Vivat Libertas

There is a very appealing concept sold by the positive living industry: the critical positivity ratio, or the Losada line. First published in 2005 by the psychologists Marcial Losada and Barbara Fredrickson, their paper uses nonlinear dynamical modelling to show that people need a ratio of just three positive interactions to one negative one to live happier, healthier lives. It's a brilliant idea, combining mathematical legitimacy and common sense into one weird old tip for being happier. What a shame, then, that it's also complete bollocks. The critical positivity ratio was debunked by Nick Brown, a graduate student in applied positive psychology, Alan Sokal, a physicist most famous for trolling the journal Social Text  by writing complete shit and getting it published, and the psychologist Harris Friedman. There were severe flaws in the theory - for example, in several of Losada's analyses the data used did not meet the basic criteria for using differential equations ...

This formula doesn't even make that much sense and it's still  a better tool for finding happiness than what we've ever come up with. We Westerners seem to be on a quest for happiness. It's a quest as old as dirt, and in the thousands of years we've been on it we appear to have made no progress. And we call ourselves smart. I think that might need a little more consideration... ...Right, that's the obligatory misanthropy over with, so let's get back on track! Anyway, we're still on this quest today and still just as clueless. At this point, I'd love to turn to positive thinking (I reserve judgement on positive psychology in academia, as opposed to positive psychology in the media, due to not knowing enough about it) and absolutely fucking rip into it - and, for those of you who like some invective mixed in with a good dose of cynicism, disillusionment and disgust with the status quo, and maybe, hopefully, even a glimpse of some logic, I sha...

So...something with a rather academic title from me this time. Guess all these papers I've been reading have had an effect and somehow managed to make me even more geeky. Anyway, a lot  of people extol the power of positive thinking. A lot . Some go so far as to say that positive thinking can alter reality itself (with, of course, the odd nod to quantum mechanics - which I doubt they understand). Others stick to more conventional grounds, such as optimism being linked to better health. I'm not going to argue with what the evidence says. I am, however, going to argue that there is a very dangerous current in "positive thinking": namely, it blames victims for their own plight . Victims by definition  are largely or completely blameless for the bad things that happen to them - but I'm getting ahead of myself. How does positive thinking blame victims? Well, it doesn't outright turn round and say "It's your  damn fault if bad stuff happens to you...