When it comes to personal achievement, be wary of exercises asking you to fantasize about your perfect future.
In a study by Lien Pham and Shelley Taylor at the University of California, one group of students were asked to spend a few moments each day visualizing themselves getting a high grade in an important midterm exam. Another group were asked to imagine the process of revision by visualizing when, where and how they intended to study. The study also involved a control group of students, who went about their business as usual. The experimenters asked all of the students to make a note of the number of hours they studied each day, and monitored their final grades. Even though the daydreaming exercise only lasted a few minutes, it had a significant impact on the students’ behavior, causing them to study less, and obtain lower marks in the exam. In contrast, the students who imagined themselves going through the process of studying spent significantly more time revising and eventually obtained higher exam grades. 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, example, tennis players and golfers benefiting far more from imagining themselves training than winning.
59 Seconds tip: Rather than fantasizing about your dreams becoming a reality, try imagining yourself taking the practical steps needed to achieve your goals.
Pham, L. B., & Taylor, S. E. (1999). From thought to action: Effects of process- versus outcome-based mental simulations on performance. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 25, 250-260.
8 Comments
July 13, 2009 at 9:34 am
[...] Interessante nieuwe site van Richard Wiseman: 59 seconds [...]
July 13, 2009 at 2:40 pm
Brilliant!
But why is the citation from a document by Pham, L. B., & Taylor, S. E. written for Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin in 1999?
Wish I could have known this back when I was at University.
Great Job Professor Wiseman!
July 13, 2009 at 3:51 pm
The Secret’s dirty little secret
July 13, 2009 at 6:05 pm
I can imagine this being the case as a statistical average – but I can equally imagine a number of individual circumstances where the fantasy imagining would work too/better. Eg for people who have low self esteem and find it dificult to motivate themselves to try/practice/revise as a result. In such individual cases I could imagine that the additional belief in the possible might then open the way for behaviour to enable it to happen.
The one thing don’t beleieve is that there is a single “truth” when it comes to people and their motivations.
July 13, 2009 at 9:20 pm
[...] be wary of exercises asking you to fantasize about your perfect future. They may backfire. Click here to read the [...]
July 14, 2009 at 8:13 pm
[...] nettsted presenterer han i tiden fremover noen tips og utdrag fra boken. Nylig skrev han om hvordan teknikken med å visualisere et mål man ønsker å oppnå, faktisk viser seg å være kontra-produktivt i praksis: In a study by Lien [...]
August 1, 2009 at 7:02 am
It’s amazing the value we put on high grades when a huge percentage of the richest and most influencial people in the world actually performed badly in school.
The trick is to focus on what you do want, not what someone else wants.
And also there is a world of difference between ‘day dreaming’ and focused emotive imagination.
September 28, 2009 at 9:01 am
[...] and recording achievable, progressive steps towards your goals (something Richard Wiseman covers in his latest book, I believe), the notion that writing down where you want to be and what you want to get and it will come to [...]