Great thread. I have been pondering this question for a while (probably due to suppressed moping about the state of my own career/life, lol :omg: :kickingmyself:)
I've always been one of these idealistic types who believes that anyone can turn anything around with the right attitude, but I'm a bit of a hypocrite in that I can get all cynical and give up pretty easily :S
Here's some related research and ideas I've been reading about. I'd like to hear what people think, and if they've found similar techniques valuable.
Bronson99 said:
If somehow my internal perception was "I'm great" anyway, you really think that would increase my chances somehow?
Yes, Olympic and other elite athletes have practiced such techniques since the 1970s, and there is a growing body of evidence of the effectiveness of mental rehearsal and creative visualisation. For example:
"Sports psychologist Dr Richard Suinn found that visual rehearsal actually triggers neural firings in the muscles and creates a mental blueprint that can ultimately facilitate future performance. Using electromyographic equipment, Suinn discovered that skiers who simply visualised skiing downhill fired electrical impulses and produced muscle patterns almost identical to those found when the skiers actually hit the slopes...
Adding to Suinn’s remarkable studies, researchers at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Ohio found that subjects who only visualised doing biceps curls, five times a week, for two weeks, increased their strength by 13.5pc."[1]
"“Research proves that how you talk to yourself affects the chemistry in your brain and your hormones,” says Bradley Busch, a sports psychologist who has worked with footballers from several Premier League clubs. “Negativity and criticism is associated with the stress hormone cortisol, which reduces the ability of the frontal lobe to function effectively. Positive, energised language releases dopamine, which is linked to certainty and confidence, as well as noradrenaline and DHEA which enable your prefrontal lobe to fire more effectively. As a nutritionist advises you not to eat rubbish before matches, we advise players not to fire the wrong chemicals and hormones through their brains. In training, we ask them to practise capturing negative thoughts and converting them into positive ones. We call this ‘squashing ANTs’ (Automatic Negative Thoughts).”
According to a study published by the Journal of Sport Behaviour in 2010, this self-talk really does make a difference. The study showed that the introduction of psychological skills, such as self-talk, at half-time improved the performance of midfield players in the second half in at least two of the three performance components measured (passing, first touch and tackling.)
Even body language can be harnessed to project a positive frame of mind and elevate confidence. “We tell players that if their eyeline is lower than the height of the corner flag, it’s too low,” says Busch. “Your physiology is linked to your mental state. If you have your head down and shoulders slumped, your brain chemistry changes for the worse. Holding your head up keeps your brain alert. It’s why managers often look at body language to decide on substitutions.”
There is science involved here, too. Research by Harvard Business School demonstrated that dominant poses can decrease levels of the stress hormone cortisol by 25 per cent and increase confidence-boosting testosterone by 19 per cent."[2]
[1] Bailey, M. (2015, Jan 22). Sports visualisation: how to imagine your way to success. The Daily Telegraph Retrieved from: /men/active/10568898/Sports-visualisation-how-to-imagine-your-way-to-success (DOT) html
[2] Bailey, M. (2014, Feb 19). Mind games: how footballers use sports psychology.The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved from: /men/active/10568730/Mind-games-how-footballers-use-sports-psychology (DOT) html
There is the idea that we tend to behave in a way that is consistent with our own self-image and identity. That is, if you believe you suck and always will - it can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Evidence for self-verification has taken a variety of forms. Beyond numerous studies showing that people prefer interaction partners who agree with them about their self-views (e.g., Swann & Pelham, 2002; Swann et al., 1989), there is evidence that people attend more carefully to information that confirms their self-views, which results in corresponding biases in memory for this information (e.g., Swann & Read, 1981). People may also interpret self-confirmatory and self-disconfirmatory information in a biased fashion — for instance, by judging the former as more valid (Swann, Griffin, Predmore, & Gaines, 1987). Importantly, the self-verification literature includes evidence that people who hold negative self-views seek self-verification, just as do people who view themselves favorably (e.g., Swann et al., 1989). Such data represent especially compelling support for the claim that self- verification motives may at times override self-enhancing tendencies to seek flattering appraisals of the self. Overall, there is considerable evidence that self-verification motives may guide
self-evaluation.
[Chen, S., Chen K. Y. & L. Shaw. (2004). Self-Verification Motives at the Collective Level of Self-Definition. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 86(1), 77-94.]
Some theorists also believe that we subconsciously move towards what we focus on. Maxwell Maltz was fond of comparing the way the brain focusses to a guided missile, using the metaphor of the servo-mechanism. Thus the idea goes: by focussing on where you want to end up, rather than all the reasons you'll never make it, you naturally begin to notice opportunities and resources that otherwise may have passed you by.
As David Nowell points out:
"Our Reticular Activating System (RAS) serves as a gating mechanism to screen out most incoming sensory information. Well, to partially screen it out. If something important (relevant, dangerous, interesting) presents itself, the RAS "gate" allows the sensory information (tactile, auditory, visual) on through to the higher cortical areas for actual processing...
Your RAS is always on and working, screening out most incoming sensory data. We would be overwhelmed if we had to take in and process everything that's coming at us right now. Moreover most of that sensory data are not relevant or important so it's okay to "ignore" most of it.
So even if you're intently focused on a visual activity, your RAS will allow relevant data from another sensory (tactile, auditory) domain to interrupt if it's relevant to survival or safety or pre-determined goals (hearing your name in the hallway is relevant to maintaining your social reputation or your standing among peers or authority figures). But you can also manage that sensory gate yourself by choosing and intending - directing your attention to material which, though boring, may be related to long term goals. For example, you can do tax paperwork even when Facebook is more interesting.
And yes, when you are directing your attentional resources (either willfully or by RAS-directed attention), you will not "remember" other simultaneous information because it's not being processed at a high enough level to move it into memory. If you're listening to conversations out in the hallway, or attending to a spider crawling across your foot, you will "hear" the teacher but not give that info enough attention to remember it later. So your recall for the lecture will include gaps at every point your focus wandered or was pulled away."
Nowell, D. (2013, Jan 27). What's the role of the Reticular Activating System in attention and focus. David D. Nowell Seminars [website]. Worcester, MA: Nowell Neuropsychological Services.
While I've personally found techniques of creative visualisation and NLP-style 'anchoring' very useful, I've struggled to put them into practice consistently if I've been socially isolated, or if I've not been able to overcome any negative beliefs about myself first. It does seem much easier if you're around people who are good role-models.
Thoughts?
(NB: Apologies if this appears as a double post, had issues submitting. Hyperlinks removed to avoid any censorship issues.)
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