Dealing with positive psychology and its converts can be most irksome at times because, like religion, they don’t smell the bullshit they are peddling. Let’s look at the concise way Chris Hedges sums up this toxic phenomena in his book Empire of Illusion.
“There is a dark, insidious quality to the ideology promoted by the positive psychologists. They condemn all social critics and iconoclasts, the dissidents and the individualists, for failing to surrender and seek fulfillment in the collective lowing of the corporate herd. They strangle creativity an moral autonomy. They seek to mold and shape individual human beings into a compliant collective. The primary teaching of this movement, which reflects the ideology of the corporate state, is that fulfillment is to be found in complete and total social conformity, a conformity that all totalitarian and authoritarian structures seek to impose on those they dominate. Its false promise of harmony and happiness only increases internal anxiety and feelings of inadequacy. The nagging undercurrents of alienation and the constant pressure to exhibit a false enthusiasm and buoyancy destroy real relationships. The loneliness of a work life where self-preservation is valued over authenticity and one must always be upbeat and positive, no matter what one’s actual mood or situation, is disorienting and stressful. The awful feeling that being positive may not, in fact, work if one is laid off or becomes sick must be buried and suppressed. Here, in the land of happy thoughts, there are no gross injustices, no abuses of authority, no economic and political systems to challenge, and no reason to complain.
Here, we are all happy. “
– Chris Hedges, The Empire of Illusion, p. 138 -139.
bleatmop
Mystro
Dead Wild Roses 
8 comments
August 15, 2013 at 10:42 am
Syrbal/Labrys
Ah, Brave New World…..or so “these people in it” would have it for us all.
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August 16, 2013 at 4:40 pm
ojmo
Terrific quote–Hedges really has a way with words. On this topic, I found Barbara Ehrenreich’s “Bright-Sided: How Positive Thinking Is Undermining America,” excellent. Calling positive thinking “the cult of optimism” she demonstrates the absurdity of its claims, and shows “positive psychology” to be pseudoscientific drivel–even though for its practitioners, it’s quite lucrative.
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August 17, 2013 at 1:13 pm
VR Kaine
It would be helpful for one to distinguish between the “positive thinking/affirmation” movement and positive psychology, I think.
Positive psychology is primarily concerned with using psychological theory to understand the positive, adaptive, creative and emotionally fulfilling aspects of human behavior. It’s premise is that positive people are not polyanna and blindly optimistic, but rather realistic and exercise a choice to focus MORE on the positive rather than the negative, and from a research standpoint to not ignore or dismiss positive outliers. haven’t seen it suggest that someone bury or suppress anything, but instead exercise choice in what one decides to put the majority of their focus on. (Check out Shawn Achor’s TED talk on Happiness as an example.)
Positive thinking in the context of the article, I believe, is simply and annoyingly attaching the word “quantum” to everything one says and in the meantime, adopting the foolish believe that the “universe” comes together to reward the positive-thinking individual as some sort of cosmic vending machine; to close one’s eyes and repeat to themselves, “there are no weeds there are no weeds.”
If it’s Seligman and the U of Penn’s work in the field vs Hedges vs. The Secret” and all it’s crap, both the research and the results are on Seligman’s side in that battle, not Hedges if he’s in fact attacking the academic field.
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August 17, 2013 at 1:51 pm
The Arbourist
@ojmo
Ehrenreich’s book is amazing. It is on my list of books that I need to reread because it is so very relevant and touches so much of what is wrong with the current manipulation of our society. If you have any passages you can remember let me know, I’ll post them here, or link to your post when it comes up. :)
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August 17, 2013 at 2:18 pm
The Arbourist
@VernHeya Vern, I was going to bang out a reply, but then I thought I'd google first, and poof two articles, one academic and technical and the other a non technical overview referencing Bright Sided, which I suggest you look into, that adequately describe my thoughts on Positive Psychology.
This is an abstract about Positive Psychology. Get the whole article here.
"This paper argues that the new science of positive psychology is founded on a whole series of fallacious arguments; these involve circular reasoning, tautology, failure to clearly define or properly apply terms, the identification of causal relations where none exist, and unjustified generalisation. Instead of demonstrating that positive attitudes explain achievement, success, well-being and happiness, positive psychology merely associates mental health with a particular personality type: a cheerful, outgoing, goal-driven, status-seeking extravert."
[...]
"These arguments are, however, founded on a number of assertions that are highly questionable: first, that life can be conceived in terms of the setting and achieving of goals (an assumption of psychological models in general) second, that the traits, dispositions, emotions, feelings, desires, beliefs and values that together comprise a person's attitudes or personality (and which psychology conceives as explaining or causing people's behaviour) can be consciously managed or controlled third, that people can broadly be categorised as pessimistic or optimistic (with the optimists having the ability to persevere, achieve their goals and attain happiness) and finally, that expressing ones signature strengths or positive traits and virtues in absorbing activities is the key to well-being. In this paper I examine these assertions and the assumptions that underlie them."
Conclusion - Positive Psychology is Bullshit. :)
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August 17, 2013 at 7:43 pm
VR Kaine
Not exactly. the field deserves and js gettin its scrutiny – http://m.psychologytoday.com/blog/how-happiness/201108/should-we-dispense-happiness-review-marty-seligmans-new-book-flourish
But this critic also acknowledges that
“hundreds of studies have shown that happiness relates and leads to such positive outcomes as creativity, productivity, effective coping, satisfying marriages, close friendships, higher earnings, longevity, and strong immune systems.” Even if the author more or less takes the side of the author you are citing, that’s far from backing up your entire dismissal of it.
Oh well. Who cares about positive anything? Liberals like to be mediocre and miserable anyways, don’t they?! Just kidding. :)
I know some people who have studied under Seligman and I think Achor’s book is pretty interesting. Certainly not as foo-foo as the title of the book or name of the field would indicate.
PP’ers would say that I don’t get happy by getting more money, but rather that I get more money because I am happy. Although I’ve experienced some really miserable bastards getting rich, I think the PP version would apply to me. Check out this happy face! —-> :)
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August 19, 2013 at 7:01 pm
ojmo
One of the things the book made me aware of was how I was more or less continuously scanning my thinking for supposedly illness-inducing “negative” thoughts, in a manner analogous to a religious mindset, where one scans their mind for “evil” or “impure” thoughts. It was absurd.
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August 19, 2013 at 8:59 pm
ojmo
Reading the PT article Kaine referenced on positive psychology, it’s obvious the real goal of this so-called “science” is a deeper form of social control. I don’t know if it’s sad or funny that the military is going to use Seligman’s theories to try and pump out an army of happy killers–or at minimum cut down on the number of suicide soldiers. No doubt Seligman can train the troops to smile as they kill; after all, soldiers, just like corporate drones, are very good at obeying orders.
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