Is this really a Myth?
When you’re down in the dumps, think yourself happy by focusing on the positive
It is true that our thoughts affect our emotions/mood. However, how easy is it to control those thoughts? Many self-help gurus claim that mind control of emotions is really easy and that it’s all within our reach. Scientists and other mental health professionals have supported and challenged this belief. The purpose of this blog is to analyze the popular belief that “When you’re down in the dumps, think yourself happy by focusing on the positive,” or to be more precise, “When down, positive self-talk will lift you up.”
I am an undergraduate student at Seattle University. I am a psychology major. I enjoy reading books and long walks during the sunset. I am an Aquarius. This is a class assignment for my class called “Popular Myths about Human Behavior.” I highly suggest you take it too. I picked this topic because I couldn’t believe that “When down, positive self-talk will lift you up” could possibly be a myth. So all I ask of you is come explore my blog, make comments, and discuss how you feel about this topic.
Since I want to pursue positive psychology, the topic is fascinating to me too:)
ReplyDeleteMy initial thought is about the definition of "focusing on positive". Possible definitions I can think of are:
1) To face your hardship by taking a look at a bright side of the hardship
2) To distract yourself from your hardship by remembering some other positive events that happened to you before, or by engaging in sports or social activities that could make you feel positive.
I look forward to knowing your definition!
Here is an example of a source that is very misleading. The site popped up when I googled “positive thought benefits”. The website is full of inspirational quotes and suggestions but has no evidence to back up the claims it is making. This is an example of a source that is very vague and misleading. I would definitely put it under the “don’t read this” category. This just goes to show you how unreliable search engines can be when trying to research topics.
ReplyDeleteHere is the link:
http://www.the-benefits-of-positive-thinking.com/
I think this is a good topic worth to discuss about. And this topic recalls the cancer treatment assignment. Everyone think that it is true because even the doctors ask the patients to keep positive to survive from illness. Positive thinking has great power to confront the disease; I think it is also easy to make us happy by thinking positive way.
ReplyDeleteI found an article on internet. And I think it would be helpful to your research.
http://web.ebscohost.com.proxy.seattleu.edu/ehost/detail?vid=1&hid=113&sid=b321ce5e-6410-4ca3-963d-82831259b51b%40sessionmgr112&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=a9h&AN=39770880
“Predictions Are Difficult, Particularly With Regard To What Will Make You Happy”
This article talks about what can make us happy. It mentioned that wellness is a key to keep us in happy state. Additionally, real wellness could bring us a high quality of life. It talks about the relationship between wellness and happiness. I think you can read this article and hope this can shatter your myth.
I don't know much about this myth, but it reminds me about the cancer treatment email that we did in the past. The myth that we were focusing on is that a positive attitude can cure cancer, and it think that relates to your myth and how the belief is that a positive attitude can get you our of your bad situation. It made me think of a reasoning error, the self-serving assessment. I feel like the reason people may want to believe this is because being able to get out of their rut with just being positive would view them favorably. So that is why I think the self-serving assessment might contribute to your myth!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Helen, this reminds me a lot about the cancer treatment email and I like that. It is something that we all have a little bit of background on and we will be able to easily glide through your blog.
ReplyDeleteOne reasoning error I can see fitting in here would be the availability heuristic.
When someone looks back on all the times that they were sad and then thought about the positive to get them happy again, they are more likely to remember the times that it did work rather than when it didn't. This is because it is much more pleasant and easier to think of those times.
Hope this helps and good luck!