A 2009 study found that repeating 'I am a lovable person' every 15 seconds actually made people with low self-esteem feel worse, not better, due to cognitive dissonance.
Where this was said
At 28:36 · chapter starts 28:00
Drew leads a methodical autopsy of the self-help industry's three most popular techniques. The 2009 affirmations study showed that people with low self-esteem felt worse after repeating 'I am a lovable person' — the affirmation simply highlighted the chasm between the statement and their felt reality. [1] — Drew Birnie "Affirmations backfire for low self-esteem: A 2009 study found that repeating 'I am a lovable person' every 15 seconds actually made people …" 28:36 A 2020 study found either no effect or the same negative effect. Gabrielle Oettingen's decades of NYU research on visualisation are then unpacked: purely positive fantasising actually reduces the energy put toward a goal because the brain partially registers the fantasy as goal-completion. Students who fantasised about job offers did worse in interviews; hip replacement patients with rosy recovery visions recovered more slowly; women who fantasised more positively about losing weight lost fewer pounds. The exception — productive visualisation — is Oettingen's WOOP framework, which adds Obstacle and Plan to the standard Wish and Outcome, making it less a visualisation and more a rehearsal for action. Finally, Drew turns to power poses: the 2010 study of 42 people that spawned one of the most-viewed TED Talks in history claimed measurable hormonal and behavioural effects; a 2015 pre-registered replication of 200 people found zero effects on testosterone, cortisol, or risk-taking, and lead researcher Dana Carney publicly retracted in 2016 — walking through the cherry-picked measures, tiny sample, and dropped participants. The verdict: affirmations, bullshit; visualisation, mixed bag if you include obstacles and a plan; power posing, bullshit. All three, at best, provide a temporary state pump that self-help consumers mistake for durable change.
A 2009 study proved affirmations make insecure people feel worse. A 2015 replication study of 200 people found zero hormonal or behavioural effect from power poses, and the lead researcher publicly retracted. Positive visualisation alone actually drains motivation. The self-help industry's flagship tools are, at best, a temporary mood lift.
NYU psychologist Gabrielle Oettingen found that purely positive visualization of a goal actually decreases motivation because the brain partially treats the fantasy as if the goal were already achieved.
The famous 2010 power-pose study that spawned one of the most-viewed TED Talks in history was based on only 42 participants, and a 2015 pre-registered replication of 200 people found no effect on testosterone, cortisol, or risk-taking.
The U.S. Surgeon General's 2023 report on loneliness found that half of American adults report feeling lonely, marking a widespread epidemic of social isolation.
In a peer-reviewed study, Brain.fm's audio technology was shown to increase focus-related brainwave activity by 119%, according to the show's sponsor read.
The Easterlin Paradox shows that wealthier nations — and the wealthiest neighborhoods within them — tend to have the highest rates of anxiety, depression, loneliness, and suicide.
Mental health challenges are nearly universal — BetterHelp's own research found the majority of Americans experiencing symptoms right now.
When applying for Medicaid to cover nursing home costs, there is a 5-year look-back period that can disqualify applicants who gave away or spent down assets.
A broken pipe filled the Bad Friends studio with what the hosts identified as hydrogen sulfide — microscopic fecal aeroparticles — that the crew denied smelling.
Fei-Fei Li's father's liver surgery performed by a da Vinci robot resulted in 10 times less blood loss than a typical open liver surgery, thanks to laparoscopic precision.
Approximately 115 million adults in the US currently have prediabetes, most of whom are unaware, according to the Lingo sponsor segment.
Drug overdose deaths in the US fell from 110,000 to 80,000 in 2024, and then to roughly 70,000 — the largest single-year drop the CDC has ever recorded.
We use essential and analytics cookies to run Vuci. To understand how the site is used: Privacy Policy.
Install Vuci on your phone
Add it to your home screen for a faster, app-like experience.
Install Vuci on your phone
Tap the Share button, then “Add to Home Screen”.
A new version is available
Reload to get the latest Vuci.