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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  54
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 do we learn from the experiment of Wood, Lee and Perunovic?
选项 A、It is important for people to continually boost their self-esteem.
B、Self-affirmation can bring a positive change to one’s mood.
C、Forcing a person to think positive thoughts may lower their self-esteem.
D、People with low self-esteem seldom write down their true feelings.
答案C
解析 推理判断题。根据题干定位到文章第五段：Those with low self-esteem didn’t feel better after the forced self-affirmation．In fact，their moods turned significantly darker that those of members of the control group，who weren’t urged to think positive thoughts．(这种强制性的自我肯定并没有让那些自信心不足的人感觉好些。事实上，他们的心情比对照组里那些没有被强制要求积极思考的人明显变差很多。)根据这一段的描述并综合上下文我们推断出强制进行积极思考并不会使人感觉好，反而会降低人的自信心。选项A、B、D均不符合题意。因此选C。
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