“Bad” Things Reconsidered

Bad things happen. And when they do, it’s good to know that they can happen to everyone; that they don’t make you a bad person, and that they need not portend future problems. In the title song in Singin’ In the Rain, Gene Kelly (playing Don Lockwood) has just left Debbie Reynolds (playing Kathy Selden), with whom he has fallen in love, when he emerges into a rainstorm. He does not deny the rain, bemoan it, or shudder from it. Instead, he finds joy, swinging around light poles and stomping in puddles (see Figure 4.1). How can we help people see light where only darkness is commonly found? Every day, people struggle or get criticized in school or at work, feel sick from medical treatments, or fight with their kids. And when bad things happen, people can react badly. They can draw negative conclusions about themselves, other people, or their future prospects. Those inferences often lead people to behave in ways that are maladaptive and self-reinforcing, and that have the effect of undermining their outcomes over time. Yet if the struggles people experience arise, in part, from interpretations they draw, we have an opportunity. “Wise” psychological interventions can help reframe challenges (Figure 4.1; Walton & Wilson, 2018). As we will see, ran­ domized controlled field trials in diverse contexts have found that messages and experiences that anticipate and forestall predictable pejorative interpretations can help people function better over time. For instance: