Over the years, the concept of positive thinking has proved to be extremely versatile and has managed to lure millions of people into the grip of powerful promises, convincing them that life can offer more than what they have been able to experience so far.
Increasing one’s happiness by overestimating the power of thought is a dream that has captured the imagination of even the most resigned inhabitants of a planet where existence is fraught with contradictions and uncertainties.
Positive psychology emerged in the late 1990s, pioneered by Martin Seligman and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. The new discipline focused on the mechanisms of “self-actualisation”, aiming at the ideal of a life lived to its full potential. In an attempt to bring a complementary perspective to a psychological orientation that focused almost exclusively on deficits and pathology, Seligman and psychologist Christopher Peterson developed a handbook of positive personality traits, titled Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification (CSV), which inventories positive traits that predict well-being (as opposed to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the DSM, which classifies psychiatric disorders).
The term positive psychology refers to a wide range of techniques that encourage individuals to focus on positive emotions, experiences and character traits. Studies have shown that there are a number of benefits to developing a positive mindset, although the mechanisms by which positive thinking influences health, for example, are not clear, and a dilemma remains: is the determinant assumed to be positive thinking or a configuration of personality traits?
What are the benefits of positive thinking?
For some people, the key to happiness lies in having modest or even pessimistic expectations about the future. They believe that if events are heading for a negative outcome, modest expectations will protect them from a major disappointment, while a happy conclusion will give them extra joy that they did not anticipate. It may seem like an effective trick, but it actually works like a boomerang, notes Tali Sharot, who teaches cognitive neuroscience at University College London. Sharot, who studies the link between optimism and its neural underpinnings, believes that negative expectations have the power to change the future because they also generate certain behavioural patterns.
In her book The Science of Optimism: Why We’re Hard-Wired for Hope, Sharot talks about the adaptive advantage of optimistic people. Their wellbeing is more pronounced than that of pessimists, both when they are building their expectations and when they are waiting for them to be confirmed. What’s more, research shows that optimists tend to feel better regardless of the outcome. In her words, “even if that better future is often an illusion, optimism has clear benefits in the present.”[1]
Studies have shown that there is a link[2] between optimism and physical health, with the former being able to improve symptoms of serious illnesses or reduce the chances of losing a pregnancy. Optimism is also a predictor of longevity. Researchers Maruta, Colligan, Malinchoc, and Offord (2000) studied a sample of 839 patients over a 30-year period and classified them as pessimistic, optimistic or mixed based on their scores on the optimism-pessimism scale of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI). The research[3] concluded that a pessimistic lifestyle is a risk factor for early death. Each 10-point increase in personal score on the optimism scale reduced the risk of early death by 19%, demonstrating the significant protective effect of a predominantly optimistic attitude.
The Zutphen study[4] was one of the studies that tried to find the link between optimism and better health and concluded that optimistic people tend to have a healthier lifestyle.
When concepts diverge from psychologists’ paradigms
While at first positive thinking was just one of the many tools of positive psychology, acting as an antidote to negative thinking, it later became a concept in its own right, adopted by popular psychology and promoted to the general public. It thus came to mean a method of disciplining the human mind, capable of changing reality, using “positive mental statements” as tools.[5] Vested with magical virtues, positive thinking infiltrated philosophical or religious currents as well as pseudo-therapeutic movements, going far beyond the boundaries of the psychology that brought it into being.
In fact, Rev. Dr. Charlene M. Proctor, founder of the Goddess Network, an online educational resource on spiritual development or positive thinking, traces the path of the concept of positive thinking, highlighting its religious roots[6] and recalling Emmet Fox, a leader of the New Thought movement[7] who believed that positive thinking was a real engine for change in the external environment. Fox, who argued that this pattern of thinking was derived from the teachings of the Bible and the mystics, was a proponent of the doctrine of the mental equivalent: our living conditions are a faithful mirror of our mental concepts. The New Thought movement argued that humans have a divine nature and promoted the technique of visualising desires as the grail of well-being, claiming that “our mental states are carried forward into manifestation and become our experience in daily living.”[8]
Responding to modern people’s need for meaning and more control over their lives, positive thinking has often taken on the guise of religion, disrupting the human-divine relationship and claiming that everything is within our power—that we are in control of everything that happens around us and at the same time responsible for the events that unfold around us. Dr Martin Seligman, in his book Learned Optimism, acknowledges that there are things beyond our control, whether it is the colour of our eyes or the drought in a particular region of the world. In contrast, he describes the “uncharted territories” in which we can exercise our freedom to effect change. Seligman also rejects the idea that optimism means “learning to say positive things to yourself,” insisting that optimism, for all its benefits, is not a panacea—a truth that is ignored today, when the exaggeration of the role of positive thinking has led to a phenomenon that psychologist Lisa Aspinwall has called “saccharine terrorism.” Aspinwall talks about the dangerous nature of books that promote a false, irrational version of positive thinking,[9] citing The Secret, Rhonda Byrne’s bestseller, or The Power of Positive Thinking, written by Norman Vincent Peale in 1952, which still has a strong influence in the Christian world.
Pagan masks of a book with Christian pretensions
Acknowledging the common philosophical origins of positive psychology and positive thinking, Martin Seligman writes of their different nature.[10] The psychologist was keen to distinguish his psychology from the simplistic and unscientific version of positive thinking promoted by Norman Vincent Peale. While positive thinking is an “unproven and dangerous” armchair activity, positive psychology has a scientific basis and seeks to balance positive and negative thinking, with Seligman even attributing beneficial effects to the latter.
In addition, The Power of Positive Thinking has been met with a wave of criticism from the psychological community because Peale’s foundations are rather shaky. The testimonies presented cannot be verified and the experts quoted are mostly anonymous. The religious terms used (faith, prayer) are empty shells masking the techniques of autosuggestion, which are more easily tolerated in the guise of religious language, which is why the book has been called “the bible of American auto hypnotism.”[11] The link between the techniques promoted by Peale and the hypnotic techniques of Émile Coué[12] was also pointed out by the psychologist Albert Ellis, founder of Rational-Emotive Behavioural Therapy. The psychiatrist R. C. Murphy[13] criticised Peale’s philosophy in 1955, saying that human suffering in all its forms simply does not exist for the religious leader, who has a whole arsenal at his disposal to evacuate it from the intellectual realm.
In the theological sphere too, The Power of Positive Thinking has been subjected to a barrage of criticism since its publication. Theologian John M. Krumm was one of the many opponents of Peale’s theory, calling it heretical and emphasising the depersonalised nature of the religion preached by the now famous pastor.[14]
The profitability of an old “secret”
Rhonda Byrne’s book, The Secret, has sold 30 million copies, been translated into several languages, and become as famous as the film[15] that preceded it (despite the wave of criticism and parody that accompanied it) because of the message it conveys to the public: there is a natural law, the law of attraction, that we attract events and circumstances that match our mood. Whatever is desired can be achieved by a simple recipe: believe in the desired outcome, keep it active in a horizon of expectation, visualise it (a technique that would send clear messages to the universe) and maintain a positive emotional state throughout. This is a sibyllic message, which in ancient times would have been known only to the elite, but which has now been deciphered and shared with the general public, who can conquer the kingdom of prosperity (having first done their bit to build the wealth of those who have placed the secret of abundance in their hands).
Produced by Prime Time Production, The Secret is a collage of interviews with experts from a wide range of fields (psychology, quantum physics, metaphysics, philosophy, personal development, theology). Their testimonies reinforce the effectiveness of the secret, offering numerous examples, from how the life of a gay man bullied by his peers changed after he learned to think positively, to the success story of Jack Canfield, who attracted hundreds of thousands and millions of dollars through sheer force of desire. Examples of success are framed by extravagant statements: The way we come into possession of the desired object is the responsibility of the universe, which knows the shortcut between the person and his or her dream (Mike Dooley, author); we must master the art of using the universe as a “product catalogue” because of its infinite resources (Joe Vitale, metaphysician); we have God’s potential to create our own world (James Arthur Ray, philosopher)—statements that adhere to a reality boldly promised in the Edenic perimeter[16] and that supposedly have already taken on physicality, as motivational author Ester Hicks declares at the end of the documentary: “You are what you call God.”
The obscure roots of a secret that claims to be compatible with religious beliefs
Historian and ethicist John G. Stackhouse places the secret of positive thinking in the tradition of American New Thought, within the framework of mind-over-matter philosophy, and thus rejects its claims to novelty. In his article, Stackhouse lists several reasons why this theory is incompatible with Christian teaching. Although it claims to be the spiritual essence of all the world’s great religions, its premises are found in almost none of them. In fact, it is just another religious option that places human will at the centre of the universe, contrary to the biblical idea of God’s sovereignty.
This kind of teaching, Stackhouse argues, shifts absolute responsibility to the human level and places the blame on victims who have absolutely no power to change the circumstances in which they find themselves—for example, refugees from war zones who, according to the theory, have brought upon themselves the tragic situation in which they find themselves.
Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons, both professors of psychology, say that the law of attraction, as presented in Byrne’s books (The Secret and The Power), is not a gimmick of Byrne’s, but has been invoked by other writers, including Wallace Wattles (New Thought writer, author of the famous book The Science of Getting Rich) and Napoleon Hill, famous author of motivational books.[17] Hill, a proponent of the idea that “whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve,”[18] was to admit that the secrets of financial success had been revealed to him by his mentors, spirits sent to deliver messages to him intended only for the chosen few. The spiritualist origin of his writings has not diminished his popularity in Christian circles, where his books sell very well, illustrating the seductive power of any philosophy that promises shortcuts to a prosperous life.
Furthermore, there is nothing new under the sun in the philosophy of personal development: Manly Hall, a Canadian mystical writer, argues in his encyclopaedia of esotericism, The Secret Teachings of All Ages, that the demonism of the Middle Ages has not subsided in modern times, but has merely changed masks, one of which is the psychology of prosperity. And Douglas Cowan, assistant professor of religion at the University of Canada at Waterloo, says that the secret seductively wrapped in promises of prosperity, happiness and health is nothing more than the return of the old chivalry of the New Age movement.[19]
Something is rotten in the system of positive thinking
Positive thinking has so ingrained itself into the fabric of our society that it is not easy to identify its many versions, as journalist Michelle Goldberg notes in an article for Religion Dispatches.[20] It presents itself as a law of attraction in New Age theories, disguises itself as semi-mystical motivational exercises in visionary leadership, and acts at a spiritual level in certain religious movements.
For example, the religious group The Word of Faith[21] interprets faith in a metaphysical key, claiming on the basis of Romans 10:8 (“‘The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart’, that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim”), that every word spoken by faith is inspired, that there is a magical power in faith which, when unleashed, is capable of fulfilling all our desires.
A 2012 article in the New York Times critically highlighted the inflation of women who have become motivational life consultants—characterised by charisma and an equal lack of skills—using the ingredients of positive thinking and a New Age vibe to round off their income considerably. The guru career is easy to build considering that there is a female target audience that feels the need for guidance because they feel life is slipping through their fingers. And this deep need is apparently easy to satisfy: former actress Kris Carr teaches her clients to eat well, exercise, and learn to listen to themselves; high quality gems of wisdom such as “If you leap into the unknown, anything is possible in your life” can be purchased for $100 in a private session.
Positive illusions can lead to undesirable outcomes
Positive thinking is not just a market where illusions are sold at a premium; it can cause a rupture in the various sectors of society when social actors use it as a talisman at the expense of realistic thinking.
Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Smile or Die: How Positive Thinking Fooled America and the World, argues that the fruits of the introduction of positive thinking into the corporate world—and the financial sector in general—were reaped in the economic crisis that America experienced in 2007-2008. While being far from being the sole cause of the crisis, this type of thinking has nevertheless produced its effects through the pressure of its delusional philosophy, which is incompatible with the risk analysis of any financial decision: “If no one thinks negatively, nothing bad will happen.” (She is not the only author to think this way—the journalist Oliver Burkeman, who advocates a realistic and rational approach in his book The Antidote, identifies the culture of forced optimism as one of the causes of the financial crisis). The Iraq war, whose costs outweighed its benefits, is cited by the American author as another example of positive thinking that leads to a dead end by ignoring the real elements of the problem.
Barbara Ehrenreich says that the moment she became aware of this ideological force in American culture was when she was diagnosed with cancer, and the encounter with a pattern of thinking that denies reality was a further trauma. Positive thinking can be very cruel, when a person going through tragedy is given the idea that they are responsible for their situation, and that the solution lies in suppressing the obstacles, which must be sought in the individual’s mind and nowhere else. Though opposed to positivism, Ehrenreich does not promote negativism or pessimism, but proposes realism as the only tool for guidance in a world fraught with danger.
Positive thinking creates the illusion of unlimited power over the universe, as the Romanian sociologist Vasile Dâncu points out in a presentation on manipulation through positive thinking.[22] It is an illusion on which an industry, a therapeutic block and a huge library of motivational literature have been built. And it has also contaminated the Romanian imagination, as shown by the answers to an IRES survey: 53% of respondents believe that positive thinking can protect them from the threat of unemployment, 44% are convinced that they can lose weight more easily by thinking positively, and 59% are convinced of the truth of the statement: “Problems are only in our heads, if we think positively they disappear.”
Daniel David, founding director of the Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy at Babeș-Bolyai University, places the subject of positive thinking in the realm of common sense,[23] arguing that the key is our style of thinking, which can be rational or irrational. Positivism or negativism is the content of thinking. What makes the difference is not the positivism or negativism of thinking, but the degree of rationality of our thinking. A rational pattern of thinking allows healthy emotions (either positive or negative) to manifest.
Dispelling negative emotions is itself a generator of negativity
While proponents of positive thinking present visualisation as a way of bringing the desired outcome closer to reality, studies have shown that imagining success tends to relax the mind and deprive it of the energy needed for concrete effort.[24] A much more effective technique is mental contrasting, tested by the authors of the study, which involves identifying obstacles to determine the feasibility of a project before it is implemented. Taking failure into account means being motivated to prepare better for it.
In fact, negative emotions can play a beneficial role, according to the 2016 study by Karin Coifma,[25] which found that negative emotions about chronic illness or dysfunctional relationships, when acknowledged and properly managed, play a role in adjusting behaviour and generating an appropriate response.
Other studies[26] have shown that in situations where people feel pressure from those around them not to show negative emotions, their emotional state worsens. This is what Barbara Held calls the “tyranny of the positive attitude,”[27] a phrase that describes society’s reduced tolerance for those who do not face life’s vicissitudes with a positive attitude.
Life is undoubtedly a melting pot in which positive and negative experiences are accumulated, the latter contributing to our maturation and refinement beyond the adjacent suffering. To claim that evil does not exist, or that we can dissipate it by an illusionistic act performed by the muscles of our will, places us in the same category as the naive gardeners in Lewis Caroll’s fantasy universe: the correction of the planters’ mistakes is done by dyeing the white roses on the Queen’s cricket pitch red.[28]
Perhaps we shouldn’t feel so disarmed by the grey shades of life, because, in the words of the Duchess, a memorable character from Wonderland, everything has a moral—you just have to be able to find it.
Carmen Lăiu is an editor at the Signs of the Times Romania and ST Network.
