Your Thoughts Can Release Abilities Beyond Normal Limits

A quote: &quot;There seems to be a simple way to instantly increase a person’s level of general knowledge. Psychologists ...&quot;<p>Ahh. Psychologists. Expectations calibrated.<p>&quot;Expecting to know the answers made people more likely to get the answers right.&quot;<p>Ah, yes -- that conclusion should be easy to rigorously quantify, explain in neuroscientific terms, turn into a general theory, and replicate before anyone assumes we&#x27;re doing actual science. But no one will shape a theory, there will be no replications, and this study, like 99% of psychology studies, will disappear without a trace, only to be inadvertently repeated years from now by someone who will arrive at the opposite conclusion.

<i>In many cases, thinking that we are limited is itself a limiting factor.</i><p>I&#x27;ve noticed this is true in ever facet of my life. When I was 14, I memorized pi to 50 digits with almost no effort. Later, I memorized it to 100, then 200. I realized at that point that I could memorize anything that I wanted to. I memorize phone numbers, credit card numbers, everything with almost no effort and not using any mnemonic device. It&#x27;s so handy when buying something on the Internet to have every credit card in my wallet memorized.<p>Invariably when I demonstrate this to someone I get the, &quot;Oh I could never do that, my memory is terrible.&quot; I actually convinced a friend of mine many years ago that he could in fact memorize pi to 100 digits... and he did and still remembers it to this day. I&#x27;m convinced anyone can do this and the major thing stopping them is their belief that they can&#x27;t do it.

In my Psych course in college we were told on how playing on gender roles can affect performance. Boys and girls were given a math test. On average they performed equally. However when they were given the test and told that the test was also to evaluate how girls do as compared to boys the results were interesting. Girls did worse then average on being told this and boys did <i>better</i> than average. This article seems to reinforce this point, as the expectation that boys would do better actually caused them to perform better than average. It also points out how corrosive stereotypes can be, as just the expectation that girls would not do well in math caused a drop in their performance. I don&#x27;t have references for these studies unfortunately.

<i>In many cases, thinking that we are limited is itself a limiting factor.</i><p>I&#x27;ve noticed this with self confidence as well. Its interesting because suppose there were two people who were both identical in capability - the one with confidence will do much better. He&#x2F;She will put ideas out, will come across as more impressive to other people, and in the long term grow faster than the unconfident person because of it...<p>I mention it because I was surprised when I realized that success is not just intelligence, hard work, and social interaction, but that success is also intertwined with general personality characteristics, like confidence.

We&#x27;ve known for a while now that the placebo effect is not just psychological; it affects real physical change.<p>In one experiment, when given a morphine placebo, patients reported pain relief, but when a morphine-blocker was silently introduced, the placebo morphine no longer worked. [*<a href="http://letterstonature.wordpress.com/2008/08/27/the-placebo-effect-it%E2%80%99s-all-in-your-head" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;letterstonature.wordpress.com&#x2F;2008&#x2F;08&#x2F;27&#x2F;the-placebo-...</a>]<p>It&#x27;s fascinating and deserves more research.

semi-CSB that may be related:<p>I often travel with electronic prototypes and&#x2F;or custom parts, which can be really annoying if you have to cross an international border and go through customs.<p>I found that the best way to get through it speedily is to also carry one of my Antbots, and go into sales pitch mode when asked to explain it. People will automatically want to get rid of a traveling salesman and the fastest way to do so is to let you through.<p>Got me out of a ticket once, too.

I am a great fan of Napoleon Hill.<p>But my eyes always glazed over while listening to him talk about tapping into the &quot;Infinite Intelligence&quot;.<p>If nothing else, I would like to thank this article for gently reminding me that I do <i>not</i> know everything there is to know about this universe.

I&#x27;m glad lutusp has already jumped in here to decry the shoddy quality of &quot;science&quot; relied on to build the opinion piece kindly submitted here. He is correct that psychology often relies on data unrepresentative of humankind as a whole,<p><a href="http://hci.ucsd.edu/102b/readings/WeirdestPeople.pdf" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;hci.ucsd.edu&#x2F;102b&#x2F;readings&#x2F;WeirdestPeople.pdf</a><p>often engages in dodgy data manipulation after gathering the data,<p><a href="http://opim.wharton.upenn.edu/~uws/" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;opim.wharton.upenn.edu&#x2F;~uws&#x2F;</a><p>and is usually part of a larger scientific universe of rushing to publish.<p><a href="http://www.ma.utexas.edu/users/mks/statmistakes/filedrawer.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.ma.utexas.edu&#x2F;users&#x2F;mks&#x2F;statmistakes&#x2F;filedrawer.h...</a><p>That said, while we will always have to be wary of grandiose claims about preliminary study results,<p><a href="http://norvig.com/experiment-design.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;norvig.com&#x2F;experiment-design.html</a><p>and especially about &quot;mind over matter&quot; claims,<p><a href="http://norvig.com/prayer.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;norvig.com&#x2F;prayer.html</a><p>there are skeptical psychologists<p><a href="http://www.lscp.net/persons/dupoux/teaching/JOURNEE_AUTOMNE_CogMaster_2011-12/docs/Lilienfeld_2004_Teaching_PseudoScience.pdf" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.lscp.net&#x2F;persons&#x2F;dupoux&#x2F;teaching&#x2F;JOURNEE_AUTOMNE_...</a><p><a href="http://www.psychologicalscience.org/index.php/publications/observer/2005/september-05/the-10-commandments-of-helping-students-distinguish-science-from-pseudoscience-in-psychology.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.psychologicalscience.org&#x2F;index.php&#x2F;publications&#x2F;o...</a><p><a href="http://www.psichi.org/pubs/articles/article_730.aspx" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.psichi.org&#x2F;pubs&#x2F;articles&#x2F;article_730.aspx</a><p>and other researchers in psychology who apply rigor to their discipline, so over time we may actually find out something about human behavior from psychology more reliable than the weak and debatable assertions found in the article submitted here.<p>AFTER EDIT:<p>Because the submitted article mentions the placebo effect, in the usual manner of popular articles, perhaps I should share here some links that are helpful for understanding what placebo effects are all about. Some of these online links cite quite a few useful scholarly publications.<p><a href="http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/behold-the-spin-what-a-new-survey-of-of-placebo-prescribing-really-tells-us/" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.sciencebasedmedicine.org&#x2F;behold-the-spin-what-a-n...</a><p><a href="http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/michael-specter-on-the-placebo-effect/" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.sciencebasedmedicine.org&#x2F;michael-specter-on-the-p...</a><p>&quot;In other words, the best research we have strongly suggests that placebo effects are illusions, not real physiological effects. The possible exception to this are the subjective symptoms of pain and nausea, where the placebo effects are highly variable and may be due to subjective reporting.&quot;<p>Despite the numerous press releases on the Web pointing to publications co-authored by Ted Kaptchuk, who has NO medical training or credentials,<p><a href="http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/dummy-medicine-dummy-doctors-and-a-dummy-degree-part-2-0-harvard-medical-school-and-the-curious-case-of-ted-kaptchuk-omd/" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.sciencebasedmedicine.org&#x2F;dummy-medicine-dummy-doc...</a><p><a href="http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/dummy-medicine-dummy-doctors-and-a-dummy-degree-part-2-2-harvard-medical-school-and-the-curious-case-of-ted-kaptchuk-omd-cont-again/" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.sciencebasedmedicine.org&#x2F;dummy-medicine-dummy-doc...</a><p>the statements typically found in those articles, such as &quot;Recent research demonstrates that placebo effects are genuine psychobiological phenomenon [sic] attributable to the overall therapeutic context, and that placebo effects can be robust in both laboratory and clinical settings&quot; are untrue.<p><a href="http://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/the-rise-and-fall-of-placebo-medicine/" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;theness.com&#x2F;neurologicablog&#x2F;index.php&#x2F;the-rise-and-fa...</a><p>&quot;Despite the spin of the authors – these results put placebo medicine into crystal clear perspective, and I think they are generalizable and consistent with other placebo studies. For objective physiological outcomes, there is no significant placebo effect. Placebos are no better than no treatment at all.&quot;<p><a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20091554" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov&#x2F;pubmed&#x2F;20091554</a><p>&quot;We did not find that placebo interventions have important clinical effects in general. However, in certain settings placebo interventions can influence patient-reported outcomes, especially pain and nausea, though it is difficult to distinguish patient-reported effects of placebo from biased reporting. The effect on pain varied, even among trials with low risk of bias, from negligible to clinically important. Variations in the effect of placebo were partly explained by variations in how trials were conducted and how patients were informed.&quot;<p>Fabrizio Benedetti, a co-author of one of the most cited papers who is also a medical doctor, sums up his view this way: &quot;I am a doctor, it is true, but I am mainly a neurophysiologist, so I use the placebo response as a model to understand how our brain works. I am not sure that in the future it will have a clinical application.&quot;<p>To sum up, despite claims to the contrary by a person without medical training who is often covered by the lay press, the best-considered view among medical practitioners with clinical experience is that the placebo response has no clinical application.<p>See also:<p><a href="http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/does-thinking-make-it-so-cam-placebo-fantasy-versus-scientific-reality/" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.sciencebasedmedicine.org&#x2F;does-thinking-make-it-so...</a><p><a href="http://www.skepdic.com/placebo.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.skepdic.com&#x2F;placebo.html</a><p><a href="http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/revisiting-daniel-moerman-and-placebo-effects/" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.sciencebasedmedicine.org&#x2F;revisiting-daniel-moerma...</a>

FWIW, pretty much the entire sub-field of &quot;priming&quot; in contemporary psychological research has come under significant scrutiny over the past few years. I am no expert, I would encourage you to read this: <a href="https://chronicle.com/article/Power-of-Suggestion/136907" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;chronicle.com&#x2F;article&#x2F;Power-of-Suggestion&#x2F;136907</a><p>&quot;The studies that raise eyebrows are mostly in an area known as behavioral or goal priming, research that demonstrates how subliminal prompts can make you do all manner of crazy things. A warm mug makes you friendlier. The American flag makes you vote Republican. Fast-food logos make you impatient. A small group of skeptical psychologists—let&#x27;s call them the Replicators—have been trying to reproduce some of the most popular priming effects in their own labs.<p>What have they found? Mostly that they can&#x27;t get those results. The studies don&#x27;t check out. Something is wrong.&quot;

This is explained simply by setting your mind to something, selective attention, etc. I&#x27;m not sure why commenters are looking for exact science when we don&#x27;t even have a working model of consciousness let alone the subconscious.<p>When we focus our attention on something, we are applying more brain resources towards that task, sending more energy through our neurons, etc. If sitting in an aircraft simulator makes you more alert due to the excitement of the experience and task, it makes sense that you will invest more energy into it to get a better outcome. Not too mysterious.<p>I disagree with those commenters who imply that there is nothing scientific about making observations without a theory to attach to it. I actually tink it&#x27;s a lot more responsible than trying to force a theory that we don&#x27;t have enough evidence for.

Montaigne explained this phenomena over a hundred years ago: <a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3600/3600-h/3600-h.htm#link2HCH0020" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.gutenberg.org&#x2F;files&#x2F;3600&#x2F;3600-h&#x2F;3600-h.htm#link2H...</a>

I have experienced this my self in real life. This is very cliché but it reminds me of Starwars, &quot;these are not the droids you are looking for,&quot; I have seen the power of thinking influence others in a very positive way.

Thought, intention and expectation—these are causal and creative. Our experience of the world is substantially shaped by how we view it.

This is easily explained by a broader psychological phenomenon. The brain and ego will invest itself in a task in direct proportion to the expected payoff.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR(S)<p>Ozgun Atasoy is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Marketing at Boston University School of Management.

“Whether you think you can, or you think you can&#x27;t—you&#x27;re right.” – Henry Ford

The sleeper must awaken!

This is all about releasing the blocking mechanism that exists. I feel people like Eckhart Tolle have somehow mastered this, at least in the realm of the scope of abilities they are most comfortable being confined in.