Synopses & Reviews
Ellen J. Langer, Harvard professor of psychology, determines that the mindless following of routine and other automatic behaviors lead to much error, pain and a predetermined course of life. In this thought-provoking book, her research has been "translated" for the lay reader. With anecdotes and metaphors, Langer 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.
Review
Stretches our minds in startling new directions.”
Howard Gardner
Ellen Langer has succeeded in writing a book that, in one bite, manages to be scientifically interesting, immensely practical, and dramatically absorbing. It is about the mindsets that lead human beingseven the smartest of themto become stupid and mindless. Its power as drama in demonstrating that mindlessness leads not only to the banality of dullness, but to a giving up of life itself. In a series of fascinating research studies, Dr. Langer demonstrates that the young can be made more creative, the man in charge made more effective, and the elderly kept from giving in to and dying of their age.”
Jerome Bruner, author of Actual Minds, Possible Worlds
One simply cant finish this book and not see the world in the same way.”
Alan Dershowitz, Harvard Law School
"A provocative, engaging essay on the relation between our mindstates and our actions, by an astute and irrepressible social scientist who obviously enjoys playing with bold ideas."
Jerome Kagan, Harvard University
A landmark work of social psychology.”
Booklist
"Langer. . . .has shown us the power of mindfulness."
Psychology Today
"Extremely provocative. . . . This book cannot be read mindlessly."
Robert Abelson, Yale University
Female First, 1/18/15
Mindfulness is the book which changed it all.”
Blogging on Business (UK), 3/14/15
More relevant now than ever before.”
Synopsis
A classic in social psychology about the concept of mindfulness
Synopsis
The revolutionary book that showed how mindfulness can be applied to every aspect of our lives The highly innovative findings of social psychologist Dr. Ellen J. Langer and her team of researchers at Harvard introduced a unique concept of mindfulness, adapted to contemporary life in the West. Langer's theory has been applied to a wide number of fields, including health, business, aging, social justice, and learning. There is now a new psychological assessment based on her work (called the Langer Mindfulness Scale). In her introduction to this 25th anniversary edition, Dr. Langer (now known as "the Mother of Mindfulness") outlines some of these exciting applications and suggests those still to come.
Synopsis
In the years since it was first published, this influential book based on the highly innovative findings of social psychologist Dr. Ellen J. Langer and her team of researchers at Harvard made its mark for its unique concept of mindfulness, thoroughly adapted to contemporary life in the West. Langers theory has been applied to a wide number of fields, including health, business, aging, prejudice, and learning. There is now a new psychological assessment based on her work (called the Langer Mindfulness Scale) as well as an institute in Mexico founded to apply the concepts of mindfulness to health and wellness. In her introduction to this 25th anniversary edition, Dr. Langer outlines some of these exciting applications and suggests those still to come.
About the Author
Ellen Langer Ph.D. , Professor of Psychology at Harvard University,. is the author
The Psychology of Control, Mindfulness, The Power of Mindful Learning, On Becoming an Artist and
Counterclockwise. Here work has been translated into a dozen languages.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..
Table of Contents
Preface to the 25th Anniversary Edition1. Introduction
PART ONE: Mindlessness
2. When the Lights On and Nobodys Home
Trapped by Categories
Automatic Behavior
Acting from a Single Perspective
3. The Roots of Mindlessness
The Mindless Expert”
The Sacrilegious Poodle
Mindlessness and the Unconscious
Belief in Limited Resources
Entropy and Linear Time as Limiting Mindsets
Education for Outcome
The Power of Context
4. The Costs of Mindlessness
A Narrow Self-Image
Unintended Cruelty
Loss of Control
Learned Helplessness
Stunted Potential
PART TWO: Mindfulness
5. The Nature of Mindfulness
Creating New Categories
Welcoming New Information
More Than One View
Control Over Context: The Birdman of Alcatraz
Process Before Outcome
Mindfulness East and West
6. Mindful Aging
Control and Survival
Reversing Memory Loss
Outgrowing Mindsets
Stretching the Limits of Age
Growth in Age
Putting Age in Context: An Experiment
7. Creative Uncertainty
Mindfulness and Intuition
Creativity and Conditional Learning
Distinctions and Analogies
8. Mindfulness on the Job
Welcoming the Glitch
Second Wind
Innovation
The Power of Uncertainty for Managers
Burnout and Control
9. Decreasing Prejudice by Increasing Discrimination
A Patient by Any Other Name
The Painted Cast
Mindfully Different
Disabling Mindsets
Discrimination Without Prejudice
10. Minding Matters: Mindfulness and Health
Dualism: A Dangerous Mindset
The Body in Context
Addiction in Context
The Traditional Placebo: Fooling the Mind
The Active Placebo: Enlisting the Mind
Epilogue: Beyond Mindfulness