when I was five years old I hated going
to the barber sitting still is hard
enough but the thing that got to me the
most were those Clippers to me they were
nothing more than a series of guilty and
sharp blades ready to lop my head off
with one careless hand at the barber
needle to say cursed with genes had made
my hair grow quickly
I had many encounters with those
Clippers and many of my haircuts
contained a lot of screaming kicking and
crying but one day a new barber came to
me he said you see these Clippers
during a red Clippers these are the hot
Clippers they are the ones that hurt no
wonder why you don’t like haircuts that
other guy’s been using them on you the
whole time and then he took out another
pair of clippers he said these are the
blue Clippers these are cool Clippers
they don’t hurt they actually feel quite
nice tell you what I’ll use these on you
instead and from that moment on my angst
of the barber was overcome by his very
clever use of suggestion something that
is ubiquitous and unavoidable suggestion
has many purposes and has many ways of
manifesting it can make us fall in love
and it can induce hate it can conjure
memories it can make us forget it can
make us buy certain products and vote
for certain political candidates it can
be a form of a recommendation such as
what movie to see or what restaurant to
go to and can even in other forms change
one’s entire perception in the world of
the world such as my case in my
laboratory work in which I assess
whether people have the capability of
experiencing phenomena associated with
hypnosis such as hallucinating or
changing personalities but one thing we
could say about suggestion is that its
power is hard for the nine a government
sanctioned Commission was formed to
investigate this purported medical
treatment in France that supposedly
cured a lot of ailments ranging from
chronic pain to
Oh Jenna blindness the commission after
a very rigorous investigation concluded
that the cures were mostly genuine
houses treatment math test it by using
magnets but magnets for making this cure
supposedly but the Commission said it
was not magnetism rather it was the use
of suggestion suggestion that was used
to invoke the imagination and the belief
of the patients in the process of
healing that was responsible and nothing
to do with magnets
now who led this very impressive finding
Benjamin Franklin in 1784
now what’s prep more interesting about
this interesting historical anecdote is
that very little has been made of this
research over the last 225 years the
closest thing we have is placebo
research in which drug researchers will
give patients a fake drug or the placebo
that looks like a medication but has no
medicinal properties or the real drug
and the compare the effect of the actual
medicine with expectation of healing to
see what the effect is and the hope is
to find the drug that has the maximum
benefit but only recently has the
paradigm shifted and have they started
looking towards this mind-body
interaction and the results have been
quite fascinating a study at Baylor
University gave patients with
osteoarthritis of the knee either real
surgery or a sham surgery in which they
cut open the knee and then sawed it
right back up both groups had the same
amount of improvement in healing at the
University of Colorado patients were
gear participants were given in a study
a nasal spray which was supposedly a
very powerful analgesic a painkiller not
only did their subjective ratings of
physical pain actually decrease when
given an actual painful stimulus the
ratings of emotional pain also decreased
as these participants were selected
because they had recently ended a long
term romance
take relationship but in my opinion the
best use of placebo came from a North
Dakota drugstore in which a very clever
pharmacist came up with the magical
formula to rid young children of
monsters in the closet now suggestion is
not limited solely to perceive Oh
studies it happens in various realms of
psychology and research a study with
weightlifters had participants get a
suggestion for increased strength and
power before doing a bench press those
who receive the suggestion bench press
an average of 23 more pounds compared to
their baseline and this was in
comparison to the control group that got
no suggestion and had virtually no gain
in dermatological studies suggestions
for clear skin have been known to clear
up warts in patients and have been shown
to rival chemical treatments and in
oguns studies of pain sometimes
suggestion has been found to be equally
effective to the effect of opioids and
sometimes outdoes opioids and it comes
without the painful addictive properties
and side effects but what’s interesting
about all this suggestion stuff is that
it can be produced by oneself through a
process that I call or there’s often
called self-talk self-talk is nothing
more than a series of self administered
suggestions for some effect I recently
conducted a study with participants who
are capable of experiencing a delusion
through suggestion specifically in this
study they were told to believe that
their favorite sports team had just won
a major championship and for
Philadelphia sports teams a delusion is
what it takes after explaining with
great zeal and excitement how their team
won and what they did to celebrate the
suggestion was canceled and then they
were told a strategy to produce that
same experience by themselves without
any direct interaction from me their
ratings of subjective realness of the
delusion was equally strong when they
produce it themselves then when I gave
it to them
it was all through the
use of self talk and self talk has a lot
of power to produce all these things be
it the funny antics you see in stage
hypnosis all the way to the healing
benefits of hypnotherapy just by talking
to yourself in the right way now you
might be saying well if self talk is so
beneficial why are we not reaping its
benefits more often the truth of the
matter is we use self-talk all the time
but often in negative and destructive
ways in a demonstration I do with my
students every year I ask them to stand
up and then rate how easy it was for
them to do so on a scale of 1 to 10 with
10 being the easiest I then tell them to
take those same pessimistic attitudes
that students has about schoolwork and
as a high school teacher in college
instructor I hear them all the time I’m
gonna fail this test this projects not
worth my time it’s worthless
it’s hopeless and I tell them to take
those same pessimistic statements that
they often say to themselves but to
apply it to getting out of their seat to
tell themselves that it’s worthless that
they have no effort no potential nope no
pension no ability to get out of their
seat if they were to try to do it it’s
going to be hopeless the effect is a
significant increase in difficulty in
getting in other chairs
now if simple self talk can adversely
affect something as mundane as getting
out of your seat in what ways is it
adversely affecting us in our lives in
our relationships when the bowl is in
the classroom if we can change our
self-talk we could have lots of
improvement but we use this negative
self-talk so often that it adversely
affects us one of the major facets of
depression is when people use this
negative and destructive self-talk
saying their life is no good and not
worth living and many people with an
honest introspection could probably
think of times when they said themselves
not to trust those people not like them
thereby strengthening their biases and
their prejudices changing our self-talk
can effect a positive change now you
might be saying you know I’ve tried
something like this before one day I
said to myself I’m gonna get this
project done and it’s still not done why
well I offer two reasons for this first
positive self-talk is a little bit more
difficult than negative self-talk
take for example that school project
that you want to do if I’m sitting on my
couch and I decide that I’m going to get
up and do that project that’s due next
week I have to go through a series of
steps I have to get out of the couch go
to my desk read over the assignment do
some background research make an outline
type up the paper print out the paper
proofread and then turn it in all of
these things requiring their own special
type of self-talk to overcome the
potential barriers that might be there
if on the other hand I wish not to do
that paper all I have to say to myself
is just keep sitting and it won’t get
done the second reason perhaps the more
important reason is that we often try to
use simple self-talk phrases for tasks
they’re way too elaborate if achill for
those particular simple phrases and
often yields little take for example the
smoking habit for a smoker the harmful
habit once acquired can actually serve a
number of benefits it can quell boredom
it can reduce tension it can substitute
as serve as a substitute for other types
of harmful habitual behaviors simply
saying to yourself I’m going to quit
smoking does little to address those
very specific dynamics as to why one
still continues to smoke so then how do
we go about engaging in positive
self-talk to affect changes that we
truly want in our lives
I offer offer a series of tips first
stick to the specific instead of saying
to yourself I’m gonna ace the test
refocus and say I will maintain my focus
as I study for the test
instead of saying I will run faster say
to yourself I can keep this pace the
more I run stick to the specific and
work your way up work on the minor
elements of the task that you wish to
accomplish secondly stick to
affirmations and avoid negations the
statement
stay focused and don’t get distracted
may convey the same meaning but the
former is often more effective in the
latter in producing change no one likes
to be told what not to do and we have a
tendency to value those things that we
supposedly can’t do or can’t have we
dislike don’t not and know so much that
we may tend to ignore it if not
implicitly the same holds true if we try
to impose limitations on ourselves if we
tell ourselves not to do something we
might be more likely to do it but if
instead we offer ourselves a different
alternative to pursue we are more likely
to be successful focus on what you want
as opposed to what you don’t want third
engage your imagination as you go
through your self-talk make the most
important element to a belief is the
inevitable commitment of one’s
imagination to an idea we believe it
because we can imagine it and this is so
where we can actually by engaging in
this self-talk but also using our
imagination we can be better self
talkers for that smoking habit as you
tell yourself I can be smoke free
imagining that physical urge draining
from your body can actually reduce the
craving for cigarettes telling yourself
that you can be happy while imagining
the sensations that come with feelings
of joy have been shown to improve your
mood and when you are in when you
encounter those stereotypes that you
might have telling yourself that they
are wrong while at the same time
imagining specific
examples that counter that stereotype
have been shown to reduce measures of
implicit bias in that demonstration I do
with my students where they have
difficulty standing up because they’re
told that they’re not able to do so I
then follow up with them I say let’s do
the opposite tell yourself that you’re
going to be great at it tell yourself
that you are going to be wonderful
and that when you do it imagine that
you’re going to do it with such passion
such energy such amazing strength
they’ll be the easiest thing you have
ever done and just by changing that self
talking engaging in that imagination you
actually have an effect of standing up
that’s easier than what it normally is
finally practice it may seem a little
odd at first to engage in a positive
self-talk
especially after engaging in so much
negative self-talk for so long and they
take some time before those crafted
statements start to take hold but much
like any particular actor or athlete who
is good at their craft they may have
struggled at first when they first began
but they got better at it with concerted
effort and practice the same is true for
self-talk now some people possess traits
that make them better self talkers and
we’ll have better effects from self-talk
than other people but much like learning
how to play a musical instrument
everybody can learn to do it at least a
little if you’re willing to put forth
the effort now let me be clear I do not
wish to contend that self-talk is the
panacea to all of life’s problems it
will not cure depression it will not end
racism and Prejudice and it will not
strike out laziness and procrastination
from the dictionary but given how
negative self-talk can make those things
worse it can only help likewise
self-talk should not be a substitute for
any established therapy or intervention
but many therapists who engage in
psychotherapy will often talk about the
importance of self-talk and improving
one’s condition
in the end I believe that sometimes the
greatest change agent is the one who
acts as their own agent and the one who
speaks best for oneself is the one who
best speaks to oneself thank you
[Applause]
to the barber sitting still is hard
enough but the thing that got to me the
most were those Clippers to me they were
nothing more than a series of guilty and
sharp blades ready to lop my head off
with one careless hand at the barber
needle to say cursed with genes had made
my hair grow quickly
I had many encounters with those
Clippers and many of my haircuts
contained a lot of screaming kicking and
crying but one day a new barber came to
me he said you see these Clippers
during a red Clippers these are the hot
Clippers they are the ones that hurt no
wonder why you don’t like haircuts that
other guy’s been using them on you the
whole time and then he took out another
pair of clippers he said these are the
blue Clippers these are cool Clippers
they don’t hurt they actually feel quite
nice tell you what I’ll use these on you
instead and from that moment on my angst
of the barber was overcome by his very
clever use of suggestion something that
is ubiquitous and unavoidable suggestion
has many purposes and has many ways of
manifesting it can make us fall in love
and it can induce hate it can conjure
memories it can make us forget it can
make us buy certain products and vote
for certain political candidates it can
be a form of a recommendation such as
what movie to see or what restaurant to
go to and can even in other forms change
one’s entire perception in the world of
the world such as my case in my
laboratory work in which I assess
whether people have the capability of
experiencing phenomena associated with
hypnosis such as hallucinating or
changing personalities but one thing we
could say about suggestion is that its
power is hard for the nine a government
sanctioned Commission was formed to
investigate this purported medical
treatment in France that supposedly
cured a lot of ailments ranging from
chronic pain to
Oh Jenna blindness the commission after
a very rigorous investigation concluded
that the cures were mostly genuine
houses treatment math test it by using
magnets but magnets for making this cure
supposedly but the Commission said it
was not magnetism rather it was the use
of suggestion suggestion that was used
to invoke the imagination and the belief
of the patients in the process of
healing that was responsible and nothing
to do with magnets
now who led this very impressive finding
Benjamin Franklin in 1784
now what’s prep more interesting about
this interesting historical anecdote is
that very little has been made of this
research over the last 225 years the
closest thing we have is placebo
research in which drug researchers will
give patients a fake drug or the placebo
that looks like a medication but has no
medicinal properties or the real drug
and the compare the effect of the actual
medicine with expectation of healing to
see what the effect is and the hope is
to find the drug that has the maximum
benefit but only recently has the
paradigm shifted and have they started
looking towards this mind-body
interaction and the results have been
quite fascinating a study at Baylor
University gave patients with
osteoarthritis of the knee either real
surgery or a sham surgery in which they
cut open the knee and then sawed it
right back up both groups had the same
amount of improvement in healing at the
University of Colorado patients were
gear participants were given in a study
a nasal spray which was supposedly a
very powerful analgesic a painkiller not
only did their subjective ratings of
physical pain actually decrease when
given an actual painful stimulus the
ratings of emotional pain also decreased
as these participants were selected
because they had recently ended a long
term romance
take relationship but in my opinion the
best use of placebo came from a North
Dakota drugstore in which a very clever
pharmacist came up with the magical
formula to rid young children of
monsters in the closet now suggestion is
not limited solely to perceive Oh
studies it happens in various realms of
psychology and research a study with
weightlifters had participants get a
suggestion for increased strength and
power before doing a bench press those
who receive the suggestion bench press
an average of 23 more pounds compared to
their baseline and this was in
comparison to the control group that got
no suggestion and had virtually no gain
in dermatological studies suggestions
for clear skin have been known to clear
up warts in patients and have been shown
to rival chemical treatments and in
oguns studies of pain sometimes
suggestion has been found to be equally
effective to the effect of opioids and
sometimes outdoes opioids and it comes
without the painful addictive properties
and side effects but what’s interesting
about all this suggestion stuff is that
it can be produced by oneself through a
process that I call or there’s often
called self-talk self-talk is nothing
more than a series of self administered
suggestions for some effect I recently
conducted a study with participants who
are capable of experiencing a delusion
through suggestion specifically in this
study they were told to believe that
their favorite sports team had just won
a major championship and for
Philadelphia sports teams a delusion is
what it takes after explaining with
great zeal and excitement how their team
won and what they did to celebrate the
suggestion was canceled and then they
were told a strategy to produce that
same experience by themselves without
any direct interaction from me their
ratings of subjective realness of the
delusion was equally strong when they
produce it themselves then when I gave
it to them
it was all through the
use of self talk and self talk has a lot
of power to produce all these things be
it the funny antics you see in stage
hypnosis all the way to the healing
benefits of hypnotherapy just by talking
to yourself in the right way now you
might be saying well if self talk is so
beneficial why are we not reaping its
benefits more often the truth of the
matter is we use self-talk all the time
but often in negative and destructive
ways in a demonstration I do with my
students every year I ask them to stand
up and then rate how easy it was for
them to do so on a scale of 1 to 10 with
10 being the easiest I then tell them to
take those same pessimistic attitudes
that students has about schoolwork and
as a high school teacher in college
instructor I hear them all the time I’m
gonna fail this test this projects not
worth my time it’s worthless
it’s hopeless and I tell them to take
those same pessimistic statements that
they often say to themselves but to
apply it to getting out of their seat to
tell themselves that it’s worthless that
they have no effort no potential nope no
pension no ability to get out of their
seat if they were to try to do it it’s
going to be hopeless the effect is a
significant increase in difficulty in
getting in other chairs
now if simple self talk can adversely
affect something as mundane as getting
out of your seat in what ways is it
adversely affecting us in our lives in
our relationships when the bowl is in
the classroom if we can change our
self-talk we could have lots of
improvement but we use this negative
self-talk so often that it adversely
affects us one of the major facets of
depression is when people use this
negative and destructive self-talk
saying their life is no good and not
worth living and many people with an
honest introspection could probably
think of times when they said themselves
not to trust those people not like them
thereby strengthening their biases and
their prejudices changing our self-talk
can effect a positive change now you
might be saying you know I’ve tried
something like this before one day I
said to myself I’m gonna get this
project done and it’s still not done why
well I offer two reasons for this first
positive self-talk is a little bit more
difficult than negative self-talk
take for example that school project
that you want to do if I’m sitting on my
couch and I decide that I’m going to get
up and do that project that’s due next
week I have to go through a series of
steps I have to get out of the couch go
to my desk read over the assignment do
some background research make an outline
type up the paper print out the paper
proofread and then turn it in all of
these things requiring their own special
type of self-talk to overcome the
potential barriers that might be there
if on the other hand I wish not to do
that paper all I have to say to myself
is just keep sitting and it won’t get
done the second reason perhaps the more
important reason is that we often try to
use simple self-talk phrases for tasks
they’re way too elaborate if achill for
those particular simple phrases and
often yields little take for example the
smoking habit for a smoker the harmful
habit once acquired can actually serve a
number of benefits it can quell boredom
it can reduce tension it can substitute
as serve as a substitute for other types
of harmful habitual behaviors simply
saying to yourself I’m going to quit
smoking does little to address those
very specific dynamics as to why one
still continues to smoke so then how do
we go about engaging in positive
self-talk to affect changes that we
truly want in our lives
I offer offer a series of tips first
stick to the specific instead of saying
to yourself I’m gonna ace the test
refocus and say I will maintain my focus
as I study for the test
instead of saying I will run faster say
to yourself I can keep this pace the
more I run stick to the specific and
work your way up work on the minor
elements of the task that you wish to
accomplish secondly stick to
affirmations and avoid negations the
statement
stay focused and don’t get distracted
may convey the same meaning but the
former is often more effective in the
latter in producing change no one likes
to be told what not to do and we have a
tendency to value those things that we
supposedly can’t do or can’t have we
dislike don’t not and know so much that
we may tend to ignore it if not
implicitly the same holds true if we try
to impose limitations on ourselves if we
tell ourselves not to do something we
might be more likely to do it but if
instead we offer ourselves a different
alternative to pursue we are more likely
to be successful focus on what you want
as opposed to what you don’t want third
engage your imagination as you go
through your self-talk make the most
important element to a belief is the
inevitable commitment of one’s
imagination to an idea we believe it
because we can imagine it and this is so
where we can actually by engaging in
this self-talk but also using our
imagination we can be better self
talkers for that smoking habit as you
tell yourself I can be smoke free
imagining that physical urge draining
from your body can actually reduce the
craving for cigarettes telling yourself
that you can be happy while imagining
the sensations that come with feelings
of joy have been shown to improve your
mood and when you are in when you
encounter those stereotypes that you
might have telling yourself that they
are wrong while at the same time
imagining specific
examples that counter that stereotype
have been shown to reduce measures of
implicit bias in that demonstration I do
with my students where they have
difficulty standing up because they’re
told that they’re not able to do so I
then follow up with them I say let’s do
the opposite tell yourself that you’re
going to be great at it tell yourself
that you are going to be wonderful
and that when you do it imagine that
you’re going to do it with such passion
such energy such amazing strength
they’ll be the easiest thing you have
ever done and just by changing that self
talking engaging in that imagination you
actually have an effect of standing up
that’s easier than what it normally is
finally practice it may seem a little
odd at first to engage in a positive
self-talk
especially after engaging in so much
negative self-talk for so long and they
take some time before those crafted
statements start to take hold but much
like any particular actor or athlete who
is good at their craft they may have
struggled at first when they first began
but they got better at it with concerted
effort and practice the same is true for
self-talk now some people possess traits
that make them better self talkers and
we’ll have better effects from self-talk
than other people but much like learning
how to play a musical instrument
everybody can learn to do it at least a
little if you’re willing to put forth
the effort now let me be clear I do not
wish to contend that self-talk is the
panacea to all of life’s problems it
will not cure depression it will not end
racism and Prejudice and it will not
strike out laziness and procrastination
from the dictionary but given how
negative self-talk can make those things
worse it can only help likewise
self-talk should not be a substitute for
any established therapy or intervention
but many therapists who engage in
psychotherapy will often talk about the
importance of self-talk and improving
one’s condition
in the end I believe that sometimes the
greatest change agent is the one who
acts as their own agent and the one who
speaks best for oneself is the one who
best speaks to oneself thank you
[Applause]
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