Psychocybernetics Flashcards
Explain why the self-image is important?
All your actions, feelings, behaviour—even your abilities—are always consistent with this self-image. In short, you will “act like” the sort of person you conceive yourself to be. Not only this, but you literally cannot act otherwise, in spite of all your conscious efforts or will power. The man who conceives himself to be a “failure-type person” will find some way to fail, in spite of all his good intentions, or his will power, even if opportunity is literally dumped in his lap. The person who conceives himself to be a victim of injustice, one “who was meant to suffer,” will invariably find circumstances to verify his opinions.
Why is the self-image a foundation?
The self-image is a “premise,” a base, or a foundation upon which your entire personality, your behaviour, and even your circumstances are built. Because of this our experiences seem to verify, and thereby strengthen our self images, and a vicious or a beneficent cycle, as the case may be, is set up
For example, a schoolboy who sees himself as an “F” type student, or one who is “dumb in mathematics,” will invariably find that his report card bears him out. He then has “proof.
What is the creative mechanism?
This Creative Mechanism within you is impersonal. It will work automatically and impersonally to achieve goals of success and happiness, or unhappiness and failure, depending upon the goals which you yourself set for it. Present it with “success goals” and it functions as a “Success Mechanism.” Present it with negative goals, and it operates just as impersonally, and just as faithfully as a “Failure Mechanism.” Like any other servo-mechanism, it must have a clear-cut goal, objective, or “problem” to work upon. The goals that our own Creative Mechanism seeks to achieve are MENTAL IMAGES, or mental pictures, which we create by the use of IMAGINATION. The key goal-image is our Self-Image. Our Self-Image prescribes the limits for the accomplishment of any particular goals. It prescribes the “area of the possible.”
How can you change the self-image?
The unhappy, failure-type personality cannot develop a new self-image by pure will power, or by arbitrarily deciding to. There must be some grounds, some justification, some reason for deciding that the old picture of self is in error, and that a new picture is appropriate. You cannot merely imagine a new self-image unless you feel that it is based upon truth. Experience has shown that when a person does change his self-image, he has the feeling that for one reason or another, he “sees,” or realizes the truth about himself.
human being always acts and feels and performs in accordance with what he imagines to be true about himself and his environment.
If we picture ourselves performing in a certain manner, it is nearly the same as the actual performance. Mental practice helps to make perfect.
Does mental practice work?
In a controlled experiment, psychologist R. A. Vandell proved that mental practice in throwing darts at a target, wherein the person sits for a period each day in front of the target, and imagines throwing darts at it, improves aim as much as actually throwing darts. Research Quarterly reports an experiment on the effects of mental practice on improving skill in sinking basketball free throws. One group of students actually practiced throwing the ball every day for 20 days, and were scored on the first and last days. A second group was scored on the first and last days, and engaged in no sort of practice in between. A third group was scored on the first day, then spent 20 minutes a day, imagining that they were throwing the ball at the goal. When they missed they would imagine that they corrected their aim accordingly. The first group, which actually practiced 20 minutes every day, improved in scoring 24 per cent. The second group, which had no sort of practice, showed no improvement. The third group, which practiced in their imagination, improved in scoring 23 per cent!
How can you perfect something?
The chess world was stunned by the upset, which today would be comparable to a Golden Gloves finalist defeating the heavyweight champion of the world. Phillips tells us that Alekhine had trained for the match very much like a boxer conditioning himself for a fight. He retired to the country, cut out smoking and drinking and did calisthenics. “For three months, he played chess only in his mind, building up steam for the moment when he would meet the champion.”
How can you role play?
What is role-playing? “Well, it is simply imagining yourself in various sales situations, then solving them in your mind, until you know what to say and what to do whenever the situation comes up in real life. “It is what is called on the football field ‘skull practice.’ “The reason why it accomplishes so much is that selling is simply a matter of situations. “One is created every time you talk to a customer. He says something or asks a question or raises an objection. If you always know how to counter what he says or answer his question or handle the objection, you make sales. . . . “A role-playing salesman, at night when he is alone, will create these situations. He will imagine the prospect throwing the widest kind of curves at him.
Work out how to handle the curve balls
The late William Moulton Marston, well-known psychologist, recommended what he called “rehearsal practice” to men and women who came to him for help in job advancement. If you have an important interview coming up, such as making an application for a job, his advice was: plan for the interview in advance. Go over in your mind, all the various questions that you are likely to be asked. Think about the answers you are going to give. Then “rehearse” the interview in your mind. Even if none of the questions you have rehearsed come up, the rehearsal practice will still work wonders. It gives you confidence
Time magazine reported that when Ben Hogan is playing in a tournament, he mentally rehearses each shot, just before making it. He makes the shot perfectly in his imagination—“feels” the clubhead strike the ball just as it should, “feels” himself performing the perfect follow-through—and then steps up to the ball, and depends upon what he calls “muscle memory” to carry out the shot just as he has imagined it.
How does the sub-conscious help rehearsal?
Yet they manage to shoot good golf. It was Bulla’s theory that if you would picture the end result—“see” the ball going where you wanted it to go, and have the confidence to “know” that it was going to do what you wanted, your subconscious would take over and direct your muscles correctly. If your grip was wrong, and your stance not in the best form, your subconscious would still take care of that by directing your muscles to do whatever was necessary to compensate for the error in form.
Can you rehearse stressed?
Instead of trying hard by conscious effort to do the thing by iron-jawed will power, and all the while worrying and picturing to yourself all the things that are likely to go wrong, you simply relax the strain, stop trying to “do it” by strain and effort, picture to yourself the target you really want to hit, and “let” your creative success mechanism take over. Thus, mental-picturing the desired end result, literally forces you to use “positive thinking.” You are not relieved thereafter from effort and work, but your efforts are used to carry you forward toward your goal, rather than in futile mental conflict which results when you “want” and “try” to do one thing, but picture to yourself something else.
This same creative mechanism within you can help you achieve your best possible “self” if you will form a picture in your imagination of the self you wanted to be and “see yourself” in the new role. This is a necessary condition to personality transformation, regardless of the method of therapy used. Somehow, before a person can change, he must “see” himself in a new role.
How to practice mental imagery?
Set aside a period of 30 minutes each day where you can be alone and undisturbed. Relax and make yourself as comfortable as possible. Now close your eyes and exercise your imagination. Many people find they get better results if they imagine themselves sitting before a large motion picture screen—and imagine that they are seeing a motion picture of themselves. The important thing is to make these pictures as vivid and as detailed as possible. You want your mental pictures to approximate actual experience as much as possible. The way to do this is pay attention to small details, sights, sounds, objects, in your imagined environment. One of my patients was using this exercise to overcome her fear of the dentist. She was unsuccessful, until she began to notice small details in her imagined picture—the smell of the antiseptic in the office, the feel of the leather on the chair arms, the sight of the dentist’s well-manicured nails as his hands approached her mouth, etc. Details of the imagined environment are all-important in this exercise, because for all practical purposes, you are creating a practice experience. And if the imagination is vivid enough and detailed enough, your imagination practice is equivalent to an actual experience, insofar as your nervous system is concerned.
The next important thing to remember is that during this 30 minutes you see yourself acting and reacting appropriately, successfully, ideally. It doesn’t matter how you acted yesterday. You do not need to try to have faith you will act in the ideal way tomorrow. Your nervous system will take care of that in time—if you continue to practice. See yourself acting, feeling, “being,” as you want to be. Do not say to yourself, “I am going to act this way tomorrow.” Just say to yourself—“I am going to imagine myself acting in this way now—for 30 minutes—today.” Imagine how you would feel if you were already the sort of personality you want to be. If you have been shy and timid, see yourself moving among people with ease and poise—and feeling good because of it. If you have been fearful and anxious in certain situations—see yourself acting calmly and deliberately, acting with confidence and courage—and feeling expansive and confident because you are. This exercise builds new “memories” or stored data into your mid-brain and central nervous system. It builds a new image of self. After practicing it for a time, you will be surprised to find yourself “acting differently,” more or less automatically and spontaneously—“without trying.” This is as it should be. You do not need to “take thought” or “try” or make an effort now in order to feel ineffective and act inadequately. Your present inadequate feeling and doing is automatic and spontaneous, because of the memories, real and imagined, you have built into your automatic mechanism. You will find it will work just as automatically upon positive thoughts and experiences as upon negative ones.
Can weird people be good public speakers?
What held him back was his belief that he could not make a good talk, and that he would fail to impress his audience, simply because he did not have an imposing appearance . . . he did not “look like a successful executive.” This belief had burrowed so deeply into him that it threw up a road block every time he stood up before a group of people and began to talk. He mistakenly concluded that, if he could have an operation to improve his appearance, he would then gain the confidence he needed. An operation might have done the trick and it might not . . . my experience with other patients had shown that physical change did not always guarantee personality change. The solution in this man’s case was found when he became convinced that his negative belief was preventing him from delivering the vital information he had. He succeeded in replacing the negative belief with a positive belief that he had a message of extreme importance that he alone could deliver, no matter what he looked like. In due time, he was one of the most sought after speakers in the business world. The only change was in his belief and in his self-image
Why can brooding be so bad?
Our errors, mistakes, failures, and sometimes even our humiliations, were necessary steps in the learning process. However, they were meant to be means to an end—and not an end in themselves. When they have served their purpose, they should be forgotten. If we consciously dwell upon the error, or consciously feel guilty about the error, and keep berating ourselves because of it, then—unwittingly—the error or failure itself becomes the “goal” which is consciously held in imagination and memory. The unhappiest of mortals is that man who insists upon reliving the past, over and over in imagination—continually criticising himself for past mistakes—continually condemning himself for past sins.
How do you feel about figures of authority?
One of my patients was a salesman who was “scared to death” when calling upon “big shots.” His fear and nervousness were overcome in just one counselling session, during which I asked him, “Would you physically get down on all fours and crawl into the man’s office, prostrating yourself before a superior personage?” “I should say not!” he bristled. “Then, why do you mentally cringe and crawl?” Another question: “Would you go into a man’s office with your hand out like a beggar, and beg for a dime for a cup of coffee?” “Certainly not.” “Can’t you see that you are doing essentially the same thing, when you go in overly concerned with whether or not he will approve of you? Can’t you see that you have your hand out—literally begging for his approval and acceptance of you as a person?” Lecky found that there were two powerful “levers” for changing beliefs and concepts. There are “standard” convictions which are strongly held by nearly everyone. These are (1) the feeling or belief that one is capable of doing his share, holding up his end of the log, exerting a certain amount of independence and (2) the belief that there is “something” inside you which should not be allowed to suffer indignities.
What is the goal of mental practice?
The most skilled pianist in the world could never play a simple composition if he tried to consciously think out just which finger should strike which key—while he was playing. He has given conscious thought to this matter previously—while learning, and has practiced until his actions become automatic and habit-like. He was able to become a skilled performer only when he reached the point where he could cease conscious effort and turn the matter of playing over to the unconscious habit mechanism which is a part of the Success Mechanism.
What stops automatic skills?
Conscious effort inhibits and “jams” the automatic creative mechanism. The reason some people are self-conscious and awkward in social situations is simply that they are too consciously concerned, too anxious, to do the right thing. They are painfully conscious of every move they make. Every action is “thought-out.” Every word spoken is calculated for its effect. We speak of such persons as “inhibited,” and rightly so. But it would be more true were we to say that the “person” is not inhibited; but that the person has “inhibited” his own creative mechanism. If these people could “let go,” stop trying, not care, and give no thought to the matter of their behavior, they could act creatively, spontaneously, and “be themselves.”
