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Rewriting the stories we tell ourselves

By Mark Freeman

7 September 2011

In Redirect, Timothy D. Wilson argues that psychological change can be brought about by editing the narratives we use to make sense of the world

DO YOU think that airing your feelings right away will help you through trauma? Are you persuaded that bringing kids to prisons will scare them straight? Convinced that costly, intensive long-term interventions are needed to close the achievement gap in education, curb alcohol abuse and reduce teen pregnancies?

Think again, says psychologist Timothy Wilson. At the heart of his book Redirect: The surprising new science of psychological change is the conviction that many favoured…

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