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You are deceiving yourself if you think that by thinking positive you will attract good things
Psychology
The psychologists Silvia González and Elena Huguet, from the ‘In Mental Balance’ team, explain why it is not true that just thinking positively attracts good things
PM2:56How many times have we bought a lottery ticket thinking and dreaming that it was going to play? And how many of those times have you played? Thinking of pleasant things and imagining what we would like to do makes us have a positive attitude, also in the face of failures and frustrations.
But the myth behind the phrase “If you think positive, you will attract good things” refers to the Law of attraction, which tells us that an energy emitted in a specific way will attract another energy identical to the one projected. According to this belief, our negative or positive thoughts take the same form in their projection and, as a consequence, influence our environment. And thus the belief is generated that, if we think positive, we will attract positive things in our life.
However, reviewing the scientific bases of this law, we see that not only do they not exist, but also from different areas of science this supposed law has been harshly criticized and qualified as pseudocreencia. The main criticisms refer to the fact that the evidence provided to affirm this theory is usually anecdotal, subjective, and susceptible to confirmation and selection biases, that is, that only the information that you want to give is chosen and that confirms what we say.
But in addition to not having any scientific basis to support this idea, this theory can be counterproductive to the extent that it makes us responsible for the unpleasant things that happen to us, because, according to that same argument, if we have negative thoughts, things will happen to us. negative. Therefore, this causes us to deny the influence that factors outside ourselves and our will have on our lives and generates an intense sense of guilt. In addition, it generates a false sense of control and it makes us live an unreal reality projecting ourselves into an ideal future without living in the present.
The cognitive psychology We advocate the theory of the authentic effect of generating and maintaining positive thoughts and an optimistic attitude to the different situations that may happen to us consists of generating pleasant emotions in our lives that will add and enrich our experiences.
The psychologist Elena Huguet combines her activity ‘In Mental Equilibrium’ with research on suicide in the doctoral program of the UCM, teaching at the European University of Madrid as a professor of the Master of General Health Psychologist and a trainer in different training centers such as the Miguel Hernández University, the Autonomous University of Madrid and in the working groups of the Official College of Psychologists, among others. In addition, he has expert titles in Personality Disorders, Immediate Telematic Psychological Attention and also in Brief Strategic Therapy.
Silvia González is a psychologist with a master’s degree in Clinical and Health Psychology and a Master’s degree in General Health Psychology. In addition to being part of the «In mental balance» team, she has worked at the University Psychology Clinic of the UCM, where she has also been a tutor for the students of the University Master’s Degree in General Health Psychology. In the field of teaching, he has given informative workshops in numerous institutions such as “Workshop on Emotional Understanding and Regulation”, “Workshop on Improving Public Speaking Skills” or “Workshop on Exam Anxiety”.