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  3. The 811 billion self-help industry is built on the idea that you should turn negative thoughts like "I never do anything right"

The 811 billion self-help industry is built on the idea that you should turn negative thoughts like "I never do anything right"

admin2011-01-08  33
问题     The 811 billion self-help industry is built on the idea that you should turn negative thoughts like "I never do anything right" into positive ones like "I can succeed." But was positive thinking advocate Norman, Vincent Peale right? Is there power in positive thinking?
    Researchers in Canada just published a study in the journal Psychological Science that says trying to get people to think more positively can actually have the opposite effect: it can simply highlight how unhappy they are.
    The study’s authors, Joanne Wood and John Lee of the University of Waterloo and Elaine Perunovic of the University of New Brunswick, begin by citing older research showing that when people get feedback which they believe is overly positive, they actually feel worse, not better. If you tell your dim friend that he has the potential of an Einstein, you’re just underlining his faults. In one 1990s experiment, a team including psychologist Joel Cooper of Princeton asked participants to write essays opposing funding for the disabled. When the essayists were later praised for their sympathy, they felt even worse about what they had written.
    In this experiment, Wood, Lee and Perunovic measured 68 students’ self-esteem. The participants were then asked to write down their thoughts and feelings for four minutes. Every 15 seconds, one group of students heard a bell. When it rang, they were supposed to tell themselves, "I am lovable."
    Those with low self-esteem didn’t feel better after the forced self-affirmation. In fact, their moods turned significantly darker than those of members of the control group, who weren’t urged to think positive thoughts.
    The paper provides support for newer forms for psychotherapy (心理治疗) that urge people to accept their negative thoughts and feelings rather than fight them. In the fighting, we not only often fail but can make things worse. Meditation (静思) techniques, in contrast, can teach people to put their shortcomings into a larger, more realistic perspective. Call it the power of negative thinking.

What is the finding of the Canadian researchers?
选项 A、Encouraging positive thinking may do more harm than good.
B、There can be no simple therapy for psychological problems.
C、Unhappy people cannot think positively.
D、The power of positive thinking is limited.
答案A
解析 细节题。根据题干定位到文章第二段：Researchers in Canada just published a study in the journal Psychological Science that says trying to get people to think more positively can actually have the opposite effect：it can simply highlight how unhappy they are．(加拿大的研究者最近在《心理科学》杂志上发表了一项新发现，这项发现表明试图让人们想法更积极事实上具有反作用：这样只会更加强调出人们现在有多么不开心．)选项A(鼓励积极思考可能会更加有害而不是有益)与原文相符。选项B、C、D文中均未直接提及。因此选A。
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