Product Description

"A landmark work of social psychology" (Booklist) now in paperback at a popular price. " . . . Harvard psychology professor Langer seeks to dramatize the rigid conditions and mindsets that often produce a pervasive state of automatized stupidity . . . (and) proposes a life-enhancing alternative."--Kirkus Reviews.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #44000 in Books
• Published on: 1990-01-21
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

From Publishers Weekly
The mindless following of routine and other automatic behaviors lead to much error, pain and a predetermined course of life, contends Langer, Harvard professor of psychology, in this thought-provoking study in which she "translates" for lay readers the findings of her research, much of it among the elderly. With anecdotes and metaphors, she explains how the mindless--as opposed to the mindful--develop mindsets of categories, associations, habits of thought born of repetition in childhood and throughout schooling. To be mindful, she notes, stressing process over outcome, allows free rein to intuition and creativity, and opens us to new information and perspectives. Langer discusses the negative impact of mindsets on business and social relations, showing special concern for the elderly, who often suffer from learned helplessness and lack of options. Encouraging the application of mindfulness to health, the author affirms that placebos and alternative, mind-based therapies can help patients and addicts move from unhealthy to healthy contexts. First serial to Health magazine; QPBC, Library of Science, Behavioral Science, Natural Science and Psychotherapy and Social Science Book Clubs selections.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author
Ellen J. Langer, Ph.D., professor of psychology at Harvard University, is the author of Personal Politics (with Carol Dweck), The Psychology of Control, and Mindfulness, which has been published in ten countries. She is also coeditor of Higher Stages of Development and Beliefs, Attitudes and Decision Making. She is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and numerous awards including the Award for Distinguished Contributions to Psychology in the Public Interest of the American Psychological Association.

Customer Reviews

A childish view of human behavior
Childish, simplistic, overly geared towards FEEL good solutions , and much to idealistic! However, makes some good points.

Ignores related psychological research
This book made me angry. It has a reputation that far outstrips the qulaity of the secondary research that was done. (I am not critical of the primary research.) Professor Langer had published her most important article in 1978, but by the time the book was published there was an enormous amount of scientific-quality work that had been done. In addition there are other fields that had generated a huge amount of knowledge that has direct bearing on Professor Langer's main concept. There are some obvious lines of research by cognitive psychologists that are not referenced. For example, James Reason (and Klara Mycielska) had published in 1982 (seven years before Langer's book) "Absent-Minded?: the psychology of mental lapses and everyday errors", a full book. The literature on questionnaire construction is chock full of information about the importance of how questions are framed. Con-men and magicians have known about misdirection for millennia. I would have expected a little more connection to these obvious sources of information on the phenomenon being studied.

Not helpful
This book is more for the psychiatric professional and not for a person who is trying to become more mindful. The first half of the book focused on mindlessness. The second half of the book focused on experiments done with various groups of people and how those experiments helped those people become more mindful.