What Are the Dangers of Positive Thinking?

For years people have believed that they could change the way they thought of themselves and produce a better life through positive thinking and repeating positive affirmations. This advice has been given by therapist and psychologists, in self-help books, and on talk shows. However, at least one study has shown that this technique may actually do more harm than good.

The Problem

• The idea behind positive thinking and positive affirmations is that by repeating positive statements such as "I am a strong person" and "I can achieve success", people can change how they think about themselves, leading to a change in behavior and bringing more positive outcomes in their lives. Joanne Wood, professor of Psychology at the University of Waterloo, decided to test the effects of positive affirmation practice on those with low self-esteem.

The Study

• Wood invited 68 people to participate in the study, based on their scores on the Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale. Study participants consisted of those with the highest and lowest scores. Participants were separated by whether they were considered to have high or low self-esteem. These two groups were then separated into a test and control group. Those in the test group were told to repeat "I am a loveable person" every 15 seconds to the sound of a doorbell. All study participates were then told to write about how they felt for four minutes. This was then followed by a mood assessment questionnaire to determine whether or not the affirmations have had any effect.

Results

• Study results showed that the participants who tested as having low self-esteem according to the Rosenberg scale actually felt worse about themselves after the affirmations, scoring an average of 10 on the mood assessment that followed. Control participants with low self-esteem who hadn't repeated the phrase scored a slightly higher average of 17. However, participants who already high self-esteems according to the Rosenberg scale had an average mood assessment scale of 31 for those repeating the affirmation and 25 for those who didn't.

Conclusions

• The problem with positive thinking that psychologists have acknowledged since the 1960s is that people are more likely to accept ideas close to the ones that they already hold and have a tendency to be more dismissive of an idea the more different it is from how they feel. Therefore, people who suffer from a low self-image will reject thoughts to the contrary. In fact, Wood's study shows that positive affirmations may be so confusing and unbelievable to these people that it may actually strengthen their already negative view of themselves by reminding them of past failures or feelings of judgment. In this way, positive thinking and affirmation therapy may be doing more damage than good.