But how can you help people to get out of this 'learned helplessness'?
Seriously. Seligman wrote a great book on the subject: http://www.amazon.com/Learned-Optimism-Change-Your-Mind/dp/0...
I wrote a post in March of last year, Optimism - Dangers and Benefits, http://williambswift.blogspot.com/2009/03/optimism-is-not-ne...