…we tend to interpret other people’s actions as saying something about them, whereas we interpret our own actions as saying more about the situation we’re in. So, when we picture ourselves acting in the third-person, we see ourselves as an observer would, as the ‘kind of person’ who performs that behaviour. "Seeing oneself as the type of person who would engage in a desired behaviour increases the likelihood of engaging in that behaviour", the researchers said.
Here is the article, which claims you should envision your desired successes through the perspective of a third person, to better bring them about.
This is one of the strategies I use to ward off procrastination. It works some of the time.
I use this to make decisions. I envision explaining my choice to various friends, relatives, and mentors. Only if that feels comfortable do I know that it is the right decision.
Important neuroscience fact:
The brain’s memory module doesn’t distinguish between things that really happened, things we dreamed happened, things we imagined happening, and things we see happening in a fictional context like a film. Even though we can contextualize these memories and recognize them as false, the part of the brain concerned with behavior regulation believes them all equally. So in a real sense, if you visualize yourself making the perfect golf swing enough times, your brain belives you actually have made it, and cuts back on all the adrenalin and dopamine that accompany ‘new,’ anxiety-producing experiences. Plus, golfers (for example) who watch other golfers, or visualize themselves golfing, light up the motion-coordinating part of the brain, helping to cement those neural pathways. Hence the effectiveness of positive visualization in mastering actions.
When it comes to decision-making, especially moral decision-making, this article seems like another version of the ‘what would someone smarter than me do’ trick. This is a nice bit of circular reasoning (if I know what someone smarter than me would do, I would be smarter than myself) that’s pretty effective at overcoming first-person bias about the situation. I guess this is the same as WWJD, too.
I’ve stopped doing this because every time I try it the third person just mocks me for not having followed his advice on so many previous occasions. I can still hear echoes of him rolling on floor in laughter.
One is reminded of Adam Smith’s Theory of Moral Sentiments, and
the impact of the impartial observer on human behavior. Now take the next
step and combine with the “invisible hand” in The Wealth of Nations.
And Pat, your swing sucks, take up bowling…
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