I’m curious about how “learned optimism” or similar ideas fit into aspiring rationality. I’m somewhat nervous that learned optimism seems like ignoring reality – for example, say you lost your job due to poor performance, but you attribute it to some external factor, either due to your natural reaction, or through applying learned optimism techniques. My understanding is that the literature suggests that such a mindset will generally lead to better life outcomes, but how does it fit in with aspiring rationality?
That is, can we employ learned optimism techniques to improve our chances of winning, while still working to improve our rationality?
That is, can we employ learned optimism techniques to improve our chances of winning, while still working to improve our rationality?
If you expand “rationality” to mean “improving our chances of winning”, you’ll notice that you just asked “can we improve our chances of winning while working to improve our improving our chances of winning?”
To which I would say, “I should certainly hope so.” ;-)
That having been said, I’ve in the last few months decided that the direct concept of learned optimism is bunk. Or more precisely, it’s based on an error in reasoning.
Specifically, reversed stupidity is not necessarily intelligence, and reversed learned helplessness is not necessarily healthy confidence. Also, just because confident people produce certain patterns in the output of their thinking, it does not necessarily mean that mimicking those outputs will produce the same internal states.
Yes, Seligman has some research on those points. However, his training methods call for essentially rote repetition of thought disputation until something “clicks” for you; AFAICT, there is no way to predict just how much disputation you will have to do in order to actually change your inner experience. In effect, there is a faith-based exhortation that sufficient repetition will bring about changes.
In contrast, I’ve found that by focusing on removing learned helplessness instead, the click to positivity is natural. I (and others) automatically begin seeing the positives in an area of action that was previously restricted. And instead of having to continually have the negative thoughts arise in order to be disputed, getting rid of the helplessness simply switches off the negative thoughts in that context, from that point forward.
I contend, therefore, that “learned optimism” is a nonentity, as optimism and confidence are the natural state. Helplessness can be learned and unlearned, and must be unlearned in order to experience actual optimism or confidence. Practicing optimism skills may eventually lead you to stumble on an unlearning of some bits of your helplessness, or not. But directing your attention to identifying and removing the specific bits of helplessness pays off in a much more predictable and permanent fashion.
I’m curious about how “learned optimism” or similar ideas fit into aspiring rationality. I’m somewhat nervous that learned optimism seems like ignoring reality – for example, say you lost your job due to poor performance, but you attribute it to some external factor, either due to your natural reaction, or through applying learned optimism techniques. My understanding is that the literature suggests that such a mindset will generally lead to better life outcomes, but how does it fit in with aspiring rationality?
That is, can we employ learned optimism techniques to improve our chances of winning, while still working to improve our rationality?
If you expand “rationality” to mean “improving our chances of winning”, you’ll notice that you just asked “can we improve our chances of winning while working to improve our improving our chances of winning?”
To which I would say, “I should certainly hope so.” ;-)
That having been said, I’ve in the last few months decided that the direct concept of learned optimism is bunk. Or more precisely, it’s based on an error in reasoning.
Specifically, reversed stupidity is not necessarily intelligence, and reversed learned helplessness is not necessarily healthy confidence. Also, just because confident people produce certain patterns in the output of their thinking, it does not necessarily mean that mimicking those outputs will produce the same internal states.
Yes, Seligman has some research on those points. However, his training methods call for essentially rote repetition of thought disputation until something “clicks” for you; AFAICT, there is no way to predict just how much disputation you will have to do in order to actually change your inner experience. In effect, there is a faith-based exhortation that sufficient repetition will bring about changes.
In contrast, I’ve found that by focusing on removing learned helplessness instead, the click to positivity is natural. I (and others) automatically begin seeing the positives in an area of action that was previously restricted. And instead of having to continually have the negative thoughts arise in order to be disputed, getting rid of the helplessness simply switches off the negative thoughts in that context, from that point forward.
I contend, therefore, that “learned optimism” is a nonentity, as optimism and confidence are the natural state. Helplessness can be learned and unlearned, and must be unlearned in order to experience actual optimism or confidence. Practicing optimism skills may eventually lead you to stumble on an unlearning of some bits of your helplessness, or not. But directing your attention to identifying and removing the specific bits of helplessness pays off in a much more predictable and permanent fashion.
(tl;dr: optimism good, learned optimism conceptually flawed, eliminate learned helplessness ftw.)