Geoffrey W. Sutton PhD, Psychology and Culture

OPTIMISM & FAITH When I go to the gym today (or maybe tomorrow), I expect the parking lot to be full. This time of year, a lot of people resolve to improve their lives. We want to get healthy and get rid of bad habits. Unfortunately, within a few weeks or months optimism wanes. And many fall back into old ways. FROM DEPRESSION TO OPTIMISM Years ago, Martin Seligman studied depression in animals. His research seemed to suggest that animals “gave up” as if they learned to be helpless. When Seligman and others examined how people thought about circumstances, they detected pessimistic thinking. And in contrast, researchers found positive thinking in others. Seligman has been instrumental in the development of positive psychology and has become well known for his work on learned optimism. SEVEN FINDINGS ABOUT OPTIMISM What do we know about learned optimism and life? Here’s a summary from Snyder, Lopez, and Pedrotti’s book on Positive Psychology . People wh...

👉WARNING: SENSITIVE CONTENT "I have cried every single day since Matthew died…" Rick Warren story in Premier Christianity, 2016 September 17, 2013. In an emotional interview with Piers Morgan, Pastor Rick Warren and his wife, Kay responded to questions about their son’s suicide in April 2013. This post includes information on how this well known Christian leader and his wife coped with their son's suicide. Because he is a well-known Evangelical Pastor, I expect Rick Warren to turn to God for support. But I also expect him to be real. To show his emotions. To be one of us. And he was. And so was Kay. And it was clear that Kay and Rick supported each other. In my previous post I wrote about attributions.  Ironically, I referred to people with a purpose having no clue the author of T he Purpose Driven Life would offer a powerful story a week later. And not surprisingly, I found a mix of attributions as Rick and Kay spoke about the tragic suicide of their son. I ...

How Religious People Create Meaning God let me live for a purpose. I know God has a plan for my life. But for the grace of God, there go I. All things work together for good… That’s a sign from God that we need to repent or ... Religious and spiritual people have attributed life events to God or gods, or other supernatural forces for millennia. Attribution theory is one of the leading social and cognitive psychology theories in the psychology of religion that helps guide research. Attributions explain life events We attribute positive outcomes like winning a game or lottery and getting a plum job and negative outcomes such as vehicle accidents, house fires, and the life changing powerful tsunamis, tornadoes and earthquakes to natural causes or to supernatural interventions. We explain events based on a sense of how it happened. When perplexed, many spiritual people seek answers from God or their spiritual advisers. The clergy appear on TV and issue prono...