Applying Learned Optimism to Increase Sales Productivity

Abstract

Why is it that individuals with the most talent are not always the most successful? Why are others over-achievers? Based on 30 years of research with over 1 million participants. Dr. Martin Seligman and his colleagues have uncovered a significant new predictor of achievement—optimistic expecta- tions. Ability and motivation are not always enough in the absence of optimistic exjjectations, particularly in situations that require persistence to overcome adversity, such as sales. In other words, research has finally turned common sense wisdom into scientific fact: Expectations of success or failure are often self-fulfilling prophecies. Moreover, this fact has been taken a step further— expectations can now be measured quantitatively and training programs can transform pessimism into optimism. The benefits of optimism have been proven—increased motivation, superior achieve- ment in various domains (including greater sales productivity), and better physical health. These findings have important implications for salesperson selection, training, and organization design. Why is it that individuals with the most talent are not always tbe most successful? Why are oth- ers over-achievers? Why does the best 20 percent of a sales force typically bring in about 80 percent of the sales? One important clue to the answers is

Full text

Applying Learned Optimism
to
Increase Sales
Productivity
Peter Schulman
Why is
it
that individuals with the most talent are not always the most successful? Why are others
over-achievers? Based on
30
years of research with over
1
million participants. Dr. Martin Seligman
and his colleagues have uncovered
a
significant new predictor of achievement—optimistic expecta-
tions.
Ability
and
motivation
are not
always enough
in the
absence
of
optimistic exjjectations,
particularly
in
situations that require persistence
to
overcome adversity, such
as
sales.
In
other
words, research has finally turned common sense wisdom into scientific fact: Expectations of success
or failure
are
often self-fulfilling prophecies. Moreover, this fact has been taken
a
step further—
expectations can now be measured quantitatively and training programs can transform pessimism
into optimism. The benefits of optimism have been proven—increased motivation, superior achieve-
ment
in
various domains (including greater sales productivity), and better physical health. These
findings have important implications for salesperson selection, training, and organization design.
Why
is it
that individuals with
the
most talent
are
not
always
tbe
most successful? Why
are
oth-
ers over-achievers? Why does the best 20 percent of
a sales force typically bring
in
about
80
percent
of
the sales?
One
important clue
to the
answers
is
how the individual handles adversity.
The traditional view is that there are two person-
ality traits that determine achievement—ability and
motivation.
In
over thirty years of research involv-
ing more than
1
million participants,
a
crucial third
factor
has
been uncovered—^the expectation that
one will succeed, ranging from optimistic
to
pessi-
mistic.
In
other words,
the
ability
to
succeed
and
the desire
to
succeed
are not
always enough with-
out
the
belief that one will succeed. Someone with
the talent
of a
Mozart
can
come
to
nothing
in the
absence of that
belief.
This is particularly true when
the task
at
hand is challenging and requires persis-
tence
to
overcome obstacles
and
setbacks.
It is the nature of selling that even the best sales-
person will fail
far
more often than succeed, so opti-
mistic expectations
are
critical
to
success
by
help-
ing the salesperson overcome the inevitable adver-
sity. Resistance, rejection,
and
hostility
all
come
wdth
the
territory
and
typically lead
to
high turn-
over and burnout rates.
Research
has
finally turned common sense wis-
dom into scientific fact: Expectations
of
success
or
failure
are
often self-fulfilling prophecies. The
be-
lief that one will succeed is the engine that inspires
the efforts needed to overcome obstacles and achieve
goals.
Research has shown that the belief that one
will succeed produces over-achievement
and the
belief that one will fail produces under-achievement.
This scientific fact has been taken
a
step further—
expectations
can
now
be
measured quantitatively
and training programs
can
transform pessimism
into optimism. More on these practical applications
later.
Peter Schulman has
a
B.S.
in
Economics from The Wharton
School and
iB
Research Manager of
Dr.
Martin E.P. Seligman's
Learned Helplessness Research
Lab at the
University
of
Pennsylvania's Department of
Psychology.
He is
also president of
Foresight, Inc., a human resources consulting firm.
His
primary
research interests include stress management trainingprograms,
the factors that impact sales productivity and the relationship
hetween explanatory
style
and various
areas
of achievement. His
articles have
been published in several journals of the American
Psychological Association.
The author gratefully acknowledges Dr. Martin E.P. Seligman
and
Andrew
Shatte for their valuable support and contribution
to
this article. The theories and research presented in this article
are based largely on the work of Dr. Seligman.
Learned
Helplessness:
Theory
and
Implications
This
new
paradigm
of
achievement grew
out of
Learned Helplessness research. The Learned Help-
lessness theory states that
an
individual who
be-
lieves he has no control over
a
desired objective will
be unlikely to make
the
effort necessary to achieve
that objective (Seligman
1975).
There are three psy-
Joumal of
Personal Selling & Sales
Management,
Volume
XDC,
Number 1 (Winter 1999, Pages 31-37).

32
Joumal of Personal Selling & Sales Management
.
. . Optimistic expectations are critical to success by
helping the salesperson
overcome
. . . adversity.
chological consequences of this
belief.
One, there is
a loss of
motivation.
Two, the individual feels anx-
ious and has lower self-confidence. Three, the indi-
vidual
has
difficulty learning that
he or she has
control, even when there is evidence that an objec-
tive
is
achievable. These three symptoms,
by the
way, characterize clinical depression when they
appear in an extreme form, which is why effective
treatments for depression have been based, in part,
on Learned Helplessness research.
This raises
the
question: Why do some people
develop the belief that they are helpless to achieve
their objectives? We all experience uncontrollable
bad events, large and small—airline flights are de-
layed, the weather does not cooperate with outdoor
plans,
loved ones pass away—^yet we do not all de-
velop Learned Helplessness.
What divides those who learn helplessness from
those who do not? Why
are
some people beaten
dovirn by life's adversities while others become cap-
tains
of
their destiny? The answer
is
complex—
genes,
environment, upbringing, and willpower all
figure into the equation. Learned Helplessness also
provides
a
major part of the answer: expectations.
Learned Optimisni and Great
Expectations
To
explain why some people tend
to give
up under
adversity while others persist and overcome,
it is
necessary to introduce the concept of "explanatory
style."
Explanatory style is the habitual way that
an individual explains setbacks
and
failures
(Abramson, Seligman andTeasdale
1978;
Seligman
et al. 1979).
There are three dimensions of an explanation—
stable/unstable, global/specific, and internal/exter-
nal.
These three dimensions address the following
questions, respectively: How long-lasting
is the
cause of the bad event? How much
is
harmed by
the cause
of
the bad event? Did
I
cause the bad
event or did external circumstances cause it? There
can
be
very different causes
of
the
bad
event
"I
didn't make the sale." Here are some examples of
explanations for this bad event:
"I'm
stupid."
This
is
internal, stable
and
global.
"I'm a lousy salesperson." This is internal, but
not as stable and not as global
as
"I'm stupid."
"I'm not
good
under
pressure."
This is internal,
moderately stable and moderately global.
"I couldn't sleep last night." This
is
external,
unstable and fairly specific.
Individuals
who
reflexively make stable (the cause
is going to last
a
long time), global
(it is
going
to
undermine many areas of
my
life), and internal
(it
is my fault) explanations
for
bad events are more
likely to give up and suffer Learned Helplessness
than those who offer the opposite explanations for
bad events—unstable
(it is
temporary), specific
(it
is isolated to this one situation) and external (I'm
not to blame).
It is important to note here that we are not advo-
cating that people should avoid taking responsibil-
ity
for
their actions. The internal versus external
dimension
is
addressing
a
different issue: some-
times people automatically and excessively blame
themselves without justification. When
the
cause
of a setback is unclear, or if there are many causes,
habitually blaming oneself can undermine confi-
dence and impair performance.
An example will help flesh out what I mean by an
explanatory style. Let's say
a
recently hired sales-
person has just made
20
cold calls
and
been
re-
jected every
time.
When something unpleasant
hap-
pens,
it is
natural
to
ask the question, "Why?"
so
action can
be
taken
to
remedy the situation. The
answer to this question will determine how the in-
dividual subsequently feels
and
acts. Different
people will answer this question very differently,
even if they experience the same bad event.
Let's start with an example of a pessimistic inter-
pretation of this bad
event.
A pessimist might think:
"I made
20
calls without
a
hint
of a
sale. What's
wrong with me? I'm just not cut out for this (inter-
nal).
I
guess I'm not good with people
or
not very
persuasive (stable and global)."
An optimist, on the other hand, might say: "That
was
a
tough stretch,
but
that
can
happen
to the
best of them
(external).
Maybe they don't need what

Winter 1999
33
.
. . optimism predicts sales productivity among
salespeople in various industries and companies.
I'm selling
or
were too busy (external). Also,
I'm
new
at
this and
it
takes time and practice to leam
the ropes and sharpen my sales pitch (unstable and
specific).
As my boss
said, this is a numbers game—
you have
to
make lots
of
calls
to
find those
few
customers who are interested enough to buy."
There
will
be very different consequences for these
different interpretations.
The
pessimist
will be
more
likely to feel overwhelmed by cold calling,
find
any
other work to do around the office besides cold call-
ing, dwell on defeats, procrastinate future cold call-
ing and lose self-confidence. Expectations of failure
might lead to excessive aggressiveness or passivity
in future cold calling, increasing the odds of failing
again. Cold calling that ends in failxire will be used
as evidence to confirm feelings of inadequacy, con-
tinuing the cycle of pessimism and avoidance that
might eventually lead to quitting.
The optimist, though, is more likely to see adver-
sity as a challenge, transform problems into opportu-
nities,
put in the hours to refine skills, persevere in
finding solutions to difficult
problems,
maintain con-
fidence, rebound quickly after setbacks and persist.
In both
cases,
each person's prophecy
will be
fulfilled.
As this example illustrates, pessimistic explana-
tions
are the
bridge between experiencing
a bad
situation
and
developing Learned Helplessness.
Pessimists are most susceptible
to
the ravages of
Learned Helplessness, whereas optimists are most
resistant to it. In the words of Shakespeare, "There
is nothing either good or
bad,
but thinking makes it
so."
This quote
is
certainly
an
overstatement,
as
there are events that just about anyone would con-
sider bad. The key point here is that a bad situation
can
be
greatly minimized
or
greatly aggravated,
depending
on
how it is interpreted. The expectation
that one failure will multiply
far
into
the
future
and into many different situations can turn an iso-
lated bad event into sustained feelings of helpless-
ness and even hopelessness.
Can expectations
be
measured?
Can
they
be
changed? More than thirty years of research in the
lEirge and growing field of cognitive psychology has
determined that the answer to both of these ques-
tions
is
"yes." Cognitive training techniques can
turn pessimism into optimism and reduce the
self-
defeating beliefs that afflict many of us at one time
or another
(Beck
1964,1967,1976; Becket
al.
1979).
Benefits and Applications
One of the fruits of cognitive psychology is a user-
friendly technology
for
measuring
an
individual's
expectations
and
beliefs. This
is a
revolutionary
advance
in
the field of psychology.
In the
case
of
assessing expectations. Learned Helplessness
re-
search
has led to the
development
of the
Attributional Style Questionnaire (ASQ: Peterson
et al. 1982; Seligman
et
al. 1979). The ASQ mea-
sures optimism by presenting the test-taker with
a
series of hj^pothetical failures.
The
test-taker
is
then
asked to write down the major cause of each hypo-
thetical failure and to assess the cause on each of
the three explanatory dimensions—stable/unstable,
global/specific, and internal/external—rating each
dimension on
a
scale from
1
to 7.
In
the
last two decades, over 500 studies con-
ducted around the world using the ASQ have re-
vealed the benefits of optimism—increased motiva-
tion, superior achievement
in
various settings
(at
work,
in
school, and
in
sports), and elevated mood
and well-being. Research
on
physical health
has
found that pessimists have
more
infectious illnesses
than optimists, make more visits to the doctor, and
are more likely to die from coronary heart disease
(Buchanan 1989; Peterson 1988; Peterson
and
Seligman 1987).
The ASQ measure of optimism has been able
to
distinguish the high performers from the low per-
formers
in
various domains
of
achievement.
In
sports, optimism predicts perfonnance among na-
tionally ranked college swimmers (Seligman
et
al.
1990).
In academia, optimism predicts
college
grades
and dropping
out
(Kamen
and
Seligman
1986;
Peterson and Barrett 1987).
In
the
business world, optimism predicts sales
productivity among salespeople
in
various indus-
tries and companies. Studies conducted with two
insurance
companies,
for example, found that sales-
people with optimistic explanations went on to sell

34
Joumal of Personal Selling & Sales Management
significantly more insurance and were less likely to
quit than those with pessimistic explanations. The
optimistic salespeople sold 35 percent more insurance
than the
pessimists.
Also,
the pessimists
were twice
as
likely as the optimists to quit by the end of their first
year (Seligman and Schulman
1986).
Weiner
(1985) and
Badovick
(1990) have also
found a relationship between
attributions and
sales
performance.
Pilot research with salespeople in various indus-
tries—telecommunications, real estate, office prod-
ucts,
auto sales, banking, and others—has found
results similar
to
the insurance
research.
Optimists
outsold the pessimists by
20 to 40
percent (Schulman
1995).
Optimism has an impact on sales productiv-
ity regardless of the industry, whenever persistence
is required to overcome adversity.
The ability to bounce back from frequent failure
appears to be the exception rather than the rule,
which is one of the reasons why the best 20 percent
of a sales force typically bring
in
about
80
percent
of
a companj^s
revenue.
Salespeople have higher
opti-
mism (on the average) than any other group we
have tested—^higher than managers and higher
even
than world class athletes. Optimistic expectations
appear to be an important part of what it takes to
succeed in high stress positions like sales.
How to Change
Can optimism be learned? The good news is that
cognitive styles like pessimism can be changed
through cognitive training techniques and individu-
als can learn ways to overcome self-defeating be-
liefs (Beck et al. 1979; Seligman 1991). Even the
diehard optimist will occasionally have pessimistic be-
liefs when exposed to extreme or prolonged stress and
can
benefit
fiom
the
use
of these proven techniques.
There are many
t3rpes
of self-defeating beliefs that
cognitive training seeks to change, of which pessi-
mistic beliefs is only one type. Two other kinds of
self-defeating beliefs
are
irrational assumptions and
errors in logic. Examples of irrational assumptions
are:
"I should be liked by everyone" or "To be suc-
cessful, I have to do everything perfectly."
One type of error in logic is "personalization," for
instance: "My boss just passed me in the hall and
did not even look at me. He must be mad at me
about something." (There are other reasonable in-
terpretations of this.) Another tj^e of error in logic
is "magnification" and "minimization," in which
someone exaggerates the negatives in a situation
and discounts the positives. Imagine, for example,
that a salesperson submits a report for review by
management and the feedback he or she receives is
that the report is good but one of the sections needs
some work. The salesperson becomes upset, focus-
sing primarily on the negative. These are just a few
examples
of
the
many kinds of self-defeating thinking.
Here's a review of the cognitive training, in a
nutshell. The first step is to identify self-defeating
beliefs which the individual may not be initially
aware of, as well as identify the events that trigger
these beliefs. Most of us have to perform some ac-
tivities that cause us to "hit the wall," activities
that slow us down or even stop us dead in our
tracks. For some, it is giving a presentation, or it
could be making cold calls, asking the boss for a
raise,
vsrriting a report, trying to motivate employ-
ees,
or trjang to resolve an interpersonal conflict.
The second step is to gather evidence to evaluate
the accuracy of the self-defeating beliefs that are
triggered by these activities. The goal in this step is
to learn how to be more scientific in one's think-
ing—to be a detective and collect evidence to deter-
mine whether the evidence supports or refutes the
negative
belief.
Often, such beliefs are just bad hab-
its picked up in our distant past. Like any bad habit
they can be changed with practice. In the third
step,
these maladaptive thoughts are replaced with
more constructive and accurate beliefs.
To illustrate these techniques, let's carry forward
the example of the pessimist's explanations in the
previous example, using the
ABC
model, developed
by
Dr.
Albert Ellis (1977):
"A"
stands for adversity: "I was rejected in 20
straight cold calls."
"B"
stands for
beliefs:
"What's wrong with me?
I'm just not cut out for this (internal). I guess I'm
not good with people or not very persuasive (stable
and global)."
"C"
represents the
consequences
of those beliefs,
both emotional and
behavioral:
"1
feel overwhelmed,
dwell on my past defeats, procrastinate future cold
calling, lose self-confidence and motivation, and
eventually give up."
We have added a'T)" to the ABC model:
"D"
stands for dispute and
de-catastrophize
and
is the all-important intervention to turn things
around. Once the self-defeating beliefs have been
identified, as well as the adversity that triggers
them, it is useful
to
v^rrite
down the
ABCD
sequence.
Here are examples of disputing and de-
catastrophizing:
"OK,
so
I got
20
rejections in a
row.
Sales is not
always
fun
and
games but that
doesn't
necessar-
ily say anjrthing about
me
and I'm sure not get-

Winter 1999
35
If a sales position requires a high degree of persistence ...
select individuals with a higher degree of optimism.
ting anywhere feeling sorry for
myself.
My
boss
told me that to get one sale, I have to get 5
prospects interested and in order to get 5 pros-
pects interested, I have to make 50 calls. So I
have to make 50 calls to make 1 sale and no
matter what I
do,
I'll get turned down a lot more
than
111
get the sale. And if someone hangs up
hefore hearing my sales pitch, that obviously
has nothing to
do
with me."
"Even if I'm not
doing a
good
job,
I'm new at this.
My boss said he struggled for his first couple
years,
learning the tools of the trade, building
his network and client base. A couple friends
who went through the training with me said
they're having similar experiences. It takes lots
of hard work and practice
to
get
good
at any skill
and sales is no exception. I'll start taping my
sales calls, get feedback from the
pros,
role-play
with friends, and
fine
tvine
my
pitch.
With
enough
practice, I'll be able to handle prospect's objec-
tions more confidently and maybe I could make
a sale every
25
calls, instead of every 50."
"What's the worst case scenario? Even if I'm not
the best salesperson around, that doesn't mean
I'm a failure. If I'm not cut out to be a salesper-
son, that doesn't mean I'm not good at other
thingB.
Selling is a tough
job
and not for every-
one.
I've heard that the average worker changes
jobs several
times
over a lifetime. If sales doesn't
work out,
111
have an opportunity to find out
what I'm really good at."
When using disputation techniques, it
is
useful to
ask the following
questions.
We
sometimes get stuck
in certain habits of thinking that can cause trouble
and these questions can help us break out of the
self-imposed box. What is the
evidence
that sup-
ports this explanation? Most events have more
than one cause, so what are the alternative
expla-
nations that could fit the evidence? It is more use-
ful to focus on the causes that can be controlled
rather than wasting energy on the causes that can-
not be controlled. Even if
a
pessimistic explanation
is correct, what are the implications of this? That
is,
what
is
the worst
case
consequence of the explana-
tion? Many people automatically imagine the worst
case scenario and catastrophize, but asking the fol-
lowing question is useful
to
lend
perspective:
What
is
the best or most likely consequence? If the evidence
is
unclear,
what
is a
more
constructive
way
to
explain
this event? Whether or not the belief is accurate,
how
useful
is it to dwell on this belief right now?
In certain situations, it is not constructive to take
the time to examine a
belief.
If, for instance, some-
one is about to give a sales presentation and is
flooded by fears and anxieties about the presenta-
tion, it would not be constructive to focus on these
negative beliefs just prior
to
the presentation. There
are various distraction techniques that help
to
tem-
porarily steer attention away from negative beliefs.
These techniques include: use a thought stopping
technique that breaks the train of pessimistic
thoughts (such as focusing on the surroundings or
snapping a rubber band on one's wrist), schedule a
time to think things over later, write down the
troublesome thoughts (if there is time for this), en-
gage in mental games such as counting backwards
from
100
by increments of
7,
and use positive imag-
ery such as vividly imagining a pleasurable experi-
ence from the past or recalling a success.
These cognitive techniques teach individuals
how
to tune in to and change the internal dialogue that
goes on within us all but that often goes unques-
tioned and unchallenged. Disputation is a skill we
have a lot of practice using—^with friends, parents,
siblings, and colleagues. We use disputation skills
to help our friends overcome their own pessimistic
beliefs or
to
defend ourselves against criticisms and
accusations made by others. But when these same
pessimistic beliefs or criticisms emanate from
within, they are usually taken as fact and go un-
challenged, even though we would vigorously de-
fend ourselves against the very same criticisms
made against us
by someone
else,
and present plenly
of evidence to prove our case. We believe the criti-
cisms of inadequacy that we launch at ourselves,
criticisms that we would never just swallow from
others. The training teaches people how to treat
these internal criticisms as if they had been uttered
by an external rival, whose mission in life is to
make you miserable, and to dispute that rival.
Cognitive
training has
been
administered to people
in many
WEilks
of life—^business people, athletes, di-

36
Journal of Personal Selling & Sales
Man<Mgement
vorced individuals, people suffering fix)m depression
or anxiety, elementary
and
middle school children,
and college students.
It
has shown positive results
in
improving motivation, psychological
well-being,
phjrsi-
cal health auid performance (Gillham
et al. 1995;
Jaycox
et
al. 1994; Seligman
et
al. 1998).
Flexible Optimism
Does this all sound too much like a pie-in-the-sky
Pollyanna? We do not advocate blind optimism or
dismissing the reality in a situation. We advocate a
"flexible optimism"—optimism with eyes wide
open—^that considers the costs as well as the ben-
efits of pursuing a goal. Research suggests that
there is also a time and a place for pessimism, or at
least realism. When the costs or risks of certain
actions are high, pessimists are often better able
than optimists to appraise the situation in a way
that can best minimize the costs and risks.
If someone has been drinking
alcohol,
for instance,
it does not make sense to be optimistic about his or
her ability to drive home safely. Military leaders
need to anticipate and prepare for worst case con-
tingencies. For a financial officer, it would not be a
good idea to be overly optimistic about cash flow
estimates if there are large payroll and debt obliga-
tions.
If a prospect
cleEirly
expresses disinterest and
is getting angry at a salesperson's persistence, it
probably does not make sense to continue the pitch.
Lawyers need to evaluate the legal risks of man-
agement decisions and business executives must
flexibly play the role of a pessimist as well as an
optimist, readying their organization for threats as
well as opportunities.
Optimism is not a panacea and people cannot live
by optimism alone. There is evidence that the pes-
simist in some ways sees reality more accurately
than the rosy-eyed, overconfident optimist. Exces-
sive optimism at the wrong time and in the wrong
situation can blind us to the costly consequences of
certain actions. Every successful life and every suc-
cessful company needs both an accurate apprecia-
tion of reality and an ability to optimistically dream
beyond the present reality.
Many of life's experiences fall into that gray area
between totally controllable and totally uncontrol-
lable.
This is where optimism counts most. Since it
is not always clear how much control we really
have,
it is often better to err on the side of opti-
mism—assume the best and act on the belief that
success is achievable. A crucial p£irt of what we call
"reality" does not exist independently of our ac-
tions.
By inspiring
action,
our optimistic beliefs can
create a better reality and our expectations can be
self-fulfilling prophecies.
Recommendations
The research findings discussed above have im-
plications for selection, training and organization
design. There are three recommendations for orga-
nizations:
1)
Selection
Testing^.
If a sales position requires a
high degree of persistence to overcome adversity,
select individuals with a higher degree of optimism.
Improving the person-environment fit by selecting
more optimists for the high stress positions will not
only lead to financial benefits, by increasing pro-
ductivity and job satisfaction, but will also reduce
the needless human suffering that comes from hav-
ing individuals in environments where they are less
likely to thrive and be successful. Optimism testing
should certainly not be the sole basis for a hiring
decision, but should be used in conjunction with
other valid assessments, such as measures of
job-
related abilities and interviews.
2)
Training'^.
Every company has employees who
are not optimistic enough for certain tasks. These
individuals might have all the right abilities and
lots of desire, so in many cases it would not make
sense to transfer them to other
positions.
Also,
even
the diehard optimist will occasionally have pessi-
mistic beliefs when exposed to extreme or prolonged
stress.
These individuals can learn optimism
through training programs designed to teach them
how to cope with and overcome adversity.
3) Organization Design. The participative man-
agement movement has ushered in numerous meth-
ods that management can implement to increase
sales productivity and innovation in organizations.
It is beyond the scope of this article to review these
methods in detail, but these include: set clear and
achievable goals, provide the necessary skills train-
ing and management support, increase decentral-
ized and participative decision-making and quality
control, open lines of communication, measure per-
formance and progress toward goals, provide accu-
rate and immediate feedback on performance and
progress toward
goals,
and make compensation con-
tingent
on
performance. All of these techniques have
a common theme—increasing a salesperson's sense
of control over meaningful objectives—thereby un-
leashing vast human potential and linking the sat-
isfaction of the individual's needs with the achieve-
ment of the organization's goals.

Winter 1999
37
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Endnotes
'For more information on assessing optimism,
contact:
Foresight, Inc.
P.O.
Pox 13448
Philadelphia, PA 19101-3448
Phone: 800-646-6535 or 215-573-3056
Fax: 215-573-2188
E-Mail: info@foresightonline.com
Website: www.foresightonline.com
^For more information on Learned Optimism
training, contact:
Adaptiv Learning Systems
900 E. Eighth Avenue
Suite 300
King of Prussia, PA 19406
Phone: 800-220-6575 or 610-768-2880
Fax: 610-768-2881
E-Mail: info@adaptivlearning.com
Wehsite: www.adaptivleaming.com
^Please send reprint requests to:
Peter Schulman
University of Pennsylvania
Department of Psychology
3815 Walnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Email: schulman@psych.upenn.edu
Phone: 215-898-2748