Positive Thinking Doesn’t Work; Here’s What Does

New York Magazine:

We were told for years, by Oprah and others, that positive thinking was the key to achieving our goals. Now mounting evidence suggests exactly the opposite: that spending a lot of time thinking about your hopes and dreams may make you less likely to put in the work required to actually achieve those dreams. So if positivity is out, what should goal-oriented people replace it with?

This week on the “Psychology Podcast” — a newish venture from cognitive psychologist Scott Barry Kaufman — New York University psychologist Gabriele Oettingen talked about a four-step plan she’s come up with from her years of research. (Oettingen is the author of the new book Researching Positive Thinking: Inside the New Science of Motivation, which Science of Us ran an excerpt of in October.) Oettingen explained the plan to Kaufman; it’s a delightful little acronym that spells WOOP.

Read the whole story: New York Magazine