June 15, 2014

Free Videos on the Benefits of Positive Thinking

For years LearnOutLoud.com has placed huge importance on showcasing audio & video titles that foster positive living. With this list of free videos on the benefits of positive thinking, we’ve collected our lectures and programs from our favorite self-help thinkers dedicated to keeping a positive mental attitude. Below you’ll find titles from Martin Seligman on positive psychology, Brian Johnson on learned optimism, and Matt Ridley on being a rational optimist. Escape self-absorption and change your negative train of thought starting with any of the links below:

1. Martin Seligman on Positive Psychology

In this TED talk Martin Seligman, the founder of positive psychology and the author Authentic Happiness and Learned Optimism, looks at ways healthy people can lead happier, more engaged, and more meaningful lives. While Seligman acknowledges that psychology has done a pretty good job over the past 50 years of making miserable people feel less miserable, he shows that there is a whole other realm of positive psychology which he and a group of other psychologists are only beginning to study. Seligman tells some of his findings on what contributes to healthy states of mind and what fosters genius. Going beyond the conventional, pleasure-seeking form of happiness, Seligman points to practices that truly give life meaning. This talk is available on streaming video and MP3 audio download from TED.com.

2. Escape Self-Absorption through Positive Emotions

Barbara Fredrickson is a social psychologist and researcher on positive emotions. Her recent book Positivity details her research in the area of positive emotions and in this talk Fredrickson defines and describes the positive emotions which she studies and the greater impact they have on health and social relations. Moving past the fight or flight psychology of negative emotions such as anxiety, she discusses her broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions which broaden one’s awareness and encourage novel, varied, and exploratory thoughts and actions. This talk is available on streaming video Boston University’s BUniverse website and if you like it there are a number of other videos on the site with Professor Fredrickson.

3. Tony Robbins Asks Why We Do What We Do

Self development expert Anthony Robbins speaks at the TED Conference on what motivates people. Robbins insists that he isn’t a motivator, but instead he is out to find what motivates people and what it is that makes the difference in the quality of people’s lives. He discusses briefly the core human needs that drive people. This talk is available on streaming video from TED.com.

4. Shawn Achor on The Happiness Advantage

In this rapid fire talk from TEDxBloomington, Shawn Achor pushes for more focus on research into positive psychology and what makes a person better than average. He looks at the disease model of psychology which sets out to get people feeling normal or average, and pushes us to shift our focus to a positive psychology model which sets out to change the mind and the brain to be better than average. He provides some quick tips on ways to alter your psychology in a positive manner.

5. Matt Ridley on The Rational Optimist

Put yourself in an optimistic mindset about the future of our species and the world, with the facts presented by author Matt Ridley from his book The Rational Optimist. Matt Ridley applies ideas about evolution to the sort of sharing of ideas and technologies that occur in contemporary society, and feels that this trading of information and goods has led to a cumulative benefit for almost everyone. He then goes down the list of predicted catastrophes like population growth and climate change, and he attempts to debunk the evidence that these issues spell doom for humanity. Learn to think rationally positive about our future with author Matt Ridley.

6. Zaadz Notes: Learned Optimism

In this piece of motivation, Brian Johnson (CEO of Zaadz.com) looks at Dr. Martin Seligman’s book Learned Optimism. We find that optimism is much more than repeating positive mantras. It’s about how we inwardly interpret the external events that we continually face. Does our internal dialogue react to negative outcomes as permanent conditions or temporary setbacks? It’s an interesting concept and worth learning about. This talk is available from LearnOutLoud.com on MP3 Download.

7. The Maslow Podcast

Listen to this podcast featuring samples of lectures by the founder of humanistic psychology Abraham Maslow. Maslow developed the hierarchy of human needs and he has since been influential among the leaders of the positive psychology movement such as Martin Seligman. In these talks delivered at the Esalen Institute in the 1960s Maslow covers “The Farther Reaches of Human Nature”, “Eupsychian Ethic”, and more. These podcasts aren’t the full lectures but rather samples from the lectures which provide a smattering of ideas from Maslow. For audio downloads of the full lectures visit our Abraham Maslow Author Page. Enjoy these brief bits of wisdom from this highly influential American psychologist.