Mindfulness, 25th Anniversary E

216 Pages·2009·3.23 MB·English

by  Langer

`A landmark work of social psychology."
Booklist
"One simply can't finish this book and see the world in the same way."
ALAN DERSHOWITZ
ALAN DERSHOWITZ
Harvard Law School
"Dr. Langer's seminal work on mindful behavior has broad implications for
aviation safety and the development of proper roles for humans vs.
machines."
CLAY FOUSHEE
Chief Scientific and Technical Advisor Federal Aviation Authority
"One of the most provocative books that this reviewer has seen in a long
time.... Engaging, relevant, and concise, moving smartly from point to
point."
Brain/Mind Bulletin
`A truly pioneering study of the dangers and damage of mindlessness and
loss of control over one's life; for women and men in age, in corporations
and/or in the professions."
BETTY FRIEDAN
"A life-enhancing alternative... the antidote to the rigid, reactive, repetitive
patterns that keep the best of us sealed in unlived lives. Langer gives
scientific heft to a fascinating and undervalued phenomenon. A thought-
provoking read that deserves a wide general audience."
Kirkus Reviews
"Extremely provocative for students. This book cannot be read mindlessly."
ROBERT ABELSON
Yale University
"Fascinating book... has multiple applications for those interested in work,
health, creativity, or aging."
Living Room Learning
"Even professional colleagues who have long admired Langer's creative and
"Even professional colleagues who have long admired Langer's creative and
ground-breaking research will be unprepared for the bold and startling
conclusions that derive from her findings."
DARYL BEM
Cornell University
"Ground-breaking research in the field of aging, research that stands to
influence the field for years to come."
JOHN W. ROWE, M.D.
President, Mt. Sinai Hospital
"Langer not only challenges us to reach for our untapped reserves, she also
shows ways to make this possible."
PAUL BALTES
Max Planck Institute for Human Development and Education, Berlin
"Whether you're an educator, homemaker, business person, mental health
worker... differently abled or abled, young or old, there is something in this
book for you."
Deaf Community News
"In my seminar on advanced social psychology, Mindfulness stimulated
wonderfully lively discussion."
ROGER BROWN
Harvard University
"Langer demonstrates a rare capacity both to see what is extraordinary
about human events and to envision even more enlivening human
possibilities."
LEE ROSS
Stanford University
Stanford University
"One is reminded, reading these pages, of Freud's Psychopathology of
Everyday Life and of Hannah Arendt's The Banality of Evil. Like those
pioneering books, this one 'naturalizes' a human scourge-everyday
functional stupidity in this case-and makes it not only comprehensible but
also subject to change."
JEROME BRUNER,
author of Actual Minds, Possible Worlds
Ellen J. Langer
Mindfulness

To the memory of my mother and grandmother
Contents
Acknowledgments
1 Introduction
PART ONE: Mindlessness
2 When the Light's On and Nobody's 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