I’m not the only person to admit to selfishly wanting more and more money. Higher pay is a huge incentive for anyone that starts working. Unfortunately, everyone has to start somewhere, this somewhere being a job likely paying around minimum wage. Navigating through life at minimum wage is a highly difficult task, and we as humans desire something more lustful than that. Minimum wage careers are no fun, so how can I advance into a better position? I’d be surprised if everyone didn’t hear their parent’s say “have a more positive attitude” when they were pursuing a task in life. After frequently hearing my mother say this when my soccer coach didn’t start me, it made me wonder, is having a more positive attitude the answer to achieving my goals? The null hypothesis would be that a more positive attitude doesn’t have any real effect on achieving goals while the alternative hypothesis would be that it in some way a positive attitude helps you reach your goals. After researching what a more optimistic attitude can do for a person, I have come to the conclusion that having a positive attitude is the beginning of success.
Apparently, it isn’t hard to find out what having a more positive attitude can do. The more positive you are/less negative you determine the type of attitude you have. If a person is never negative, they have developed a perfectly positive attitude. It simply depends on how you tweak your framework of thoughts and reactions. There are many tips on what to work on when changing your attitude. It starts with a change in perspective. This change can happen when you accept things for what they are and begin being happy with where you are at. After you have happily accepted your place in the world, you have to be optimistic about you being in control of your life. You CAN develop and improve. You CAN invent and succeed. This change in belief will be the beginning of a noticeably more fulfilling life. I wanted to see evidence that supported this development of thought.
This type of thinking suggests that a more positive attitude directly relates to more success, but is there concrete data to prove this? I found that in a study done by UC Riverside, the most happy people are more helpful and perform better in the work place than their less happy peers. Furthermore, the study also used research from cross-sectional, longitudinal, and experimental studies to determine that installing positivity to the workplace will result in better workplace results. Since positivity was a variable observed, it can be considered to be partially responsible for improved results within the work place. Since there are no looming confounding variables, these finds can be considered valid in which happiness and success in the workplace go hand in hand
This study is telling about positive thinkers and their success in achieving their goals. The evidence given is enough to reject the null hypothesis that a more positive attitude does not lead to an increase in success. A person is 
likely to achieve more success in life if they adjust their framework to be more positive!
If you ever find yourself stuck trying to achieve something, think about that old saying your mother told you, and your chances at success are sure to increase!
Pics–
http://animal-dream.com/money.html
I have personally seen in life, that people who make themselves happier, are happier! Often people get down upon themselves and prevent themselves from reaching their maximum potential. I appreciate your blog and the rejection of the null hypothesis because I agree that positive attitudes can make a difference. There definitely are other factors that contribute to this attitude, and some people may be discouraged due to clinical depression or other things that are going on around them. This article I found linked depression to pessimism: http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/ccp/42/6/861/, and it seems apparent that sadness and mental instability decreases people’s sense of hope. Putting all other factors aside though, I think that having a positive disposition on life in general, you will be happier than if you were pessimistic.
I definitely think attitude is everything in trying to achieve a goal. I know that for me personally, if I have a bad attitude about something I want to get done, it doesn’t happen. Even in completing all of these blog posts, I had to ensure that I had a good attitude about them and getting them done before I started. I wonder if reverse causation could occur in this case. For example, could a positive attitude/outlook on life make you want to set more goals? Here’s a link to a list of other benefits that come from positive thinking: http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/positive-thinking/art-20043950
Great topic! I really liked the way everything flowed naturally in your blog even when talking about the studies. you incorporated ideas that were learned in class. This blog was very engaging and to the point. A potential thing you could have brought up in your blog is about just how hard it is to be positive. I know there are people out there that are very negative and believe everything is for them to fail.
I think that having a positive attitude about like is everything! I see that those with positive attitudes do not give up as easily and give off the same attitude to those around them. This contagious attitude is what should be used to any type of circumstance. It doesn’t hurt anyone to be positive especially not the individual actually being positive.
I recently read an article about how depression is contagious
depression is contagious http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/25/health/depression-contagious/ The conclusion I came to after reading this is that depression itself is not a contagious illness. However, the illness itself is awful and affects many. It seems that people can pick up on others mindsets and that another person’s mood can affect your very own. Rooming with a depressed person could very well change one’s style of thinking and give them a more negative outlook of the world. But I believe that a person can choose how they look at the world and since depression itself is a chemical imbalance that it cannot infect another person’s mind to believe a certain way and think negatively. Although a person might begin to have some depressive traits from hanging out with a depressed person I believe that it can be easily reversed from a different environment and more positive surroundings. This topic has a particular health emphasis especially since teenagers are the highest of all people affected. Knowing the risk factors and signs of depressions early on can improve one’s quality of life or in some cases even save lives.
However, it is hard to always stay positive and that is understandable.
I love that you connected what we learned in class to a blog post. It really ties the strings together and gives people like me a better understanding of for example “null hypothesis”