The Power of Positive Thinking Happiness," published in 1950, and "Inspiring Messages for Daily Living", published in 1955. "The Power of Positive Thinking" appeared at a time when Christian church attendance was drastically increasing, national views of spirituality, individuality, and religion were shifting, and the Cold War was a growing concern for many Americans. These factors, as well as Peale's growing popularity as a motivational public figure and the book's clear prose, propelled "The Power of Positive Thinking" into a self-help book still popular today. Peale begins by stating ten rules for “overcoming inadequacy attitudes and learning to practice faith”. The rules include the following:
Convergent thinking with complex problems, other variables such as one’s gut feeling or instinctive problem solving abilities also have a role in determining a solution to a given problem. Furthermore, convergent thinking has also been said to devalue minority arguments. In a study where experimental manipulations were used to motivate subjects to engage in convergent or divergent thinking when presented with either majority or minority support for persuasive arguments, a pattern emerged under the convergent thinking condition where majority support produced more positive attitudes on the focal issue. Conversely, minority support for the argument had no effect on the subjects. The convergent