Yet, if just a few seconds before dying the rats are permitted to escape from the water, the next time they are put into the water they will swim 40 or 60 or 80 hours. They apparently have learned to have hope. We all need hope. Internalizers try harder to change their environment and to change themselves. This involves being more perceptive, gathering more information, remembering it better, and using more facts and care in decision-making about how to cope.
Strong people make as many and as ghastly mistakes as weak people.
The difference is that strong people admit them, laugh at them, learn from them. That is how they become strong. Most importantly, as we gain self-control skills we become more confident internalizers. There is a tendency, supported by research, to think of internalizers as being healthy and externalizers as being maladjusted. Externalizers overlook their opportunities to influence the situation and may feel unnecessarily helpless.