Book SummaryLearned Optimism, by Martin E. P. Seligman

1-Page Summary1-Page Book Summary of Learned Optimism

Many people suffer from learned helplessness: the belief that they don’t have the power to make positive changes in their own lives or in the world around them. Learned Optimism will teach you how to break out of that pessimistic, powerless mindset and replace it with an empowered mindset of optimism and confidence.

This guide begins with some background information about learned helplessness, then explains how people end up trapped in that mindset as a result of modern culture’s overemphasis on personal achievement and self-esteem. From there, we contrast the pessimistic mindset of learned...

Learned Optimism Summary Background: What Is Learned Helplessness?

In psychology, learned helplessness is the belief that you can’t change things and that your efforts won’t make a difference. It’s called learned helplessness because it comes from experience: You go through important situations in which you can’t change the outcome, so you come to believe that you can’t affect the outcome of any important situation.

Seligman adds that many people learn helplessness as children, especially from their parents and teachers. Every time an adult dismisses a child’s contributions and ignores his or her efforts, it ingrains helplessness into that child’s psyche.

Furthermore, children truly are helpless against unkind, unfriendly, and hostile adults—adults have all the power, both physically and socially, so children can’t do anything but try to avoid or endure them. Sometimes people carry that sense of helplessness into adulthood and don’t recognize that they aren’t powerless anymore.

(Shortform note: Childhood trauma, including being bullied or neglected by adults, can leave a person with lifelong feelings of fear, anxiety, and depression. The...

Learned Optimism Summary Your Mindset Comes From How You Explain Things to Yourself

So far, we’ve explained that modern culture’s obsession with the self has led to widespread feelings of pessimism and depression. Now, let’s get more specific about how pessimists think, so we can contrast this pessimistic mindset with the optimistic, empowered mindset Seligman advocates.

Seligman says that learned helplessness (or pessimism) and learned optimism come from our thought patterns: how we explain events to ourselves and how we view ourselves in relation to the world. Therefore, we can unlearn pessimism and learn optimism by working on changing our thought patterns. (Seligman calls these thought patterns “explanatory styles.”)

We shape our thought patterns based on our time in school, our interactions with our parents, and our general life experiences. However, we’re not stuck with whatever way of thinking we learned as children. By becoming aware of our thought patterns, applying consistent effort, and undergoing cognitive therapy, we can change the way we think.

What Is Cognitive Therapy?

Seligman proposes Cognitive Therapy (CT) as a way to change your thought patterns. CT is a type of treatment plan for mental disorders; it’s based on the...

Learned Optimism Summary Learn a New Thought Pattern

We’ve discussed the different types of thought patterns and the benefits of optimism. Now, we’ll discuss how to improve your life by changing your thought pattern. The first step is figuring out how you currently think. According to Seligman, you can find out which thought pattern you have using a simple system:

First, identify a problem you’ve faced recently—perhaps an argument with a friend, a car accident, or an issue at work or school. Next, examine your thoughts about that event; in other words, what story are you telling yourself about why the problem happened? For example, do you believe that you made a mistake at work because you’re stupid or bad at your job? Or did you make that mistake because something distracted you, or because you didn’t have the right information on hand?

Finally, consider the results of the problem and your own thoughts about it. Some questions you might ask yourself here are: How do you feel? Is the problem still weighing on you? Have you learned something from the experience? Do you think you’ll be able to avoid that problem in the future?

(Shortform note: What Seligman describes here is a Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) technique...

Shortform Exercise: Adjust Your Thought Pattern

Now that you’re familiar with Seligman’s concepts of pessimism and optimism, take some time to think about which way your own thoughts tend to go. Also, consider how you might develop a stronger sense of balanced optimism. You can repeat this exercise as often as needed, and you might find it especially useful after a difficult or upsetting event.

Describe something negative that has recently happened to you. Explain why you think things turned out the way they did.