Bright-Sided

by Barbara Ehrenreich

  12. Seligman, Authentic Happiness, 39.

  13. Ibid., 28, 38, 43, 103.

  14. Ibid., 119, 120–21.

  15. Ibid., 129, 133.

  16. Ibid., 45.

  17. Ibid., 129.

  18. Barbara Held, “The Negative Side of Positive Psychology,” Journal of Humanistic Psychology 44 (Winter 2004): 9–46.

  19. Biswas-Diener and Dean, Positive Psychology Coaching, 31.

  20. Sonja Lyubomirsky, Laura King, and Ed Diener, “The Benefits of Frequent Positive Affect: Does Happiness Lead to Success?,” Psychological Bulletin 131 (2005): 803–55.

  21. Mike McGrath, “When Back Pain Starts in Your Head: Is Repressed Anger Causing Your Back Pain?” [http://www.prevention.com/cda/article/when-back-pain-starts-in-your-head/727b7e643f803110VgnVCM10000013281eac____/health/conditions.treatments/back.pain] http://www.prevention.com/cda/article/when-back-pain-starts-in-your-head/727b7e643f803110VgnVCM10000013281eac____/health/conditions.treatments/back.pain.

  22. Seligman, Authentic Happiness, 3. Deborah D. Danner, David A. Snowdon, and Wallace V. Friesen, “Findings from the Nun Study, University of Kentucky,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 80 (2001): 804–13.

  23. Gina Kolata, “Research Links Writing Style to the Risk of Alzheimer’s,” New York Times, Feb. 21, 1996, [http://www.nytimes.com/1996/02/21/us/research-links-writing-style-to-the-risk-of-alzheimers.html?sec=health] http://www.nytimes.com/1996/02/21/us/research-links-writing-style-to-the-risk-of-alzheimers.html?sec=health.

  24. LeeAnne Harker and Dacher Keltner, “Expressions of Positive Emotion in Women’s College Yearbook Pictures and Their Relationship to Personality and Life Outcomes across Adulthood,” University of California, Berkeley, [http://ist-socrates.berkeley.edu/~keltner/publications/harker.jpsp.2001.pdf] http://ist-socrates.berkeley.edu/~keltner/publications/harker.jpsp.2001.pdf; Jeremy Freese, Sheri Meland, and William Irwin, “Expressions of Positive Emotion in Photographs, Personality, and Later-Life Marital and Health Outcomes,” Journal of Research in Personality, 2006, [http://www.jeremyfreese.com/docs/FreeseMelandIrwin%20-%20JRP%20-%20ExpressionsPositiveEmotionInPhotographs.pdf] http://www.jeremyfreese.com/docs/FreeseMelandIrwin%20-%20JRP%20-%20ExpressionsPositiveEmotionInPhotographs.pdf.

  25. Glenn V. Ostir, Kenneth J. Ottenbacher, and Kyriakos S. Markides, “Onset of Frailty in Older Adults and the Protective Role of Positive Affect,” Psychology and Aging 19 (2004): 402–8.

  26. Seligman, Authentic Happiness, 40.

  27. James Coyne et al., “Emotional Well-Being Does Not Predict Survival in Head and Neck Cancer Patients,” Cancer, Dec. 1, 2007; Merritt McKinney, “Optimism Doesn’t Improve Lung Cancer Survival,” Reuters Health, Feb. 9, 2004.

  28. See, for example, L. B. Kubansky and I. Kawachi, “Going to the Heart of the Matter: Do Negative Emotions Cause Coronary Heart Disease?,” Journal of Psychosomatic Research 48 (2000): 323–37.

  29. Held, “Negative Side of Positive Psychology.”

  30. Ibid.

  31. Melissa Healy, “Truth Is, It’s Best If They Know,” Oct. 30, 2006, [http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-he-realists30oct30,0,141646.story?coll=lahomehealth] http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-he-realists30oct30,0,141646.story?coll=lahomehealth.

  32. Derek M. Isaacowitz, with M. E. P. Seligman, “Is Pessimistic Explanatory Style a Risk Factor for Depressive Mood among Community-Dwelling Older Adults?,” Behaviour Research and Therapy 39 (2001): 255–72.

  33. Mary Duenwald, “Power of Positive Thinking Extends, It Seems, to Aging,” New York Times, Nov. 19, 2002.

  34. Ibid.

  35. Quoted in B. Held, “The ‘Virtues’ of Positive Psychology,” Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology 25 (2005): 1–34.

  36. Sarah D. Pressman and Sheldon Cohen, “Does Positive Affect Influence Health?” Psychological Bulletin 131 (2005): 925–71.

  37. [http://esi-topics.com/fbp/2007/june07-Pressman_Cohen.html] http://esi-topics.com/fbp/2007/june07-Pressman_Cohen.html.

  38. Seligman, Authentic Happiness, 40; Suzanne C. Segerstrom, “Optimism, Goal Conflict, and Stressor-Related Immune Change,” Journal of Behavioral Medicine 24, no. 5 (2001).

  39. Susan Ferraro, “Never a Cloudy Day: The Link between Optimism and Good Health,” New York Daily News, June 17, 2002.

  40. [http://www.templeton.org/capabilities_2004/pdf/the_joy_of_giving.pdf] http://www.templeton.org/capabilities_2004/pdf/the_joy_of_giving.pdf.

  41. [http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/10/a-big-donor-goe.html] http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/10/a-big-donor-goe.html.

  42. John Templeton Foundation, Form 990, 2005.

  43. John Templeton Foundation, Capabilities Report, 2006, 77.

  44. Freedman, interview with Martin E. P. Seligman.

  45. Jane Mayer, “The Experiment: The Military Trains People to Withstand Interrogation. Are Those Methods Being Misused at Guantánamo?” New Yorker, July 11, 2005, 60.

  46. David Montgomery, “A Happiness Gap: Doomacrats and Republigrins,” Washington Post, Oct. 24, 2008.

  47. Daniel Gilbert, Stumbling on Happiness (New York: Vintage, 2007), 243.

  48. Biswas-Diener and Dean, Positive Psychology Coaching, 229.

  49. Sam Fulwood III, “Poised for Joy: Life Coaches Teach How to Be Happy,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, Feb. 9, 2008.

  50. Sara Martin, “Seligman Laments People’s Tendency to Blame Others,” APA Monitor, Oct. 1998.

  51. Seligman, Authentic Happiness, 50.

  52. Brad Lemley, “Shiny Happy People: Can You Reach Nirvana with the Aid of Science?” Discover, Aug. 2006, [http://discovermagazine.com/2006/aug/shinyhappy] http://discovermagazine.com/2006/aug/shinyhappy.

  53. D. T. Max, “Happiness 101,” New York Times Magazine, Jan. 7, 2007.

  54. [http://www.flourishingschools.org/programs.htm] http://www.flourishingschools.org/programs.htm.

  55. Max, “Happiness 101.”

  SEVEN. How Positive Thinking Destroyed the Economy

  1. Michael A. Fletcher, “1 in 4 Working Families Now Low-Wage, Report Finds,” Washington Post, Oct. 15, 2008.

  2. David Leonhardt, “Larry Summers’s Evolution,” New York Times, June 10, 2007.

  3. Leslie Bennetts, “The End of Hubris,” Portfolio, Dec. 2008, [http://www.portfolio.com/news-markets/national-news/portfolio/2008/11/19/Greed-and-Doom-on-Wall-Street] http://www.portfolio.com/news-markets/national-news/portfolio/2008/11/19/Greed-and-Doom-on-Wall-Street.

  4. John Schmitt and Ben Zipperer, “Is the U.S. a Good Model for Reducing Social Exclusion in Europe?,” Center for Economic Policy Review, Aug. 2006.

  5. Carol Graham and Soumya Chattopadhyay, “Gross National Happiness and the Economy,” [http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2006/04/b1579981.html] http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2006/04/b1579981.html.

  6. Dean Baker, Plunder and Blunder: The Rise and Fall of the Bubble Economy (Sausalito: Polipoint Press, 2009), 3.

  7. Paul Krugman, “Lest We Forget,” New York Times, Nov. 11, 2008.

  8. Quoted in Karen A. Cerulo, Never Saw It Coming: Cultural Challenges to Envisioning the World (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006), 61–62.

  9. Karin Klein, “Wish for a Cake—and Eat It Too,” Los Angeles Times, Feb. 13, 2007.

  10. Joel Osteen, Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential (New York: Faith Words, 2004), 7–8.

  11. David Van Biema, “Maybe We Should Blame God for the Subprime Mortgage Mess,” Time, Oct. 3, 2008.

  12. Kevin Phillips, Bad Money: Reckless Finance, Failed Politics, and the Global Crisis of American Capitalism (New York: Viking, 2008) 92–95.

  13. Baker, Plunder and Blunder, 97.

  14. Stephen S. Roach, “Dying of Consumption,” New York Times, Nov. 28, 2008; Phillips, Bad Money, 43.

  15. Alan Zibel, “Personal Bankruptcy Filings Rise 40%,” [http://Washingtonpost.com] Washingtonpost.com, Jan. 4, 2008.

  16. Steven Pearlstein, “
A Perfect Storm? No, a Failure of Leadership,” Washington Post, Dec. 12, 2008.

  17. Robert J. Samuelson, “The Engine of Mayhem,” Newsweek, Oct. 13, 2008, [http://www.newsweek.com/id/163743] http://www.newsweek.com/id/163743.

  18. Steve Fishman, “Burning Down His House,” New York, Dec. 8, 2008.

  19. Larry King Live, CNN, Nov. 21, 2008.

  20. Jenny Anderson and Vikas Bajaj, “Merrill Tries to Temper the Pollyannas in Its Ranks,” New York Times, May 15, 2008.

  21. [http://about.countrywide.com/PressRelease/PressRelease.aspx?rid=515497&pr=yes] http://about.countrywide.com/PressRelease/PressRelease.aspx?rid=515497&pr=yes.

  22. Gretchen Morgenson and Geraldine Fabrikant, “Countrywide’s Chief Salesman and Defender,” New York Times, Nov. 11, 2007.

  23. Adam Michaelson, The Foreclosure of America: The Inside Story of the Rise and Fall of Countrywide Home Loans, the Mortgage Crisis, and the Default of the American Dream (New York: Berkley, 2009), 260, 205, 261.

  24. Michael Lewis, “The End of Wall Street’s Boom,” [http://Portfolio.com] Portfolio.com, Dec. 2008.

  25. Fishman, “Burning Down His House.”

  26. Jo Becker, Sheryl Gay Stolberg, and Stephen Labaton, “White House Philosophy Stoked Mortgage Bonfire,” New York Times, Dec. 21, 2008.

  27. Julia Hobsbawm, “The Joy of Coaching,” May 24, 2007, [http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-magazine/business/31040/the-joy-of-coaching.thtml] http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-magazine/business/31040/the-joy-of-coaching.thtml.

  28. Baker, Plunder and Blunder, 16; Eduardo Porter, “More Than Ever, It Pays to Be the Top Executive,” New York Times, May 25, 2007.

  29. Robert Frank, Richistan: A Journey through the American Wealth Boom and the Lives of the New Rich (New York: Crown, 2007), 16.

  30. David Lazarus, “Wretched Excess Rides High in Many Executive Suites,” San Francisco Chronicle, Dec. 29, 2002.

  31. [http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/comment/jack-welch-neutron-jack-flattens-the-bleeding-hearts748440.html] http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/comment/jack-welch-neutron-jack-flattens-the-bleeding-hearts748440.html.

  32. Fishman, “Burning Down His House.”

  33. Ibid.

  34. Eric Dezenhall and John Weber, Damage Control: How to Get the Upper Hand When Your Business Is under Attack (New York: Portfolio, 2007), 188.

  35. Roger Lowenstein, “Triple-A Failure,” New York Times Magazine, April 27, 2008.

  36. [http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/10/23/greenspan/#] http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/10/23/greenspan/#.

  37. Paul Vitello, “An Evangelical Article of Faith: Bad Times Draw Bigger Crowds,” New York Times, Dec. 14, 2008.

  38. Larry King Live, CNN, Dec. 8, 2008; “When the Economy Gives You Lemons,” Marketplace, American Public Media, Nov. 26, 2007.

  39. Uri Friedman, “Sales Down, So Firms Boost Morale,” Christian Science Monitor, Aug. 22, 2008, [http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0822/p03s01-usec.html] http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0822/p03s01-usec.html.

  40. Patricia Leigh Brown, “Even if You Can’t Buy It, Happiness Is Big Business,” New York Times, Nov. 27, 2008.

  41. Jodie Tillman, “If You’re Unhappy and Know It, Shut Up,” St. Petersburg Times, Jan. 29, 2008.

  42. Cindy Krischer Goodman, “How to Survive the Economic Crisis: Be Positive, Proactive,” Miami Herald, Oct. 28, 2008.

  43. Eli Davidson, “How to Get through the Recession with Less Depression,” Sept. 25, 2008, [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eli-davidson/how-to-get-through-the-re_b_128971.html] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eli-davidson/how-to-get-through-the-re_b_128971.html.

  44. “Tony Robbins, Life Coach, Gives Suggestions for Dealing with Our Shaky Economy,” Today, MSNBC, Oct. 13, 2008.

  45. Dennis Byrne, “Facts You Just Can’t Believe In,” Dec. 30, 2008, [http://www.chicago-tribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-oped1230byrnedec30] www.chicago-tribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-oped1230byrnedec30,0,787857.story.

  EIGHT. Postscript on Post–Positive Thinking

  1. Sally Quinn and Ben Bradlee, “On Faith: Are You Satisfied with Where You Are Now in Your Life?,” Washington Post, May 22, 2007, [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2007/05/18/DI2007051801202.html?tid=informbox] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2007/05/18/DI2007051801202.html?tid=informbox.

  2. Julie K. Norem, The Positive Power of Negative Thinking: Using Defensive Pessimism to Harness Anxiety and Perform at Your Peak (New York: Basic, 2001).

  3. Atul Gawande, “The Power of Negative Thinking,” New York Times, May 1, 2007.

  4. Ryszard Kapuscinski, Shah of Shahs (New York: Vintage, 1992), 89.

  5. Dubravka Ugresic, Thank You for Not Reading (Chicago: Dalkey Archive, 2003), 86.

  6. Pekka Pesonen, “Utopias to Norms: From Classicism to Socialist Realism,” [http://www.slav.helsinki.fi/studies/huttunen/mosaiikki/retro/en/centre-periphery/pp2_eng.htm] http://www.slav.helsinki.fi/studies/huttunen/mosaiikki/retro/en/centre-periphery/pp2_eng.htm.

  7. Ugresic, Thank You, 86.

  8. John Marks Templeton, The Templeton Plan: 21 Steps to Personal Success and Real Happiness (West Conshohocken: Templeton Foundation, 1997), 118.

  9. Carlin Flora, “The Pursuit of Happiness,” [http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/index.php?term=pto4738.html&fromMod=emailed] http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/index.php?term=pto4738.html&fromMod=emailed.

  10. Donald Meyer, The Positive Thinkers: Popular Religious Psychology from Mary Baker Eddy to Norman Vincent Peale and Ronald Reagan (Middletown: Wesleyan University Press, 1998), 393.

  11. Victoria Moore, “Promising You Can Have Anything Just by Thinking about It, It’s No Surprise The Secret Has Become the Fastest-Selling Self-Help Book Ever,” Daily Mail (London), April 26, 2007.

  12. “Psychologist Produces the First-Ever ‘World Map of Happiness,’ ” Science-Daily, Nov. 14, 2006, [http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/11/061113093726.htm] http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/11/061113093726.htm.

  13. David Leonhardt, “Money Doesn’t Buy Happiness. Well, on Second Thought. . .” New York Times, April 16, 2008.

  14. Fernanda Santos, “Are New Yorkers Happy? Some More Than Others,” New York Times, March 8, 2009.

  Acknowledgments

  Book writing can be a lonely business, but in this case I was able to pull together a little support group of people who were also challenging the prevailing positive-thinking consensus: Barbara Held, Jim Coyne, Micki McGee, Heather Love, Richard P. Sloan, and, most recently, Karen Cerulo. We conferred at length by phone, e-mail, and at our jolly annual “negative lunches,” and I thank them all for sharing their ideas and keeping me up to date—especially Barbara Held and Jim Coyne, who took the time to read and comment on chapter draft s.

  If he had lived long enough, historian Donald Meyer would have been a perfect addition to this group. I returned to his brilliant book The Positive Thinkers: popular Religious Psychology from Mary Baker Eddy to Norman Vincent Peale and Ronald Reagan again and again while working on mine.

  Others who were dragooned into reading and commenting on chapters include Bob Richardson, Ben Ehrenreich, Robert Orsi, Steve Eisman, Gary Long, and the delightful Eric Dezenhall. I also thank the many people who took time to talk or correspond with me along the way, including Catherine Albanese, Rosa Brooks, James Champy, David Collins, Aine Donovan, Marla Frederick, Carol Graham, Jonathan Haidt, Arlie Hochschild, Robert Jackall, Janet McIntosh, Helen Meldrum, Tom Morris, Nomi Prins, Ashley Pinnington, Vickie Sullivan, Howard Tennen, and Neil Weinstein. Sanho Tree and Tim Townsend shared their research on the Templeton Foundation with me; Diane Alexander provided invaluable assistance at many stages in the process.