Is your glass half full - or half empty?

24 May 2018 9:13 AM | Anonymous

Alison Ledgerwood, a Professor of Psychology at UC Davis, presented a thought-provoking TED talk about ‘getting stuck in the negatives - and how to get unstuck’.  Essentially, it’s about the power of positive language.

Do you ever wonder why we remember our failures very clearly, but are more likely to ‘gloss-over’ or forget our successes? 

Alison speaks about getting stuck in the ‘loss frame’.  It’s the way we look at things.  ‘Glass half empty’ is the loss frame, while ‘glass half full’ is the gain frame.

While we are all pretty familiar with the glass half full or half empty analogy, we tend to put it down to simple optimism or pessimism.  However, Alison’s research shows it’s much more than that. 

It seems that if we think in the gain frame – glass half full, we can be convinced to change our thoughts to the negative, loss frame, if presented with an alternative view. 

However, if we start in the loss frame, it’s almost impossible to change our thinking to the positive.  She calls this getting stuck in the loss frame

Accordingly, she advises to always think positively, work to see the upside and also explains why expressing gratitude, works so well as it focuses us on the positives.

Invest a very worthwhile 10 minutes of your time and watch this video, it might just change the way you think.

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