How expectations affect outcomes – According To Science
I think my friends consider me a little “kitsch” because of things like this, but I will still publicly admit that I really loved The Secret and am a bit addicted to all that stuff about how we create our experience. I just re-saw “What the Bleep Do We Know” and despite the fact that it was a terrible copy of the film and that I still don’t really get a lot of the dramatized part – I love that film. While it is these pop science pieces of art are ostensibly what led me to this present venture, the real truth is that I desperately need the real science as well, in order to actually put these beliefs into practice in my life. It’s not that I don’t believe kabbalists or other spiritual guides. I do. But there’s believing and believing. There’s a part of me that cannot genuinely grasp and connect to things I cannot see. So yes, I believe that we create our reality, blablabla. But at the end of the day, I apply for one job after the other and none return my calls, despite my certainty that I am way overqualified for the position. If I am creating the reality how is it possible that I am not getting the job? I believe in myself, I know I deserve it and I am doing the work – I am showing up. so WTF?
Yes, I need the science. I need the science to convince me on those cold winter days when the heat doesn’t work in my apartment or when my date was a dud, again, that yes, I have power in my mind and although I don’t get exactly why things are not turning out the way I think they should, it does not make me less powerful, just missing information. I need to know that it is actually true that we create our world, that the things that I cannot see are true, can be measured and cataloged. The more real life proof I have, the more power I have to refute my natural inclination to believe in the physical proof that I see before my eyes which is, sometimes, that things just happen and “that’s life”. So for those of you who need the science too, read on.
I found two fascinating articles in Scientific American which described a number of different experiments that explore how physical outcomes in our lives are affected by our expectations. Below, I have provided the links to the actual articles for all those who want to read more about these issues.
Here are a few:
1. Eyesight. I mean eyesight is a mechanical process, right? It’s a physical function that happens when we look at something, right? Apparently, wrong. According to a study, our expectation of being able to see something or not colors our actual ability to see it. In one interesting test, an eye test was administered with the usually illegible small letters on the bottom line of the pyramid placed in the middle line where people are accustomed to being able to read. The last line was even smaller. Test subjects were able to read the small print that they usually could not, because they expected to be able to read it. In the film, “What the Bleep..” they claim that when the 3 famed boats of Christopher Columbus made their way to the shore of what is today the USA, the Native Americans were not able to see the boats because they had no idea that “boat” was possible. A shaman leader began to notice ripples in the water and could not understand what caused them, so every day he watched the water. Eventually, because he looked so long, he saw the boats. When the shaman, who they trusted, told them about the boats, the rest of the community could see them too. So, what does this mean about what we see?
2. The placebo effect: When we think of the placebo effect, we think it means that if someone takes a sugar pill thinking it’s an aspirin, they will feel better. Kind of mind over matter. Prize-winning science journalist Jo Marchand reveals, however, in explaining the research of Fabrizio Benedetti, that the placebo effect actually means that a host of physical effects actually occur in the body to correspond with the expectation of the mind in a given situation: the taking of a placebo painkiller triggers the release of endorphins, natural pain relieving chemicals; Parkinson’s patients, when administered a placebo, release dopamine in their body. FAKE OXYGEN provided at high altitudes engenders the same physical response as real oxygen. The study suggests that in these cases, the expectation a patient has – or the conditioning – creates a physical bodily response. That’s cool!
3. Weight loss. So here was a really interesting study: they took a group of room cleaners in a hotel who cleaned rooms for about 30 minutes twice a day. Half this group was told that this was the recommended amount of physical activity they required for health. The other half was told they needed to exercise and it was a shame they were not exercising. The group who was told that their work was the exercise needed actually lost weight, while the control group – the group who was not told this, did not lose weight.
We are just getting to know how the mind and body are connected. But one thing is certain: they are connected. What we expect has been proven to have a physical impact in our experience. Expecting the worst really may have dire consequences.
