The Power of Positive Thinking
The latest special edition of TIME magazine has dedicated the entire issue on the power of positive thinking. Scientists are finding clear proof of the benefits of:
cultivating optimism (as well as the how to keep out of its pitfalls),
how being an optimist can give us a 40% higher chance of getting a promotion at work within the next year,
the role that memory plays in seeing future opportunities,
how our expectations (positive or negative) shape our outcomes, and most importantly -
what we CAN do in real time to create the opportunities we want and live our best life.
What is optimism?
Optimism Bias
Optimism bias is the belief that the future will be much better than the past or the present. Scientists are finding that our brain is “hardwired for hope” - there’s a very practical application of hope, which “keeps our minds at ease, lowers stress, and improves physical health.”
This is where MEMORY comes…
“The core function of the memory system could be to imagine the future - to prepare us for what’s yet to come.”
“Scientists who study memory propose that the system is not designed to perfectly replay past events; rather, it is designed to flexibly construct future scenarios in our minds. As a result, memory also ends up being a reconstructive process, and occasionally, details are deleted and others inserted.”
How do expectations shape outcomes?
“To make progress, we need to be able to imagine alternative realities - better ones - and we need to believe that we can achieve them.”
Cognitive neuroscientist Sara Bengtsson devised an experiment manipulating the positive and negative expectations of students. She found that students who were primed to expect bad results, lacked a signal to help them learn from their mistakes, making them less likely to improve over time.
