I’m not a positive thinker. I’ve tried. I’ve read a lot of popular self-help books. I’ve genuinely tried to get behind the movement (it’s a big part of career planning—think positive! attract the positive!). But, man, when you read a lot of career planning stuff and a lot of economic stuff and talk to a lot of people in the United States about their jobs….it’s hard to be that positive overall. Realistic? Yes. Positive? Nope. Believe me when I say I’ve tried. So when Barbara Ehrenreich finds that the power of positive thinking is behind this Wall Street nonsense, I have to stop and listen:
GREED — and its crafty sibling, speculation — are the designated culprits for the financial crisis. But another, much admired, habit of mind should get its share of the blame: the delusional optimism of mainstream, all-American, positive thinking.
As promoted by Oprah Winfrey, scores of megachurch pastors and an endless flow of self-help best sellers, the idea is to firmly believe that you will get what you want, not only because it will make you feel better to do so, but because “visualizing” something — ardently and with concentration — actually makes it happen. You will be able to pay that adjustable-rate mortgage or, at the other end of the transaction, turn thousands of bad mortgages into giga-profits if only you believe that you can.
Positive thinking is endemic to American culture — from weight loss programs to cancer support groups — and in the last two decades it has put down deep roots in the corporate world as well. Everyone knows that you won’t get a job paying more than $15 an hour unless you’re a “positive person,” and no one becomes a chief executive by issuing warnings of possible disaster.
The tomes in airport bookstores’ business sections warn against “negativity” and advise the reader to be at all times upbeat, optimistic, brimming with confidence. It’s a message companies relentlessly reinforced — treating their white-collar employees to manic motivational speakers and revival-like motivational events, while sending the top guys off to exotic locales to get pumped by the likes of Tony Robbins and other success gurus. Those who failed to get with the program would be subjected to personal “coaching” or shown the door.
So years from now when I am discovered in a poor in my hovel, just tell yourself that I believed in negative thinking, and look where it got me.
September 25th, 2008 at 4:55 am
Positive thinking can do good in a medical situation–weight loss, cancer, etc. There have been studies that show there is a mind/body connection.
But my god, to think that positive thinking has any power in a situation you are otherwise in no way connected to…recipe for disaster.
This is very interesting. Because most of the time I just roll my eyes and think, well it can’t HURT at least.
September 25th, 2008 at 7:39 am
On the other hand, how many people do I know who tried to keep cancer at bay purely with positive thinking (and herbs)….? More than I can count.
I’m thinking that perhaps the precise type of positivity would be interesting to study in terms of mind-body research. I might dig out my Harvard mind-body folder because I think it was more prayer and meditation than positivity that seemed to help with illness.
September 25th, 2008 at 7:59 am
I know, I know…but it’s worth a try, right? I think she’s right that it’s endemic to our culture, and while not a bad thing in its own right I do think it can lead to entitlement.
September 25th, 2008 at 8:20 am
I think Barbara’s point is that positive thinking hurts when it becomes delusional as it has in business. I keep thinking of my grandfather, who is absolutely convinced he’s going to win the lottery. He’s 93. He’s in a nursing home. And those “canadian lottery” scammers have been after him for years, and he just can’t give up this notion that there is a financial reward out there for him and that he “deserves” it.
September 25th, 2008 at 10:52 am
There’s a difference between thinking positive and thinking delusional. The problem with us is that we switch from one extreme to another—defeatism to unrealistic optimism. And we also have a tendency to throw the baby out with the bathwater and resort to over-corrections when more modest reform is probably more sensible.
September 25th, 2008 at 11:57 am
It seems to me that figuring out where that line is between relentless positivism and delusional thinking is actually pretty difficult in real life, especially in business or church where this thinking has been internalized. Anything that is remotely realistic can be labeled as “negative,” and we know what “negative thoughts” do….they bring friends!
I’m having a flashback to an office meeting in which I began a statement with, “I’m concerned…” (this had to do with exporting a group of us to teach math in Qatar, just about the same time Americans were being beheaded in Iraq) and was told to rephrase it in a positive way. No room for concern there! No, it must have been my negativity that made me concerned.
September 28th, 2008 at 12:57 am
For me, optimism is an end, not the means to one.
As a perhaps inherently positive person, it takes a lot for me to have a negative outlook … and I wonder sometimes if it’s an orientation, not so much a choice. I have a few friends and relatives who definitely seem to process everything through a filter of negativity, and it puts me at a loss. When good things happen for them, their response is, “It’s about time” or “Well, now something else is going to go wrong, I just know it.”
My impulse used to be to try to cheer them up, but I’ve come to find that it’s useless to do so, and besides, what right do I have? Who says my way is the better way? What’s it got to do with creating meaning in one’s life?
Ultimately, I think there’s got to be some authenticity about positivism. If it’s just another tool to make more money, or to climb some corporate ladder, that’s just gross. I hate cheer-leading and rallies, but I am inspired by real joy and emotion.
October 10th, 2008 at 6:48 am
I am use strategic pessimism and my boss strategic optimism according to this definition.
Defensive pessimism is a strategy used by anxious people to help them manage their anxiety so they can work productively. Defensive pessimists lower their expectations to help prepare themselves for the worst. Then, they mentally play through all the bad things that might happen. Though it sounds as if it might be depressing, defensive pessimism actually helps anxious people focus away from their emotions so that they can plan and act effectively.
Strategic optimism is typically used by people who aren’t anxious. Individuals using this strategy set high expectations, and then actively avoid thinking much about what might happen.
Both strategic optimists and defensive pessimists typically do quite well, but both groups are also vulnerable to situations that don’t accommodate their strategies. My experimental research shows that if defensive pessimists try to raise their expectations, or avoid playing through a worst-case analysis, their anxiety increases and their performance suffers. If strategic optimists set lower expectations or play through possible outcomes, their anxiety increases and their performance decreases.
People may use different strategies in different situations, and not everyone is either a defensive pessimist or a strategic optimist.
Source: www.Wellesley.edu:
March 11th, 2010 at 4:23 pm
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