thinking

Kelley said people consider 3 factors INTERNAL : personal EXTERNAL : situational STABLE : same outcome UNSTABLE : different outcome CONTROLLABLE : can be altered easily eg : efforts UNCONTROLLABLE : cannot be altered easily eg : intelligence

Positive Thinking

ATTRIBUTION IN ACTION
EG - LITTERING

Positive Thinking

ATTRIBUTION IN HEALTH
EG : MAMMOGRAPHY WOMEN IN TWO GROUPS WERE SHOWN TWO VIDEOS ONE EMPHASISING ON YOU OTHER EMPHASISING ON YOUR DOCTOR

Positive Thinking

Attribution In Education Motivation

LUCK

- external unstable

ABILITY - internal stable TASK DIFFICULTY - external stable EFFORT - internal unstable

Positive Thinking

ATTRIBUTIONAL STYLE

PESSIMISTIC EXPLANATORY STYLE

OPTIMISTIC EXPLANATORY STYLE

Positive Thinking

Pessimistic Explanatory Style

When a bad event happens to a person he believes that nothing ever goes right for him Eg : I cant draw animal I cant draw anything (pessimistic) This results in feeling helpless and that you are unable to influence the event

Positive Thinking

Optimistic Explanatory Style

When a bad event happens to a person he believes that the bad event was temporary and that it has no influence on future event Eg : I am not good in drawing horse but I am good in drawing people (optimistic) This results in feeling hope and you are able to influence the event

Positive Thinking

LEARNED OPTIMISM

Explaining Misfortune
Ultimate Pessimism How You Think How You Feel !

Positive Thinking

The Realms of Life

SUCCESS AT WORK
1.

2.
3.

APTITUDE MOTIVATION OPTIMISM The Value of Pessimism

Children and Parents: the Origins of Optimism

1. 2. 3.

Positive Thinking

Mother's Explanatory Style Adult Criticism : Teachers and Parents Childrens Life Crisis

Positive Thinking

School

Sports

Health

Positive Thinking

Changing: from Pessimism to Optimism

ABCDE Theory A = Adverse event or situation B = Beliefs about that event C = Consequences of those beliefs D = Disputation and Distraction E = Energization

Positive Thinking

Positive Thinking

Flexible Optimism
Flexible optimism is tendency to face reality with a positive outlook without dwelling unduly on the negatives. It involves anticipating the best possible outcome in any situation.

Positive Thinking

BENEFITS OF FLEXIBLE OPTIMISM

Sense of control Realistic goals Level of stress Builds resilience Satisfaction Positive relationships Positive anticipation Patience Self esteem

Positive Thinking

Sir Winston Churchill A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity an optimist sees the opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty

Leadership And Positive Thinking

Recommendations for Leaders
Encourage

Positive Thinking

employees to find purpose within the organization Allow and encourage employees to show spirituality/faith at work Promote an open ohana feeling at work by having an open door policy Show interest in employees ohanas

Leadership And Positive Thinking

Make

Positive Thinking

organizational goals and visually post them for all employees to see Be an optimist and greet every person at work with a smile Always remember that you have three choices: you can chose to be positive, you can chose to be negative, or you can chose not to chose and let others chose for you

ANY QUERIES

Positive Thinking

It takes but one positive thought when given a chance to survive and thrive to overpower an entire army of negative thoughts -- Robert H. Schuller

Positive Thinking

People deal too much with the negative, with what is wrong...Why not try and see positive things, to just touch those things and make them bloom? ----Thich Nhat Hanh (Vietnamese Monk)