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Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life

Martin E.P. Seligman

really liked it 4.00 · Rating details · 15,414 ratings · 752 reviews

Known as the father of the new science of positive psychology, Martin E.P. Seligman draws on more than twenty years of clinical research to demonstrate how optimism enchances the quality of life, and how anyone can learn to practice it. Offering many simple techniques, Dr. Seligman explains how to break an “I—give-up” habit, develop a more constructive explanatory style fo ...more

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Paperback, 319 pages

Published January 3rd 2006 by Vintage (first published February 1st 1990)

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Sep 22, 2012 Saša rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

Don't confuse this for another bullshit self-help guide. This book is actually based on Dr. Seligman's (and others') extensive scientific research. It includes tests that offer valuable insight and effective techniques to battle those crippling negative thoughts. It's a bit lengthy, but that's the only downside I could find. Strongly recommended to anyone struggling with feelings of helplessness, pessimism, and/or depression.

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Feb 17, 2012 hissi rated it really liked it

Shelves: audio-book, how-to, non-fiction, psychology, self-help

(4 out of 5) because its informative, but boring.

im reading this for my friend. to help her find optimism and hope.

what i love about this book is that it does not believe that optimism is an attitude you should adapt for every situation in life. and that is what made the book so real!

when you're friend is hurt or feeling betrayed or sad, optimism will make them feel that you are undermining their problems.
having the "I CAN DO IT" attitude does not apply in everything. >> having a drink and drivi ...more

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Jan 24, 2012 Michelle rated it liked it

Shelves: psych

Anyone in need of an attitude adjustment (as I was when I picked up this book) will benefit from knowing that how you view good and bad events can have a big impact on how effectively you deal with the normal ups and downs of life. In a nutshell, if you see bad events as persistent (things will never change), pervasive (this disappointment means my whole life is a disaster) and personal (I always mess things up), you are a pessimist and probably not a very happy camper.

Optimists see the world f ...more

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May 05, 2019 Sanjay Gautam rated it liked it

If you think your problems are permanent and all pervasive: you are inviting pessimism.
If you think your problems are temporary and limited in scope: this is learned optimism.

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Jun 15, 2010 Nita rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction

If only this stuff were as easy to apply as it is to understand.

Here's a quick summary: 1) Be specific. I'm not a bad person. I just made a mistake. 2) Notice the tendency to think of a negative outcome as more likely than a positive one. 3) Notice the tendency to take responsibility or blame yourself for things that could possibly be someone else's fault. The book includes a word of caution about blaming others. The idea isn't to shirk self-responsibility, it's just to notice and reframe the k ...more

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Sep 10, 2017 Ali rated it did not like it

Shelves: self-help

How?! 😐

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Jun 13, 2016 Harold Griffin rated it liked it

Ah, self-help books. Long ago I read some N.V. Peale and Dale Carnegie about thinking positively, making friends, influencing people, stopping worrying, starting living. So here I am, negative, solitary, uninfluential, worrisome, nearing extinction. And a dubious endorsement for all those books!!

Actually the old books were all right, inspirational enough in grim times, but almost always plodding and predictable. "Just when he was about to leap from a window in despair, William K. Bloop of Keokuk Ah, self-help books. Long ago I read some N.V. Peale and Dale Carnegie about thinking positively, making friends, influencing people, stopping worrying, starting living. So here I am, negative, solitary, uninfluential, worrisome, nearing extinction. And a dubious endorsement for all those books!!

Actually the old books were all right, inspirational enough in grim times, but almost always plodding and predictable. "Just when he was about to leap from a window in despair, William K. Bloop of Keokuk, Ioway, saw a light in a chapel. There he saw a man with no arms, no legs, one eye,
no nose. But a vision came to Bloop: the man had a shining bald scalp. The next day Bloop cashed in his life insurance policy and started manufacturing toupees and is now President of a billion dollar rug company!"

I can't remember the Seventies (too much feverish Disco) , but I recall that the self-help genre headed downward, as if that were possible. Touchier, feelier, full of mumbo-jumbo. Even worse prose, extolling yoga postures, abdominal breathing, chopping water, carrying wood (or was that the other way)? And when the stuff that sold books started to get promoted on PBS channels as if it were Holy Writ, well, I exited, growling.

With that preface, Martin Seligman's Learned Optimism was not a bad read. Dr. Seligman promotes the proposition that optimism is generally (but not always) better than pessimism, which can lead to depression. He says that he does not espouse Dr. Peale's simplistic solution of positive thinking or repeating mantras. Rather, he suggests that when humans can reduce their sense of helplessness and pessimism by examining the negative events in their lives, explaining to themselves that bad results are not personal, pervasive, or persistent. That is to say, humans should avoid concluding that such results come because of innate flaws in themselves that will never change and that will cause adverse results to keep recurring. Explaining adverse results to oneself differently will make one happier, healthier and more successful! Yay!! (Some might call this positive thinking.) And excessive ruminating on adverse events in our lives, needless to say, can only bring unhappiness. Though isn't that what psychiatric practice is built upon?

Dr. Seligman, writing in 1990, did recognize that sometimes things are our fault, and that pessimists often have a better handle on reality than blithe optimists. And, while I agree that it's sometimes too easy for some of us to take the blame for problems that are not really of our own making but the result of transient circumstances, I wonder in this year of 2016 how many folks are really blamin' themselves for much of anything. (Witness the rise of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders. Blame problems on anyone but yourself!! Occupy Wall Street! Build a Wall!!)

I was quite impressed by the opening chapters (and the concluding one, in which the author discussed the self-centered society and some possible means to better living). For all my cynicism, Dr. Seligman is at times an excellent writer and a thoughtful thinker. However, the book suffered through a tedious middle in which some of the writer's principles are rather tediously applied to many aspects of life. Seems to me that the thesis of this book was pretty simply stated and easily understood yet was pounded into the ground. But that's being too pessimistic! So forget that. Remember this: if you feel you're being crippled by pessimism, give this book a good skim. Or, look on the bright side, think positive thoughts, eat an apple every day and stay regular. One way or another you'll be a happier clam.

...more

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Apr 22, 2012 Isabell rated it liked it

Shelves: psycho

I enjoyed the insights the author provided into the history of learned helplessness theory, as well as bits and pieces about the beginnings of cognitive behavioral therapy. This book has a lot of research and quite a bit of psychology in it, some of it boring to me, some of it fascinating, some of it convincing, some of it unconvincing.

It is not just a self-help guide to positive thinking. In fact, the author decries positive thinking, making the point that chanting inflated mantras to oneself I enjoyed the insights the author provided into the history of learned helplessness theory, as well as bits and pieces about the beginnings of cognitive behavioral therapy. This book has a lot of research and quite a bit of psychology in it, some of it boring to me, some of it fascinating, some of it convincing, some of it unconvincing.

It is not just a self-help guide to positive thinking. In fact, the author decries positive thinking, making the point that chanting inflated mantras to oneself daily is ineffective in the long run.

Instead, he says, we must learn to rationally dispute our pessimistic thoughts the way we would dispute a verbal attack on us by a rival. There are three chapters teaching how to do just that, with one chapter focusing specifically on how to teach children those same skills. Children seem to be on Seligman's mind a lot, as a good portion of his research focuses on them. I agreed with everything he had to say about children, and about the effect divorce has on them (basically he says, don't divorce!, and, don't fight in front of them!, and in this day and age, that's a brave thing to say. I love him for that).

He says many brave things, and I agree with most of them. Some of his statements are over-simplified and unconvincing, however. I am not satisfied with his reasoning as to why women are twice as likely as men to suffer from depression (it's their tendency to ruminate, he says). And while I generally agree with his theory that the epidemic of depression has hit us because of our increased focus on the "I" and individual rights, coupled with a decrease in the "We" (ie community, country, duty, God, meaning), it leaves unexplained why groups such as stay-at-home mothers, one of those last valiant troops left fighting in the "We" battlefield, are at particular risk for depression. Are they more pessimistic as a group? Do they ruminate even more than working mothers? Unlikely.

To be fair, his research isn't concerned with the why of depression, but rather with the how to beat it in the long-run. Given that, I wish he had focused a bit more on actual skill teaching (in the end, what he actually teaches is only a few pages long), or at the least provided a work book to accompany his main book.

In either case, this was certainly an interesting read. And as I agree with him that depression will be the thing to beat for future generations, I can't wait to read his "The Optimistic Child: Proven Program to Safeguard Children from Depression & Build Lifelong Resilience."

...more

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Apr 12, 2013 Stacy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: nonfiction, books-read-2013, psychology

I first read this in 2013. I was really looking for something to help me with a problem I have struggled with all my adult life: learned helplessness. What is learned helplessness? An overwhelming feeling of powerlessness that stems from either a traumatic event (true for me), or some persistent failure to succeed (also true for me, but the root cause was a traumatic event). What I discovered was that, somewhere along the line, I had become a serious pessimist.

I think the reason this book turned I first read this in 2013. I was really looking for something to help me with a problem I have struggled with all my adult life: learned helplessness. What is learned helplessness? An overwhelming feeling of powerlessness that stems from either a traumatic event (true for me), or some persistent failure to succeed (also true for me, but the root cause was a traumatic event). What I discovered was that, somewhere along the line, I had become a serious pessimist.

I think the reason this book turned the trick for me was that it turned optimism into a process rather than some just-out-of-reach brass ring. I'd been tagged by an overwhelming feeling of despair for years. I felt a real sense of relief when I read what Seligman had to say on the unhappiness caused by learned helplessness (which is in turn caused by pessimism): this is a nameable and fixable problem. Suddenly, something that felt totally ethereal and therefore unsolvable suddenly had a name and a possible solution--something within my control. Just reading the book put me in a better frame of mind. (I, er, didn't do the exercises when I first read this. I would suggest going ahead and doing them and not waiting.)

Basically, I think the steps can be boiled down to these:

1. Pay attention to your thoughts. When you start to feel overwhelmed:

2. Distract yourself.

This really only works short-term, but it's a good technique to use when you can't sit down and do the next step. Even something as simple as "I'll think about this later" can get the Inner Critic to shut up. I've also found that finding something constructive to do helps. Painting works great for me. Something else might work for you. For longer-lasting results:

3. Refute the Inner Critic.

Seligman doesn't call it this--I can't remember his wording, and he explains it a lot better than I do here. But to really do the job, you have to refute the constant ruminating your brain does. Don't let it go unchecked. The key here isn't dismissing the Inner Critic, it's mitigating what it says to you so that it doesn't spiral out of control. So it's not a dismissive "Haters gonna hate" or a mindless list of affirmations.

I can see how some believe the book is more theoretical than practical, but there are steps to helping your thought process in there. Most importantly, I think, is that Seligman manages to convey all of this in a way that totally does not blame the reader. In fact, he points out that it can be difficult to know if you are a pessimist. (If you frequently experience people reacting negatively to you and you don't know what you said wrong, you might be a pessimist.)

All I can say is, this book really helped me. I had a small writing job that turned into a lot of work, which wound up pulling me out of poverty-level wages. In two years, I've not gone back. I went from sleeping on a friend's sofa to getting my own place. (Not the greatest apartment, but still, it's mine, and I've paid my own rent for the better part of a year and a half now.) I'm not saying my life is all sunshine and roses, or that I don't still struggle. I'm still in the negative numbers when I take the test. But even a movement of four points (-8 to -4) has yielded huge results for me. I've definitely felt a push into a better life from reading this book. I just have more work to do. ...more

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Jan 01, 2019 Karl Niebuhr rated it really liked it

This book should be a must read for every person. It teaches the ability to dispute our own negative thoughts, a crucial ability to prevent pessimism and thus depression. All this is tested on many studies which is why this book is one of the best out there.

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Jul 13, 2011 Daniel Silvert rated it it was amazing

Authors like Dr. Martin Seligman give ‘self help’ books a good name. In his meticulously researched yet engaging style, Seligman’s Learned Optimism makes a near bullet proof case for optimistic thinking as an inexhaustible engine for personal improvement. Seligman focuses on a person’s ‘explanatory style’ as the key indicator of how they will respond to difficult situations. Explanatory style is what we say to ourselves when the chips are down. According to Seligman, this self coaching is both d Authors like Dr. Martin Seligman give ‘self help’ books a good name. In his meticulously researched yet engaging style, Seligman’s Learned Optimism makes a near bullet proof case for optimistic thinking as an inexhaustible engine for personal improvement. Seligman focuses on a person’s ‘explanatory style’ as the key indicator of how they will respond to difficult situations. Explanatory style is what we say to ourselves when the chips are down. According to Seligman, this self coaching is both deeply imbedded and rarely questioned. In other words, ‘if I’m saying it to myself, it must be true!’ In response, Dr. Seligman makes the case that there are many ‘truths’ out there and consciously choosing which to focus on can dramatically improve the quality of your life.

Here’s how it works: In the face of an unfortunate event a ‘Pessimist’ will employ a three stage strategy: First they focus heavily on the negative consequences and ‘personalize’ the attribution. (“This is my fault). Second, they decide that the difficulty of the situation is permanent (“It will never change”). Third, they confirm that the change is part of a much larger pattern of failure, that it is pervasive (This will ruin everything). This trifecta of gloom locks in a self fulfilling prophecy of failure, which in turn validates the ‘logic’ and ‘accuracy’ of the pessimistic person’ diagnosis.

Optimists, as one would expect, react to unfortunate events differently. The optimist identifies external forces that have influenced the negative event, thus they don’t take it as personally. Next, optimists accept that negative events are both unavoidable and a temporary pause from an otherwise positive progress towards their goals. Lastly, negative events are compartmentalized as ‘isolated phenomenon.’ Negativity is, therefore, episodic, not pervasive.
Incredibly, when good events happen, the script flips. Optimists will see the positive as personalized, permanent, and pervasive, while the pessimist will take good news as de-personalized, temporary, and isolated.

Of the two explanatory styles, which do you think results in longer life spans, happier marriages, and more satisfying careers? Exactly. Read this book to maximize your optimism.
...more

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May 27, 2012 Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance rated it really liked it

Shelves: inspiration, happiness

I've been fascinated with happiness in the last five years, so it seems obvious that this book, now considered a classic in the field, would be a book I should read.

And now that I have, I must say that I agree with the crown that has been placed upon this book's head; it's a worthy read for anyone interested in happiness.

I took away from it a paradoxical and disquieting idea: the happiest people are the most optimistic, but fail again and again to see the dark truths in life, while the unhappi ...more

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Dec 13, 2008 Kirsti rated it it was amazing

Shelves: science, psychology, nonfiction

Compelling account of the author's decades of research. Seligman is best known for developing the concept of learned helplessness, which is covered in most psychology courses.

The book includes a test so you can determine how optimistic you are in different situations. I think it's an extremely well-designed test because it's often hard to tell what the "right" answer is.

The author studies optimism in many groups: rats, dogs, college students, life-insurance sales reps, East German working men, a ...more

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Jan 01, 2019 Gilgamesha rated it liked it

Seligman, known as the father of positive psychology, convinced me through endless examples of research done by experts on how an optimistic outlook on life can lead to better quality of life and success and happiness and a tool in overcoming adversity. I really enjoyed the first half of the book but the second half became excessively repetitive. He inundated me with too many examples of scenarios that the optimism questionnaire was successful in...one or two was sufficient. The end of the book ...more

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Jan 20, 2019 Ginget Poulton rated it really liked it

Really excellent
Some of it of course a bit out dated but so agree with most all of it!

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Oct 05, 2011 Kathryn rated it really liked it

Shelves: nonfiction, psychology

I was expecting Learned Optimism to be as airy-fairy and worthless as Full Catastrophe Living, and was very pleased to discover that it is quite the opposite. It is a scientific treatment of optimism and its effects on how people respond to problems; that is, it examines who gives up and who perseveres, and why.

Dr. Seligmann has been studying optimism his entire life. He leads us through his intellectual journey, beginning when as a young grad student, he was exposed to a study in which a group I was expecting Learned Optimism to be as airy-fairy and worthless as Full Catastrophe Living, and was very pleased to discover that it is quite the opposite. It is a scientific treatment of optimism and its effects on how people respond to problems; that is, it examines who gives up and who perseveres, and why.

Dr. Seligmann has been studying optimism his entire life. He leads us through his intellectual journey, beginning when as a young grad student, he was exposed to a study in which a group of dogs had been shocked in a room they couldn’t escape, with no control over the shocks. When placed in a shuttlebox, from which they could readily escape, and shocked, they simply lay down and “gave up”. The professor was confused, but Dr. Seligmann opined that the dogs had given up because they had “learned” that they could not get away from the shocks, and there was no use trying. The professor basically said he was an idiot, because that didn’t jibe with either Freudian BS or behavioral psychology, which were the prevailing schools of thought at the time.

So then-student Seligmann and another grad student, with the reluctant agreement of the PI (primary investigator), devised a new experiment. They took three groups of dogs. The first group was shocked, but were situated such that they could learn to turn off the shock by pushing a button with their noses. The second group received exactly the same shocks as the first group, but without any buttons; that is, their shocks stopped when the other dogs, unbeknownst to them, pushed the button. The third group received no shocks at all. Finally, the dogs were placed in the shuttlebox. Those from the first group leaped out to escape the shocks; those from the second group lay down and gave up; and those from the control group also leaped out to escape. Seligmann had essentially proven that the second group had been “taught” that they could do nothing about the shocks.

The book proceeds to explain Dr. Seligmann’s continued experiments. He performed a similar experiment on humans, in which pressing the right combination of buttons would turn off an annoying sound for one group, while another group could do nothing to turn off the sound, and got the same results when the humans were placed in a situation where the annoying sound was easily escaped. The group that had “learned” that there was nothing they could do basically sat down and gave up.

However, there was a flaw. Among both dogs and humans, there were certain percentages of the first group who never tried, and there were certain percentages of the second group who never gave up. So Dr. Seligmann continued to explore the concept of optimism. He eventually found that there are three dimensions: personal, pervasive, and permanent.

For example, let’s say you fail a test. You might say, “I didn’t study hard enough,” versus, “The professor made that test too hard.” The former is an example of taking failure personally. (Of course, most of the time, it IS true that you didn’t study hard enough; but it is also sometimes true that the professor’s test was unfair.) Or you might say, “I am so stupid. I will never do well in anything,” versus, “Wow, I really don’t get quantum physics [or whatever].” That’s a demonstration of pervasiveness – a pervasive pessimist thinks that a failure in one area translates to failure in every area. And finally, you might say, “Wow, I am stupid. I will never do better,” versus, “I’ll do better next time,” which demonstrates permanence.

So, someone who doesn’t take failure personally and who doesn’t believe that failure is pervasive or permanent is optimistic, and will generally succeed in life. (Caveat: Experiments have demonstrated that moderate pessimists often have a much better handle on reality than optimists.) And you can learn to be optimistic, by identifying whether your pessimism is personal, pervasive, or permanent (or some combination), and learning to dispute the pessimistic part of yourself. The book repeated several times that if some drunk on the street yelled, “Hey, you suck!” you wouldn’t pay any attention to him, would you? So why listen when part of yourself says that? Dispute yourself the same way you would dispute someone else.

From now on, I’m going to picture my critical inner voice as a drunk hobo. ...more

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Sep 06, 2010 David rated it liked it

Shelves: positive-psychology, psychology, therapy

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I had a very divided reaction to this book.

The Pros:

First of all, ‘learned helplessness’ is quite arguably one of the most important and revolutionary concepts in psychology today. It’s made a wonderful contribution to Aaron Becks’s Cognitive Therapy; cognitive behavioral therapy having an unmatched track record for its treatment of depression – an epidemic in our society today. As a result of his research, Seligman offers real, learnable, and proven effective techniques for learning to be more I had a very divided reaction to this book.

The Pros:

First of all, ‘learned helplessness’ is quite arguably one of the most important and revolutionary concepts in psychology today. It’s made a wonderful contribution to Aaron Becks’s Cognitive Therapy; cognitive behavioral therapy having an unmatched track record for its treatment of depression – an epidemic in our society today. As a result of his research, Seligman offers real, learnable, and proven effective techniques for learning to be more optimistic. It is certainly one of my favorite concepts in psychology.

Furthermore, I love that he challenges the notion of the exponential rise in depression today as being a largely genetic phenomenon. I found this to be some very refreshing common sense. The unprecedented level of depression in this society today cannot be attributed to biology (or solely to biology) – something else is at work here. I don’t mean to say that there is no biological basis for depression – there most certainly is. However, it only makes sense that something in our society is going on, perhaps at times triggering particular genes on a wide scale, to create such an unprecedented level of depression. I found the last chapter to be very insightful where he examines radical individualism (he calls it the ‘Maximal Self’) as the source of depression from a more sociological position – an often overlooked source for depression in contemporary society.

The three major hypotheses of explanatory style were also quite enlightening: 1) Mother’s Explanatory Style; 2) Adult Criticism: Teachers and Parents; and 3) Children’s Life Crisis. In addition to these hypotheses of explanatory style are the three essential aspects of explanatory style: permanence, pervasiveness and personalization.

The Cons:

While I did obtain some solid information/advice in this book, it has some problems and I believe Seligman has some holes in his argument.

The main problem for me was that Seligman seemed to create too much of a mutually exclusive relationship between optimism and realism. One quote I found rather disturbing to illustrate my point: “The pessimist seems to be at mercy with reality, whereas the optimist has a massive defense against reality that maintains good cheer in the face of a relentless indifferent universe” (p. 111) – Sorry, Dr. Seligman, I may be misreading you, but you lost me here. While this was somewhat remedied toward the end of the book, it felt a little too inconsistent with the rest of the book’s tone.

Tying into this, not only does Seligman not take nearly enough of a look at ‘false’ or ‘misguided’ optimism, he seems to – at times – endorse it. This is a serious problem that has not been examined adequately (I suspect that he generated a lot of empirical data, and was a little too eager to tailor his theory to fit in with this). Having spent some time in corporate America, I believe this false optimism is creating record levels of denial in our country, which seem to be extending at an alarming rate – all in the name of being more optimistic. Only towards the end of the book does he seem to write more about the perils of optimism with a brief section in the middle regarding depressives having a more accurate memory and owning up much more readily to both their failures and their successes rather than the optimists who tend to look upon the past through rose-colored glasses.

In all fairness, he does write a little bit about the problem of a lack of personal responsibility today and how he has no interest in personally endorsing this kind of psychology. Again, I just didn’t feel like he spent enough time here.

Lastly, on a minor note, I believe he is too overconfident in his beliefs why women suffer depression at a rate twice that of men. While this is an established statistic, there is much debate over what this statistic means exactly. Are women somehow biochemically or hormonally predisposed to depression? Perhaps. Or do they report it more readily than men? Do men hide their depression through substance abuse or other non-constructive outlets? – I believe Seligman is too simplistic here in his offered explanation. ...more

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Mar 19, 2019 Andria rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: 2019, self-help, mental-health, nonfiction

First, I'd like to reassure those concerned about a severe shift in my temperament that I only read this book on the advice of my psychologist and would have never touched a book with this title otherwise. I found the nugget of wisdom at the core of this book to be extremely helpful and ultimately worth the read. But even then, I think ascribing the thought patterns described as "optimism" and "pessimism" is a misnomer. Ultimately it's about positive and negative self talk and the impacts those First, I'd like to reassure those concerned about a severe shift in my temperament that I only read this book on the advice of my psychologist and would have never touched a book with this title otherwise. I found the nugget of wisdom at the core of this book to be extremely helpful and ultimately worth the read. But even then, I think ascribing the thought patterns described as "optimism" and "pessimism" is a misnomer. Ultimately it's about positive and negative self talk and the impacts those things can have on motivation and learned helplessness. That's it!

The rest of the book is hilariously bad. The two major problems that take up most of its content are 1) it is out of date 2) the author is sketchy. I would really like to see an update of these concepts written by someone else who can incorporate the last 20 years of advancements in psychology.

Dr. Seligman! What can I say about this dude? He has strong opinions about optimists and pessimists but fails to identify himself as either. I first started to get skeeved out when he pretty much blamed his father's mindset for his suffering after he suddenly fell paralyzed, ill, and possibly brain damaged. He comes off as a sociopathic creep at worst and a smug opportunist at best. For example, most of his core research was done on behalf of insurance companies trying to figure out how they could best retain salespeople. Why was a tenured professor taking a handsomely paid side gig helping telemarketers sell financial scams and how could such an obvious conflict of interest be construed as legitimate research? (Hey, it was the 80s!) The chapter about the laughably subjective CAVE method and analysis of sports teams was an obvious attempt by the author to get to spend more time with his son. His practical advice veers between the absurd and hypocritical (he advocates parents postpone divorce because of the negative impacts it can have on children but got one himself). There are better and more thorough critiques of Seligman and his legacy of dog torture a Google search away so I will end mine here, other than to say that he comes off like an alien trying and failing to demonstrate human emotions.

If you have to try this out, the abridged audiobook is only 2 hours long. ...more

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May 20, 2017 Nikolay rated it it was amazing

Learned Optimism is not a self-help book, it’s based on a lot of scientific research and is not a light read. But worth it.

This book validated so many of my life beliefs, so from now on, it may be the confirmation bias speaking :) Still, here are few pieces I strongly related to.

“The skills of becoming happy turn out to be almost entirely different from the skills of not being sad, not being anxious, or not being angry.” We focus so much on being happy that we forget that not being sad may be mo ...more

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Dec 20, 2012 Steven rated it liked it

Shelves: psychology, american

I do not like Seligman because of his research on animals. People who think it's OK to give electric shocks to dogs have made me learn pessimism about human compassion.

Seligman created a ground-breaking experiment which was first performed with dogs back in the sixties. Three dogs went through each experiment. The first dog was given electrical shocks which stopped whenever it pressed a panel with its nose. It got shocks, but had the power to stop them. The second dog got shocks whenever the fir ...more

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Feb 26, 2018 Maithreyi Mulpuru rated it it was amazing

Books offers a scientific approach towards recognizing your depression triggers and how you can unlearn pessimistic behaviors to inculcate more positive action oriented thinking. Overall, liked the book for its practical guidance and the fact that it's based on quantitative research.

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Jan 10, 2017 Greg rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: social-analysis, american-authors, anthropology

I spotted this book, a freebee discard at the local library recently, 'Learned Optimism'. I thought, this'll be good for a laugh. The first chapter is titled 'Two Ways of Looking at Life'. Only two ways, how depressing is that! Chapter four sounds more up my street, 'Ultimate Pessimism'. It is odd there is no listing of sceptics or cynics in the index, (there's a few mentions of being skeptical). The index does list 'catastrophizers', which gets interesting. Apparently, catastrophizers are into ...more

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Apr 03, 2011 Jeffrey Howard rated it it was amazing

Shelves: best-of-books-list, psychology-general

I read Learned Optimism for the first time several years ago. It pulled me out of a dark place and into more flourishing place. This 2nd reading took me to a new level of optimism and hope about my ability to control my emotional reaction to adversities in life. Reading it again in a few years should bring me to a real level flourishing I really want to be in.

Seligman challenges conventional notions about depression. He makes a hopeful case that pessimism is not a symptom of depression but the ...more

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Dec 13, 2011 Yannick rated it really liked it

The cover on this book does it a great disservice, making it sound like self-help nonsense. But far from any boosterism, this book is actually a scientific vulgarization of "positive psychology." Since psychology is mired in so much quackery, I feel I have to underscore that this branch of psychology is widely recognized, and Martin Seligman is the 13th most frequently cited psychologist in introductory psychology textbooks of the twentieth century. Seligman takes the reader through the foundati ...more

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Feb 22, 2008 Elle rated it really liked it

Recommends it for: pessimists

I learned a lot from this book. 1. That I am an extreme pessimist, which I probably already knew but here it is scientifically proven via a series of abstract quizzes. Having someone else verify what I might have known in the back of my mind was really helpful becuase it has made me realise that I need to change the way I think. We always think that our thoughts are rational and thats not necessarily true. He provides evidence of his assessments by providing examples of tests done in labs with m ...more

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Oct 11, 2010 Michelle rated it liked it

This book has some good ideas and interesting evidence of the helpfulness of optimism, but I felt like a lot of it was too simplified. It points at rumination and says it contributes to Depression, but I read that and I think, "So I'm supposed to stop thinking about things? I don't think so." Seligman didn't really say that--his solution would obviously be to change the thought patterns instead of the act of thinking. But the examples also seem overly simple. When you dispute your negative think ...more

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Dec 15, 2014 Michele Cacano rated it it was amazing

Shelves: nonfiction-medical-brain, self-improvement

Great psychology expressed in a clear and understandable way. Not too dry, yet full of fully formed ideas, with studies and results. And there's a quiz! Actually, two quizzes, but one appealed to me way more than the other.

I do not suffer from depression, but have a few people in my life who do. The author gives clear methods and steps to take to turn your mindset around, with many examples of how. Early work on the concept of helplessness sparked Dr. Seligman's journey into what makes some giv ...more

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Oct 09, 2014 Mario Tomic rated it really liked it

Really cool book explaining all the different thought processes we have and the differences of lives between optimists and pessimists. I enjoyed reading this one, the main conclusion I got from the book is that optimism is a skill like any other that can be learned over time if we put in the effort. The second thing would be that the book presented a good solutions for so many people that waste their lives on thinking in negative patterns and skepticism worrying about things that never happen. O ...more

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Feb 23, 2009 Caroline rated it liked it

My dad had me read Learned Optimism when I was a kid. I don't know if it had any effect, or if I am naturally optimistic--or perhaps particularly American? But I do believe that an individual will be happier when optimistic, and that this book provides tools to get one there. It's a philosophy book, at heart, but has practical steps to take. Kind of like tai chi; you have to both absorb and practice to figure out how to make it work.

Usually I hate self-help books, but this one didn't leave the u ...more

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Jul 28, 2017 Meghana rated it really liked it

Shelves: favorites

One of those rare books that balances research and insight with effective, empowering tools. It's so much more than just a wrongly touted work for the 'self help' or 'positive psychology' aisles.

I found this book at the right time in my life, and it's played a huge role in moving from awareness to alteration of lifelong patterns of thinking. A must read for everyone.

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CBT, versus Learned Optimism and Authentic Happiness	1	1	Apr 11, 2020 09:42PM
Cognitive Therapy	3	16	Nov 17, 2019 03:39PM
Any teachers/educators out there read this book?	1	8	Jan 22, 2016 10:17AM

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About Martin E.P. Seligman

Martin E.P. Seligman

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Seligman is the Zellerbach Family Professor of Psychology in the University of Pennsylvania's Department of Psychology. He was previously the Director of the Clinical Training Program in the department. Seligman was elected President of the American Psychological Association by the widest margin in its history and served in that capacity during the 1998 term.[4] He is the founding editor-in-chief ...more