# Positive Affirmations Link [[Positive Psychology Index]] Source: https://psychcentral.com/blog/why-positive-affirmations-dont-work#2 Positive Affirmations may not work if the person already hold strong inner belief that are contrary with what they hear. E.g They held on to inner belief, unconscious, that they are ugly. When they listen to affirmations such as "you are beautiful", it create inner conflict, "it's not true! it's not true". The push and counter push, the negative belief becomes stronger as it fights for survival. # Declarative versus interrogative self-talk (Senay, Albarracín & Noguchi, 2010) Declarative self-talk is about making self-statements, either positive (e.g., affirmations) or negative (e.g., core beliefs). In contrast, interrogative self-talk is about asking questions. In the study, four groups of participants were asked to solve anagrams. Before completing the task, the researchers told them that they were interested in handwriting practices and asked them to write 20 times on a sheet of paper either: “I will,” “Will I,” “I” or “Will.” The group that wrote “Will I” solved nearly twice as many anagrams as any of the other groups. ==Asking ourselves is far more powerful than telling ourselves something when we wish to create successful end results== Let’s say you are about to give a presentation and you’re feeling nervous about it. You may find yourself declaring: “I’m terrible at presentations; they never go well for me.” Alternatively you may give yourself a positive pep talk: “I am delivering a great presentation that inspires my audience.” Both are declarative statements that apply a kind of external pressure to the self and shut down the possibility of accessing the inner resources and creativity needed for success. However, tweak the above statements so they become questions: “Am I terrible at presentations? Have they ever gone well for me?” Or: “Will I deliver a great presentation that inspires my audience?” Potential answers may be: “I get shy and nervous and people switch off when I talk. However, in my last presentation, I made a point that people found interesting and I really had their attention. How could I expand on that?” “The last presentation that I did went well. What did I do that worked and how could I do more of that?” This powerful strategy works better than affirmations because it acknowledges your negative thoughts and feelings and reduces the need to fight them. You start to become an ally to your unconscious mind, which in turn will elicit its cooperation. And the unconscious mind is fantastic at coming up with creative stuff. ## Follow this process to effectively apply the interrogative self-talk strategy: ^ae9771 1. Draw your awareness to any declared self-statements, whether positive or negative. 2. Tweak these statements into questions; e.g.: “I am” into “Am I?” Mull over possible answers to these questions and come up with additional questions. “What if..?” produces a particularly fruitful line of enquiry. 3. Eliciting your curiosity and creativity using this method will put an end to that draining inner struggle, which in turn will reduce the tension in your body and help you relax. It won’t cost you anything and it will position you to reap excellent end results. ^b13b0f Reference Senay, I., Albarracín, D., & Noguchi, K. (2010). Motivating Goal-Directed Behavior Through Introspective Self-Talk: The Role of the Interrogative Form of Simple Future Tense. Psychological Science 21(4), 499-504. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3626423/ [[Paper Motivating Goal-Directed Behavior Through Introspective Self- Talk The Role of the Interrogative Form of Simple Future Tense]]