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Title: The Positive Power of Negative Thinking: Using Defensive Pessimism to Harness Anxiety and Perform at Your Peak
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Manufacturer: Basic Books
List Price: $15.95
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| Customer Reviews: |
| The Positive Power of Negative Thinking: Using Defensive Pessimism to Harness Anxiety and Perform at Your Peak by Basic Books Defensive Pessimism is Positive |
| A must read if for no other reason than Julie Norem has brought to light a highly functional problem solving style. It is called defensive pessimism and differs substantially from pessimism which is not effective. The author clearly shows how identifying worst case scenarios and preparing for them as a way of handling anxiety is useful. And she points out how it would be harmful to make a defensive pessimist a strategic optimist. Defensive pessimism is as well a strategy taught by cognitive-behavioral therapists as Julie Norem points out. The author makes defensive pessimism accessible and acceptable. If you're a pessimist you can become a defensive pessimist. You can applaud your coping strategy. While the book is repetitive, the repetitions help to drive the essential points home. Valuable for the clinician as well as the lay person. |
| The Positive Power of Negative Thinking: Using Defensive Pessimism to Harness Anxiety and Perform at Your Peak by Basic Books the positive power of negative thinking |
| I found it fantastic. I learnt so much about myself and it helped me understand how other relationships were different and why. I didnt even relise so much of what I did. It is a great book. |
| The Positive Power of Negative Thinking: Using Defensive Pessimism to Harness Anxiety and Perform at Your Peak by Basic Books Typically Female Style |
| Most Females (or other minority groups) appear to practice the management philosophy of Dr. Norem's positive negativism, perhaps because typically being followers rather than recognized leaders, they've often had to entertain the high probability of failure, due to bias, discrimination or simply histories of it. The idea that optimists occur across the gender gap, the racial gap, or the disability or ethnic minority gap is preposterous. Anyone who struggles with the presumptions of success as heavily concentrated in the domain of the majority is not logical to emotionally invest in that traditional attitude because of the failures they are used to having to absorb. Optimism, itself, is very much rooted in the success history of the past, and to those who are class, gender and identity favored. All of the rest practice to varying degrees the process of positive negativism by conditioning if not by training and experience. Why should it be otherwise? |
| The Positive Power of Negative Thinking: Using Defensive Pessimism to Harness Anxiety and Perform at Your Peak by Basic Books This book lacks focus and direction. |
| I have to agree with many of the other reviewers about how repetitious this book is. After every page I turned it felt as if the author was just saying the same thing over and over again without ever coming to any kind of conclusion. I was amazed at how someone could babble on for 200-some odd pages without actually saying anything. The whole time I was reading the book I just felt like it wasn't really going anywhere and I felt as if right around the next page I was going to find some conclusion that would tie everything together and make some kind of sense of it all, but there never was such a page. Being quite a pessimist myself, I really wanted to like this book but I really didn't and so I don't recommend this book. |
| The Positive Power of Negative Thinking: Using Defensive Pessimism to Harness Anxiety and Perform at Your Peak by Basic Books Realistic Psychology for Real People |
| I found that the psychologist who wrote this interesting book provides significant understanding and help for those of us who just are not the naturally upbeat type of "Don't worry, Be happy" optimists. The concept and quiz for the personality style "Defensive Pessimism" support a positive interpretation of individual differences in optimism and pessimism, and emphasize the adaptive value of being a person who thinks through worst-case scenarios and uses anxiety to motivate and carry out effective actions. I like the balanced approach in this book that helps the reader understand both the dangers of unrealistic optimism and the virtues of constructive pessimism. Here one can find realistic psychology for real people that is based on the author's 20 years of original research. |
| The Positive Power of Negative Thinking: Using Defensive Pessimism to Harness Anxiety and Perform at Your Peak by Basic Books Product Description |
How often are we urged to "look on the bright side"? From Norman Vincent Peale to the ubiquitous smiley face, optimism has become an essential part of American society. In this long-overdue book, psychologist Julie Norem offers convincing evidence that, for many people, positive thinking is an ineffective strategy--and often an obstacle--for successfully coping with the anxieties and pressures of modern life. Drawing on her own research and many vivid case histories, Norem provides evidence of the powerful benefits of "defensive pessimism," which has helped millions to manage anxiety and perform their best work. |
