Pollyanna’s principle originates from Eleanor H’s novels. Wear. Su protagonist, a girl of the same name, has the ability to focus only on the positive side of things. This fervent and determined optimism inspired the bias that would do so. allow us, in essence, to live happier and more connected with others.
Is it really appropriate to focus our personal vision on the positivity that affirms this psychological principle?It is very likely that most of our readers have serious doubts and some skepticism. Sometimes, as we well know, these pink lenses can cause us to lose certain angles of our environment, certain nuances of great relevance that diminish the realism and objectivity of our vision.
“The game is about finding something to always be happy. “-Hit-
The development of positive psychology led by Martin Seligman is undergoing important revisions, entities such as the University of Buckingham (the first institution in the world to train and educate its students on the fundamental principles of this perspective) are changing some of its foundations. related to the definition of happiness.
One way or another, can we say that he? New?Positive psychology has abandoned the pretence of teaching us to be happier, the famous culture of happiness and all these self-help books and books give way to a new format, a new perspective, in which we give tools to know how to deal also with the negative and adversity. Why in life can’t we always focus on this bright and optimistic side as Pollyanna did, always resolute and alive?
After being orphaned, little Pollyanna was sent to live with her bitter and strict Aunt Polly; Far from giving up, the little girl did not hesitate to continue to apply, day by day, the philosophy of life that her own father created from a very young age. age: make your reality a game where we only see the good and the positive.
No matter how unfortunate the situation was; Pollyanna was able to solve and manage any circumstance with the greatest optimism and cheerful determination.
On the other hand, a notable effect of this literary character was also the influence he had on others: sooner or later, the most miserable, listless or sad character ended up handing himself over to the girl’s bright and luminous personality.
Eleanor H. Porter’s books, as we can see, conveyed an absolute sublimation of positivism, something that inspired two psychologists of the 1970s, the Dres. Margaret Matlin and David Stang.
Dr. Steven Novella, a renowned neurysiologist at Yale University, has written several articles and studies on so-called false memory or storage errors so common in humans.
Therefore, a curious fact about Pollyanna’s principle or bias of positivity is that optimistic people generally don’t remember much of the negative events of their past.
The quality of your memory is ideal and perfect, with all events treated as “positive”. On the other hand, they do not store painful or complex events in the same way, as they are not considered significant.
This fact is really curious. In 2014, Cornell University in New York conducted a study to find out if our language generally tends to be aggressive or bias positive. Professor Peter Dodds and his team analyzed more than 100,000 words in 10 different languages, performing in-depth analysis. interactions on our social networks.
As impressive as it may seem, our language and the messages we send have a distinctly positive emotional weight. These conclusions coincide with those established by psychologists Matlin and Stang in the 1970s, namely: do people tend to “polyanism”?
Some psychologists prefer to talk about Pollyana syndrome rather than pollyanna’s principle. With this change in terminology, they seek to draw attention to limitations or even the disturbing aspects of this psychological dimension brought to the “extreme”.
For example, if we choose to focus only on this more optimistic aspect of life, we may show some incompetence when dealing with difficult situations. Pollyanna’s principle helps sometimes, it’s true.
Always having a cheerful and luminous view of things motivates us, of that there is no doubt, but to live you also have to face the negative moments and learn from them, our reality includes lights and shadows, and we can not always choose the sunniest side.
So what do we get?Is it recommended to follow the philosophy of the Pollyanna principle or not?The key to everything, as always, is balance. In the intermission he looks to the bright side of life, but this does not close his eyes and avoid difficulties.
In the end, positive psychology is always inspiring, but sometimes succeeding or not or preventing certain things from happening does not depend 100% on the attitude you have.
Everything that shines is not gold, so should you be prepared to better manage any circumstance, knowing how to manage the lights, shadows and all the grayscales?