Positive Self-Statements

Abstract

Positive self-statements are widely believed to boost mood and self-esteem, yet their effectiveness has not been demonstrated. We examined the contrary prediction that positive self-statements can be ineffective or even harmful. A survey study confirmed that people often use positive self-statements and believe them to be effective. Two experiments showed that among participants with low self-esteem, those who repeated a positive self-statement ("I'm a lovable person") or who focused on how that statement was true felt worse than those who did not repeat the statement or who focused on how it was both true and not true. Among participants with high self-esteem, those who repeated the statement or focused on how it was true felt better than those who did not, but to a limited degree. Repeating positive self-statements may benefit certain people, but backfire for the very people who "need" them the most.

Positive interventions: An emotion regulation perspective.

“…Tailoring interventions is important because interventions that are beneficial for some may be not only ineffective, but even backfire for others. For example, Wood, Perunovic, and Lee (2009) showed that whereas self-help strategy of repeating positive self-statement to oneself (i.e., "I'm a lovable person") improved mood in high self-esteem participants, it actually impaired mood in low self-esteem participants. Similarly, Senf and Liau (2013) found that counting blessings and character strength interventions were only effective for individuals high in extraversion.…”

Self-talk: Review and sport-specific model

“…Wood, Perunovic, and Lee (2009) explored the relationship between a personal factor, self-esteem, and self-talk, and found that high self-esteem participants, who may feel comfortable (System 1) with positive selfstatements, benefited from the use of positive self-talk. In contrast, low self-esteem participants, who may feel uncomfortable or doubtful (System 1) when using positive self-talk, reported that using positive self-talk made them feel worse.…”

When self-help materials help: Examining the effects of self-discrepancy and modes of delivery of positive self-statements

“…The researchers asked participants to repeatedly read out self-affirmative statements, such as 'I am a lovable person', and then measured their levels of positive mood afterwards. Wood et al (2009) found that participants with low self-esteem indeed felt worse after repeatedly reading out positive self-statements compared with their counterparts who did not read out any statements in the experiment.…”

“…In examining the effectiveness of positive self-statements, researchers investigated the effectiveness and potential threat of repeatedly reading out (Wood, Perunovic, & Lee, 2009) or writing positive self-statements (Hames & Joiner, 2012). Both of these studies showed that self-esteem plays an important role in moderating the effectiveness of positive self-statements.…”

“…Therefore, this study is designed to fill this gap in the literature. Wood et al (2009) predicted that after being exposed to positive self-statements, people with lower self-esteem would experience lower levels of pleasant mood than those with higher self-esteem. The researchers asked participants to repeatedly read out self-affirmative statements, such as 'I am a lovable person', and then measured their levels of positive mood afterwards.…”