Positive thinking's negative results
Words of wisdom
Jun 11th 2009
From The Economist print edition

For some people, optimistic thoughts can do more harm than good

“I CAN pass this exam”, “I am a wonderful person and will find love again” and “I am capable and deserve that pay rise” are phrases that students, the broken-hearted and driven employees may repeat to themselves over and over again in the face of adversity. Self-help books through the ages, including Norman Vincent Peale’s 1952 classic, “The Power of Positive Thinking”, have encouraged people with low self-esteem to make positive self-statements. New research, however, suggests it may do more harm than good.

I am important. I am, really
Since the 1960s psychologists have known that people are more accepting of ideas close to their own views and resistant to those that differ. With regard to self-perception, if a person who believes they are reasonably friendly is told that they are extremely gregarious, they will probably accept the idea. But if told they are socially aloof, the idea will most likely be met with resistance and doubt.

Wondering if the same tendencies could apply to making positive self-statements, Joanne Wood of the University of Waterloo in Canada and her colleagues designed a series of experiments. They questioned a group of 68 men and women using long-accepted methods to measure self-esteem. The participants were then asked to spend four minutes writing down any thoughts and feelings that were on their minds. In the midst of this, half were randomly assigned to say to themselves “I am a lovable person” every time they heard a bell ring.

Immediately after the exercise, they were asked questions such as “What is the probability that a 30-year-old will be involved in a happy, loving romance?” to measure individual moods using a scoring system that ranged from a low of zero to a high of 35. Past studies have indicated that optimistic answers indicate happy moods.


As the researchers report in Psychological Science, those with high self-esteem who repeated “I’m a lovable person” scored an average of 31 on their mood assessment compared with an average of 25 by those who did not repeat the phrase. Among participants with low self-esteem, those making the statement scored a dismal average of 10 while those that did not managed a brighter average of 17.

Dr Wood suggests that positive self-statements cause negative moods in people with low self-esteem because they conflict with those people’s views of themselves. When positive self-statements strongly conflict with self-perception, she argues, there is not mere resistance but a reinforcing of self-perception. People who view themselves as unlovable find saying that they are so unbelievable that it strengthens their own negative view rather than reversing it. Given that many readers of self-help books that encourage positive self-statements are likely to suffer from low self-esteem, they may be worse than useless.
http://www.economist.com/...d=13815141

Okay. But then if you would think even more negative with already low esteem, then what? Won't do good either.

Personally, I didn't like myself for a good while especially when puberty hit, like more people experience. It takes time but you have to solve it from the inside, and truly believe in change. It can be a process.

Saying I'm the best to yourself when you don't believe it in the first place, yeah, that's not gonna help.

Kind of a useless study overall.

Some tests make me laugh.

But what's the alternative? To say that you're gonna fail or that you're not lovable?

I strongly believe that imagination and reason are part of the same energy and imagining positive things for yourself will eventually cause your behavior to change in ways that help you, if not improve the your situation, at least cope with it.


To me, it is disingenuous for a person who finds themselves unlovable to repeat to themselves that they are irresistibly lovable. It just doesn't work.

But they can say to themselves, "I have the ability to make myself more lovable.". Cause there is nothing false about that statement. Everybody has that ability.

Also, it doesn't hurt for someone to say, "I'm going to run that marathon this summer" cause even if they don't run a 10k marathon, the effort towards getting there is only a positive thing. Trying to run 5 miles but only achieving 3 miles in reality means that you've run 3 miles you wouldn't have in the first place if you were a moaning Minnie.



So to me, being a realist and an optimist don't have to be mutual exclusive principles.

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[Edited 6/14/09 11:31am]

Edited due to offensive comment.
[Edited 6/15/09 18:20pm]

Ever watched 20 seconds of "Speidi" talking to one another??? I positively wish that something negative happens to them...

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[Edited 6/14/09 14:41pm]

Imago said:

so basically all these self-help gurus need to come up with a totally NEW money-making way to help you!

SUPRMAN said:

yes +
it could not be in another way: we want a lot of being, soon... no; we want the things to happen and less they move forward; maintain zen and to accept; to let to pass unintentionally; to be just like this, without more
but the secret is the swinging

I read an article in popular mechanics yesterday, it said all the latest safety features in cars, coupled with wider, smoother and safer roads is breeding more dangerous and complacent drivers.

ZombieKitten said:

it depends... maybe have drunk a lot of potion
I don't know, I don't know, maybe the calmest road is difficult
maybe the secret is to be awake

ingamilo said:

apparently when the swedish government switched from driving on LHS to RHS of road they expected an increase in road accidents. The opposite was true for the first 48 hours or so while people concentrated harder on driving well. After some time, the accident rate went up again to normal. The secret is to concentrate - which people do naturally if they are expecting conditions to be more difficult.

ZombieKitten said:

absolutely; hormonas, hormonas
care with the incentives
the secret is the concentration tenor
care with the music
the best is to go with ORIFLAME

ingamilo said:

That's not what its about. It's about a higher level of driving. Testing the cars performance and knowing how it responds, you do drive riskier. I know I do and I know I'm not alone.
For me though, that's only when I'm alone in my car. IF something were to happen, I'd rather be alone in the car.
But I agree with the need to concentrate on your driving. Triple digits definitely focuses your senses.
[Edited 6/14/09 20:27pm]

SUPRMAN said:

ok,ok,ok

NMuzakNSoul said:

Of course this study will make it seem bogus; you're asking someone who already has low self-esteem to say something positive but untrue about themselves at that moment and not say it again. The whole point of positive thinking is to repeat it over time, and not sabotage it with contradictory thoughts. if y you're struggling to make ends meet, and you say "I'm gonna be rich" only to say later "Oh shit! How am I gonna pay the mortgage this month?" or "I can't pay my bills", your thoughts are going to gravitate towards poverty. But if you say "I am a special person worthy for find true love with the most beautiful person in the world" and repeat it often enough, you will find your thoughts gravitating towards meeting high-quality people, and soon enough you'll start meeting them until you find your true love.

728huey said:

I agree! Never underestimate the power of positive thinking! If you can believe it, then you can achieve it!

728huey said:

That's very true and well said and that's what I did for myself. It paid off.

I think a pessimist conducted the study

CalhounSq said:

Yeah, but are you positive one did?

You can be confident without being cocky.