Scientists from different countries have tried to find a scientific explanation for the phenomenon of "positive thinking" that psychologists and other charlatans so often talk about. And they didn’t find it: positive thinking actually does more harm than good.
The essence of the concept of positive thinking is that we all need to smile more and dream more often. Like, if we visualize our dream, then it has more chances to become a reality. But stubborn science says the opposite: the more we dream, the more miserable and unsuccessful we will be as a result.
British newspaper The Guardian talks about an experiment conducted in 2011 by psychologist Gabriel Oettingen of New York University. He left the volunteers without water. Some of them were asked to think about water as much as possible, to dream about it, while others were not given such instructions. As a result, it turned out that people from the first group did not have the motivation of people to get up and go to the cooler or the water tap. The second did not have such a problem.
The Times reports that Oettingen conducted many such experiments. By observing people who mentally imagined little fantasies like winning an essay competition, researchers found that their blood pressure dropped. This is amazing: positive fantasies help us relax to such an extent that it is reflected in physiological tests, "- quotes the publication of the words from Ottingen's book" Rethinking Positive Thinking ", published in the US last week.
In general, the more people fantasize, the less likely they are to succeed in a new endeavor. This directly contradicts one of the central tenets of popular psychology: the idea that the thought of a desired future brings it closer to our reality.
“It is said that if we focus positive energy and focus on our dreams, our desires and goals will eventually come true. But people just fizzle out this way. They are already enjoying the future, so why are they working to realize this future, if it is already in their heads, and they can enjoy it infinitely?”Oettingen concludes.
In general, positive thinking is one of the greatest deceptions that take away power for action, not good.
“Even focusing on goals, this ubiquitous motivational technique of all managers, is not overwhelmingly positive,” writes The New York Times. “Focusing too much on goals can distort an organization’s global mission in a desperate attempt to achieve a narrow goal, and research by a number of business school professors suggests that goal-obsessed employees can violate ethical standards.”
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Ancient philosophers and spiritual teachers understood the need to achieve a balance between positive and negative, optimism and pessimism, the desire for success and security, and the willingness to fail and uncertainty. The Stoics advised to practice "mental anticipation of evil", i.e. deliberate visualization of the worst-case scenario. This helps to reduce anxiety about the future: when you soberly imagine the most negative scenario, you usually come to the conclusion that you can handle it.
Psychologists Julie Norem and Nancy Cantor have conducted a series of studies comparing strategic optimists and defensive pessimists. If you are a strategic optimist, you imagine the best outcome of events and then happily make plans for its implementation. If you are a defensive pessimist, even if you have been successful in the past, you know things could be different this time. You start to imagine all the things that can go wrong.
So researchers have found that pessimists succeed more often, and precisely because of this character trait. This happens because anxiety, if it does not go beyond certain limits, is transformed into action. By imagining the worst-case scenario, defensive pessimists are motivated to do more preparation and work harder.
A typical example of such a pessimist is Steve Jobs, The Wall Street Journal believes. Can we succeed in thinking about death more often than we usually do?
“Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know of not being trapped in the thought that you have something to lose,” he said.