ABSTRACT
About 25 years ago, I published a book with David Stang called The Pollyanna Principle: Selectivity in Language, Memory, and Thought (Matlin & Stang, 1978). That book was named after Pollyanna Whittier, the child heroine of a book by Eleanor Porter (1913). Soon, “Pollyanna” became a fairly common label for optimists. A Pollyanna is someone who looks on the bright side of every misfortune, who remembers only the happy events, and who believes that the world and its inhabitants are thoroughly delightful.
