In his new book Mind Over Mind, science journalist Chris Berdik explains the many ways in which what you expect shapes what happens.
The premise is simple: expectations matter. In medicine it’s known as the placebo effect and examines how people can be fooled into feeling better.
It’s now been proven in lab and field experiments that people who stand in powerful poses for a minute or two, have similar hormonal changes to people who are given actual power and authority over another person, and they exhibit the same sorts of behavioural changes. Thus, expectations can bend reality, shifting it in small but important ways.
Question expectations
Our minds are constantly jumping to conclusions about the world we live in and who we are, says Berdik. Instead of just accepting them, we can examine those expectations and put them to the test by trying out alternatives.
It may be worthwhile to look for the connections between what we think and what we experience, and to try using our mind to shake things up.
For instance, many people worry that they will crumble under pressure. But in one study, researchers told one group of athletes that what they thought of as pre-race jitters actually improved performance, while telling another group that this sort of arousal was usually detrimental. The athletes performed accordingly when the pressure was on.
In another athletics study, the researchers gave every subject a personality questionnaire and then randomly gave some of them false feedback that their answers indicated they were the sort of person who thrives under pressure.
When it came time to compete, the athletes who were told they were likely to do better under pressure did so. So take stock of how often your imagination, your expectations and your assumptions influence reality and actually change experience.
