59 Seconds: Think a Little, Change a Lot by Richard Wiseman Read Free Book Online Page B

time, although one recent Russian biographer noted that it is no longer possible to repeat the study, as it is impossible to find anyone in Russia who holds the required reverent attitude toward either the military or political figures. 10
    DOUBLETHINK
    At the beginning of this chapter I described how research conducted by psychologists Lien Pham and Shelley Taylor showed that asking students to visualize themselves doing well on an important exam caused them to study less and make lower grades. In fact, I described only one part of their fascinating study. While one group of participants was busy seeing themselves as A students, another group was asked to spend a few moments each day imagining the process of revision by visualizing when, where, and how they intended to study. A third group of students acted as a control, doing no exercises at all. Compared to the control group and to the group who were visualizing themselves as A students, the students who imagined themselves going through the process of studying spent significantly more time revising and eventually earned higher exam grades. According to the researchers, visualizing the process of study proved especially effective at reducing exam-related anxiety and helped students better plan and manage their workload. Subsequent research has shown that the same effect occurs in several different areas, with, for example, tennis players and golfers benefiting far more from imagining themselves training than winning. 11
    Additional work, conducted by Lisa Libby from Ohio State University and her colleagues, suggests that the type of“behavioral commitments” involved in such visualization exercises can be made even more effective by seeing yourself as others see you. 12 In this study, conducted one day before the 2004 American presidential election, more than a hundred voters were asked to imagine themselves going to the polling booth the following day. One group was told to carry out the visualization exercise from a first-person perspective (seeing the world through their own eyes), while another group was instructed to carry out the same task from a third-person perspective (seeing themselves as someone else would see them). Remarkably, 90 percent of those who imagined themselves from a third-person perspective went on to vote, compared with just more than 70 percent of those who employed first-person visualization. Although the explanation for the effect is uncertain, it could be that adopting a third-person perspective requires more mental effort than a first-person one and so results in more significant behavioral changes.
    Other researchers have developed “super-strength” visualization tools that aim to combine the motivational effects of imagining yourself doing well with the practical benefits associated with thinking about whatever is required to achieve your aim. Much of this research has been conducted by Gabriele Oettingen at the University of Pennsylvania and involves a little bit of Orwellian doublethink.
    In 1984 , George Orwell introduced the concept of “doublethink,” describing it as simultaneously holding two opposing beliefs in your mind and yet accepting both. In Orwell’s novel, this technique was used by a totalitarian government to continuously rewrite history and thus control the populace. However, recent research has shown that the same type of idea can be used in a more productive way, helping people to achieve their goals and ambitions. Oettingen speculated that one of the most effective states of mind involves people beingoptimistic about achieving their goal but also realistic about some of the problems that they may encounter. To investigate, she developed a novel procedure that encouraged people to hold both types of thought in mind, and she then carried out a series of studies to assess its effectiveness.
    The procedure is simple. People are asked to think about something they want to achieve, such as losing weight, learning a new