Thursday, June 10, 2010
I have concluded...
Why myth matter to me
This myth matters to me because I have struggled with the issue of happiness for a long time. I’ve read many books telling me that positive thinking was the answer to me problem, so I tried it, and it didn’t work. Therefore, I can relate to the study in my Read this/Not that section that talks about the people who were placed in the study and told to think happy thoughts were it made them feel worse. I myself suffer from depression and believe anything that can make us feel worse shouldn’t be told to us. So I just want to inform people who are not able to change their thoughts the truth about this belief.
So What?
The implication of this belief is the millions of dollars that are lost every year by hopeful Americans. Trying to give yourself self-help does add up. This belief can also make one more depressed. As I stated before, evidence does show that for people with low self-esteem and who are depressed suffer the worse from this belief. The future implications of this belief are unknown. However, I know the belief is causing us to be too hard on ourselves, that’s why I can glad that the field of positive psychology has been created. Now it is possible for us to have more scientifically proven ways to make ourselves happy.
The problem with this belief is the lack of evidence supporting it. As I have proven in my research, we are only able to change our thoughts/emotions to a certain extent. Therefore, other methods are needed if we are really going to feel better.
Who's driving this belief
The popular media and self-help industry are the ones who are really driving this belief. This is very apparent in the millions of books, DVDs, CDs, and movies that provide techniques on how to think positively. I also think many Americans in general drive this belief. All America is about is quick fixes and everyone in America what’s a quick fix. Who wants to go to the doctor or psychologist when they can fix themselves? The self-help industry’s popularity can be also seen in the amount of money many Americans spend on self-help tools every year. It runs in the millions.
I think many of us drive this belief also because we want control of our lives. Life can be very chaotic and knowing what we can and can’t control is very comforting. It gives up peace. This belief can also give us hope for a better day. It’s a good thought to have when ones feels like they have no other alternatives, think they themselves can make themselves happy. The ideal also seem pretty logical to. Why won’t we be able to control our thoughts.
Examples in popular culture
Below I have provided some examples showing how popular the myth “When down in the dumps, think yourself happy by focusing on the positive” really is in popular culture.
Millions of copies of a book and DVD movie called The Secret have been sold. Rhonda Byrne wrote the book. It primary theme is for us to focus on our positive thoughts to get what we want in life; another word for this is the law of attraction. This book and DVD has been talk about on the Oprah show many times; Oprah’s a huge supporter of this book and DVD. I myself didn’t know anything about it until I watched one of her shows.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0wYxh-akZs
The above is a You Tube clip of Oprah describing to Larry King just how much she believes in the book.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-ob8sr9ZX0
This is a You Tube clip of an episode of Sesame Street. Elmo is singing a song called
“Happy Thoughts;”in it he is supporting the belief, “When down, happy thoughts will lift you up.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RtH02A98Zs
This above you tube clip is a good example of how the belief of positive thinking is marketed. The book they are talking about is one of the first in the self-help industry of positive thinking. The author is Norman Vincent Peale and he is considered the father of positive thinking.
The most important misunderstanding
The most important misunderstanding about this the myth “When down, think yourself happy by focusing on the positive” is that its easy to do and that when we are not able to do it something most be wrong with us. I hope after reading this blog that you realize that nothing is wrong with you if you are not able to change your mood with your thoughts. Changing your thoughts/emotions is not easy. Our quick fix society wants us to believe that anything we can’t do ourselves is our fault. This is the worse thing we can say to ourselves, especially when we are down. Therefore, I suggest being easier on yourself or anyone you know who tries to lift their mood by thinking positive thoughts.
If you’re interested in learning ways that have been proven to make other happier; I suggest reading about positive psychology. Its main focus is to make the individual happy through having them look at the positive things about their life or selves more. In my Read this, Not that section, I have also included an article on positive psychology. The article is very informal about this new field and the author’s also provide the readers with scientifically supportive ways to increase ones happiness.
What do people mean
1. What do people mean?
2. What are other ways to say it?
3. What is it suppose to do for you?
4. How would professionals label the myth?
There are two different ways the statement “When do in the dumps, think yourself happy by focusing on the positive” can be looked at.
First, it is enforcing the popular belief that we can control our thoughts/emotions with our mind. Second, it is telling us that positive thoughts will make us happier.
Other variations of the myth:
Positive thinking
Positive self-talk
Affirmation
Positive attitude
Don’t Worry Be happy
Your thoughts control your world
New Thought Movement
Things the myth is suppose to do for you:
Reduces stress
Increase life satisfaction
Boost ones self-esteem
Boost ones confidence
Provide personal growth
Other ways the myth can be looked at as being:
A self-improvement technique
A self-empowering instrument people can use to change their lives
A way to affirm your true potential
A way to make yourself feel better
A form of personally development
How professionals in the field of psychology world define the myth:
Cognitive restructuring
Though suppression
Mind Control
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Better Way to Think about It
The problem with the more accurate way of say “When down in the dumps, think yourself happy by focusing on the positive” is that when are we not stressed, worried, or distracted when feeling down. I think when the normal person feels bad; he or she is normally stressed or distracted with his or her worries. Therefore, taking the myth’s strategy they could be just setting themselves up for failure.
Mind Traps
Mind Traps
In this particular section of my blog, I have included a few reasoning errors: reasons why people believe things that are questionable or just plainly not true. There are many out there but this blog will only focus on the ones related to my myth.
I will be discussing three reasoning errors.
1. Post hoc ergo propter hoc
2. Self-serving bias
3. Confirmation bias
_______________________________________________________________________
To give you a deeper understanding of reasoning errors:
1. They are created by our minds.
2 They are due to our difficulty to process information and draw conclusions perfectly.
3. They are understandable conclusions we draw to further support our belief given the available evidence (Gilovich, 1991).
_______________________________________________________________________
Post hoc ergo propter hoc is our tendency to believe that since one event occurs before another, that one event must have caused the other, when in actuality a third factor was really the cause. In other words, if A happens right before B, A must have caused B. A good example of this can be seen when one finds a coin on the ground and, later that day, hears some good news. Now that person will claim that finding the coin brought the good news, when in actually it was just a coincidence.
This reasoning error is related to my myth because it is a easy way for us to believe the myth is really working when its not because since our mood changes right before our thoughts change we automatically concluded it was our thoughts when it was not.
A self-serving bias is a reasoning error that we used to boost and protect our self-esteem by only personally acknowledging our successes and blaming our failures on a source outside of ourselves. A good example of this can be seen when a person gets a test back. Now, if they did well - they’ll credit themselves for their good grade by saying, “I studied really hard and/or I know I could do it.” Now, if that person gets a bad grade on that same test, they might say it wasn’t their fault, “The teacher doesn’t like me” or “It was really hot in class that day; therefore, it affected my performance.”
This reasoning error is related to my myth/allowing it to be believed because its boosting our self-esteem and reduces our chances of feeling vulnerable.
A confirmation bias is a person’s tendency to focus on information that confirms their already held belief and ignore or criticize information that doesn’t. A good example of this can be seen when meeting someone new. Let’s just say a close friend introduces you to her new boyfriend. You didn’t like him from the start. Now, whenever you see or hear, about him you’re main focus is the bad things he does, ignoring any good qualities about him.
This reasoning error is also related to my myth because by it we are only noticing the days when we feel it is working and not even thinking of the days when it is not working. It's actually creating a dellusion in our minds.
In conclusion, post hoc propter hoc, self-serving bias, and confirmation bias are just some of the reasons why the belief, “When down in the dumps, thinking you happy by focusing on the positive” can occur.
Read this, Not that
Read this Not that
In this blog, I have included a brief summary and evaluation of a few research, magazine, and newspaper articles that either support or challenge the myth “When down in the dumps, think yourself happy by focusing on the positive.”
The best articles include:
- Scientific studies
- In-text citations
- Reference pages
Should Read
Wegner, D.M., Erber, R., & Zanakos, S. (1993). Ironic processes in the mental control
of mood and mood-related thought. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,
65(6), 1093-1104.
This article supports my myth but only to a certain extent, it is possible to change our thoughts/mood with our mind. However, the authors say it is more difficult to do when distracted or stressed. This process is called the Ironic Processing Theory. It concludes that when we are distracted, the very thoughts we are trying to avoid come up again.
I would highly recommend this article because it’s easy to understand and flows well. It also includes the criteria above and is written by a well-known researcher in the field of mind control. The only drawback is that it’s not recent.
White, S. J. (2008, March 15). Using self-talk to enhance career satisfaction and
performance. American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy. 65( 6), 514-519.
This is a journal article, deeply describing what positive and negative self-talk is, with everyday examples. This article also provides the reader with steps on how to change their negative self-talk/emotions. I recommend this article because, unlike other articles on the subject, this one is very detailed in explaining the self-talk enhancing process. It is from a scholarly journal; it flows well and provides additional suggested reading on the topic of self-talk. Unfortunately, no reference page was provided.
Borton, J.L.S., & Casey, E.C. (2006). Suppression of negative self-referent thoughts: A
field study. Self and Identity, 5, 230-246.
This article challenges my myth. It provides a study where people who tried to replace their negative thoughts with positive ones ended up more depressed, anxious, and with lower self-esteem. It got so bad that they just couldn’t get the negative thoughts out their head, another example of the Ironic Processing Theory.
I recommend reading this article because it challenges my belief. Also, it meets all the above criteria. Plus, one of the authors is also well- known in the field of mind control. I also recommend this article because it flows and more recent.
Lightsey, O.R. (1994). “Thinking positive” as a Stress Buffer: The role of positive
automatic cognitions in depression and happiness. Journal of Counseling
Psychology, 41(3), 325-224.
This article provides a shed of light on positive thinking. In it a study is done verifying that positive automatic thoughts/positive thoughts protect one from depression more so than negative thoughts.
I highly recommend reading this article because it provides different take on positive thinking. It also describes the connection between positive and negative thoughts and future emotions very easily. The only problem with this article is that it is a bit outdated. The article also meets the above criteria.
Seligman, M.E.P., Steen, T.A., Park, N., Peterson, C. (2005). Positive psychology
progess: Empirical validation of interventions. American Psychologist, 60(5),
410-421.
This article provides scientific studies determining things people can do to make themselves happier. I recommend this article because I know if you are reading this blog; it would nice to know what does work, no matter what state you are in. I also recommend this article because it gives good background on what positive psychology is and what’s going on right now in the field.
Don’t even waste your time
Broughton, P.D. (2000, August 16). Scientist pessimist about optimism theory. National Post, pp. A1, A2.
This is a newspaper article I would not recommend reading. It briefly talks about a growing consensus amongst scientists and researchers that positive self-talk is harmful. It lists reasons why. However, it doesn’t mention any scientific studies supporting those reasons. Also, there are no in-text citations or reference page.
(1994). NO MORE NEGATIVITY. Nursing, 24(12), 79. Retrieved from Academic
Search Complete database.
This is a magazine article I would recommend not reading. The article is very brief. The authors just include four effective and ineffective examples of self-talk. They don’t even say why self-talk is important. All the article does is name a few professionals, expecting the reader to rely on those names for verification of its credibility. Also, no in-text citations or reference page are given.
Gillman, S. (n.d.). Positive Self-Talk-What you should Say. Retrieved
from http://ezinearticles.com/?Positive-Self-Talk---What-Should-You-Say?&id=51265.
I really would recommend not going to this website because it’s a personal website that doesn’t site any of its sources. The site is also includes excessive advertisement, and the author is not a professional in the field.