This week we talk to Gabriele Oettingen about rethinking positive thinking.
Gabriele Oettingen is a Professor of Psychology at New York University and the University of Hamburg. She is the author of more than a 100 articles and book chapters on thinking about the future and the control of cognition, emotion, and behavior. She received her Ph.D. from the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich and the Max Planck Institute for Behavioral Physiology in Seewiesen, Germany.
Her major contribution to the field is research on the perils of positive thinking and on Mental Contrasting, a self-regulation technique that is effective for mastering one’s everyday life and long-term development. Gabriele Oettingen’s work is published in social and personality psychology, developmental and educational psychology, in health and clinical psychology, in organizational and consumer psychology, as well as in neuropsychological and medical journals. Her findings contribute to the burgeoning literature on life style change and businesses and institutions have increasingly become interested in the application of her research.
Her first trade book, RETHINKING POSITIVE THINKING: Inside the New Science of Motivation was published in October 2014.
In This Interview Gabriele and I Discuss...
The One You Feed parable.
How positive thinking can lead to worse results.
How just fantasizing makes it less likely that those fantasies come true.
What mental contrasting is.
Using mental contrasting to increase your likelihood of success.
How envisioning our obstacles can make us more likely to achieve the goals.
What implementation intention is and how to use it in your life.
The WOOP method- Wish, Outcome, Obstacle, Plan.
Using WOOP to bring about success in our lives.
How WOOP works on the unconscious mind.
Eric gets WOOP'ed.
Gabriele Oettingen Links
Woop Main Site
Rethinking Positive Thinking Book
Gabrielle Oettingen Homepage
Some of our most popular interviews that you might also enjoy:
Dan Harris
Todd Henry- author of Die Empty
Randy Scott Hyde
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.