It’s been said that the best revenge is a life well lived. Pollyanna’s Revenge: How Memory and Emotion Foster Happiness explores people’s ability to stay strong in the face of adversity, to bounce back after failure, and to thrive in the direst of circumstances. This text combines empirical evidence gathered from around the world and narratives from places and people that exemplify the best and worst of life experiences. The reader will visit the fictional town of Mayberry, meet a convicted murderer who has asked God to forgive his sins, learn the tale of a bully that terrorized a Midwestern town for a decade, and get to know a true Pollyanna making the best of life in spite of significant health and emotional setbacks. Throughout the narrative sections of Pollyanna’s Revenge, the authors provide evidence to show positive emotions or events outnumber and outlast negative emotions or events as well as provide examples of automatic, non-conscious mental processes that help people sustain their happiness.
Summarizing 20 years of research in autobiographical memory, Pollyanna’s Revenge describes a phenomenon; ‘The Fading affect Bias’ which is the tendency for negative emotions to fade faster than positive emotions. Pollyanna’s Revenge is a book for readers interested in positive psychology. It provides a better understanding on how the processes of the mind help most people to lead a happier life.