In Learned Optimism, Doctor Martin Seligman, former elected president of the American Psychological Association and father of the Positive Psychology movement, discusses how his 25 years of research on both optimists and pessimists have demonstrated that either school of thought can be learned or unlearned. This is a positive reassurance because, as Doctor Seligman’s studies indicate, optimism is an integral part of understanding the “hard knocks” of life that everyone faces to be temporary and momentary setbacks- a cognitive paradigm that allows the individual to work hard to overcome these setbacks, instead of accept them as permanent and un-changeable.
Read the entire article here: Learned Optimism: Martin Seligman on Happiness, Depression, and the Meaningful Life