Science Behind Positive Affirmations
Positive affirmations are powerful tools that can significantly enhance emotional well-being, reduce stress, and promote healthier behaviors. This page explores the scientific foundation of positive affirmations, drawing from a variety of clinical studies that demonstrate their efficacy. Below, you'll find a comprehensive list of these studies, each providing insights into how and why affirmations work. These studies cover a range of benefits, from boosting emotional resilience to improving interpersonal relationships and increasing self-efficacy.
Overview
Key Takeaways
Explain Like I'm Five
Overview of the Clinical Studies
Self-affirmation activates brain systems associated with self-related processing and reward and is reinforced by future orientation. (2016). Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience
The psychology of change: Self-affirmation and social psychological intervention. (2014). Annual Review of Psychology
Self-affirmation alters the brain’s response to health messages and subsequent behavior change. (2015). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Understanding the efficacy of self-affirmation intervention for subclinical depression among young adults. (2023). Practice in Clinical Psychology
Reinstating the resourceful self: When and how self-affirmations improve executive performance of the powerless. (2019). Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
The impact of self-affirmation on health-behavior change: A meta-analysis. (2014). Health Psychology
Summaries of the Clinical Studies
Key Takeaways
Enhanced Emotional Resilience: Positive affirmations help individuals cope with emotional challenges by reinforcing their sense of self-worth and personal values. Reference: Falk, E. B., et al. (2015).
Reduction of Stress: Positive affirmations can reduce stress by diminishing psychological threats, enabling individuals to manage stressors more effectively. Reference: Cohen, G. L., & Sherman, D. K. (2014).
Increase in Motivation: Affirmations activate brain regions associated with reward, enhancing the perceived value of positive messages and increasing motivation. Reference: Cascio, C. N., et al. (2016).
Improved Interpersonal Relationships: Affirmations enhance interpersonal and intergroup relations by reducing defensive behaviors and fostering agreement and understanding. Reference: Cohen, G. L., & Sherman, D. K. (2014).
Enhanced Sense of Self-Efficacy: Affirmations boost self-efficacy, particularly among individuals feeling powerless, by improving their belief in their ability to succeed. Reference: Albalooshi, S., Moeini-Jazani, M., & Warlop, L. (2019).
Prevention and Reduction of Depressive Symptoms: Affirmations help reduce and prevent subclinical depressive symptoms by enhancing self-worth and personal resources. Reference: Pandey, R., Tiwari, G. K., & Rai, P. K. (2023)
Personalized Affirmations Increase Effectiveness: Personalized affirmations are more effective and create a stronger emotional connection, as they are directly relevant to the individual’s values and experiences, leading to greater internalization, impact, and motivation. Reference: Sherman, D. K., & Taylor, S. E. (2008)
Explain Like I’m Five:
Positive affirmations help you feel better about yourself.
Affirmations can make you feel less stressed.
Affirmations make you feel more motivated and excited.
Positive affirmations help you get along better with others.
Affirmations make you believe you can do things well.
Affirmations help you feel less sad and more happy.
Personalized affirmations work better because they mean more to you.
Clinical Studies
Overview of the Clinical Studies
Cascio, C. N., O'Donnell, M. B., Tinney, F. J., Lieberman, M. D., Taylor, S. E., Strecher, V. J., & Falk, E. B. (2016). Self-affirmation activates brain systems associated with self-related processing and reward and is reinforced by future orientation. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 11(4), 621-629. https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsv136.
Cohen, G. L., & Sherman, D. K. (2014). The psychology of change: Self-affirmation and social psychological intervention. Annual Review of Psychology, 65, 333-371. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-010213-115137.
Falk, E. B., O'Donnell, M. B., Cascio, C. N., Tinney, F., Kang, Y., Lieberman, M. D., Taylor, S. E., An, L., Resnicow, K., & Strecher, V. J. (2015). Self-affirmation alters the brain’s response to health messages and subsequent behavior change. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 112(7), 1977-1982. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1500247112.
Pandey, R., Tiwari, G. K., & Rai, P. K. (2023). Understanding the efficacy of self-affirmation intervention for subclinical depression among young adults. Practice in Clinical Psychology, 11(1), 23-34.
Albalooshi, S., Moeini-Jazani, M., & Warlop, L. (2019). Reinstating the resourceful self: When and how self-affirmations improve executive performance of the powerless. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 46(2), 284-297. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167219853840.
Epton, T., Harris, P. R., Kane, R., van Koningsbruggen, G. M., & Sheeran, P. (2014). The impact of self-affirmation on health-behavior change: A meta-analysis. Health Psychology, 33(7), 187-196. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0030641.
Summaries of the Clinical Studies
Self-affirmation activates brain systems associated with self-related processing and reward and is reinforced by future orientation, 2016
Conducted By:
Christopher N. Cascio, Matthew Brook O’Donnell, Francis J. Tinney, Matthew D. Lieberman, Shelley E. Taylor, Victor J. Strecher, and Emily B. Falk1. Researchers affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Michigan.
Study Objective:
To investigate the neural mechanisms of self-affirmation and its impact on behavior change.
Key Findings:
Self-affirmation activates brain regions associated with self-processing (medial prefrontal cortex, posterior cingulate cortex) and reward (ventral striatum, ventral medial prefrontal cortex).
Future-oriented self-affirmations show greater neural activation and effectiveness compared to past-oriented ones.
Increased neural activity during self-affirmation predicts reductions in sedentary behavior.
Methodology:
Participants: 67 sedentary adults (33 self-affirmed, 28 controls).
Procedure:
Baseline: Participants ranked personal values.
fMRI Session: Participants reflected on their top or lowest-ranked values (affirmed vs. control).
Follow-up: Assessed behavior change in response to health messages.
Results:
Affirmed participants showed higher activity in reward and self-processing regions.
Future-oriented affirmations enhanced brain activity and led to greater behavior change.
Neural activity during affirmation was linked to decreased sedentary behavior.
Implications:
Self-affirmation, especially when future-focused, activates key brain regions that support positive behavior change.
The study provides a new fMRI-compatible self-affirmation task for further research.
Conclusion:
Self-affirmation engages neural pathways related to reward and self-processing.
Future orientation enhances the effectiveness of self-affirmation.
Findings suggest potential for developing targeted interventions to promote positive behavioral outcomes.
Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2016 Apr; 11(4): 621–629.
PMCID: PMC4814782
Link: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4814782/
The Psychology of Change: Self-Affirmation and Social Psychological Intervention
Title: The Psychology of Change: Self-Affirmation and Social Psychological Intervention
Conducted By: Geoffrey L. Cohen (Stanford University) and David K. Sherman (University of California, Santa Barbara)
Study Objective: To examine how self-affirmation processes can influence long-term social and psychological change, particularly in areas like education, health, and interpersonal relationships.
Key Findings:
Self-affirmation can improve academic performance, especially among minority students, by reducing psychological threats.
Affirmation interventions can lead to healthier behaviors by increasing openness to health-related information.
These interventions can enhance interpersonal and intergroup relations by reducing defensive behaviors and promoting agreement.
Methodology: The study employed randomized field experiments, often in educational settings, where students were assigned to either affirmation or control groups. The affirmation exercises involved writing about personally important values, distributed by teachers as regular in-class assignments.
Results:
Affirmed minority students showed improved GPA and reduced academic decline over time.
Affirmation helped close the achievement gap between minority and white students.
In health contexts, affirmation increased openness to threatening health messages, potentially leading to behavior changes like reduced smoking and alcohol consumption.
Implications:
Self-affirmation can be a powerful tool in reducing psychological threats and improving performance and well-being.
The effects of affirmation are particularly strong among those facing consistent psychological threats.
Understanding the timing, personalization, and context of affirmation interventions is crucial for their effectiveness.
Conclusion: Self-affirmation theory provides a framework for understanding how people cope with threats to their self-integrity and adapt to challenging circumstances. Interventions based on this theory can lead to significant and lasting social and psychological benefits.
Magazine Published, Time, and Issue: Annual Review of Psychology, 2014, Volume 65, Pages 333-371
Link: https://ed.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/annurev-psych-psychology_of_change_final_e2.pdf
Self-affirmation alters the brain’s response to health messages and subsequent behavior change
Conducted By: Emily B. Falk, Matthew Brook O’Donnell, Christopher N. Cascio, Francis Tinney, Yoona Kang, Matthew D. Lieberman, Shelley E. Taylor, Lawrence An, Kenneth Resnicow, and Victor J. Strecher
Study Objective: To investigate the neural mechanisms by which self-affirmation increases receptivity to health messages and leads to behavior change, particularly focusing on the brain's ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC).
Key Findings:
Self-affirmation increased activity in the VMPFC during exposure to health messages.
Increased VMPFC activity predicted subsequent behavior change, specifically a decrease in sedentary behavior.
Affirmation helped participants see health messages as more self-relevant and valuable.
Methodology: Participants were randomly assigned to self-affirmation or control conditions. They completed a values-affirmation task and were then exposed to health messages while undergoing fMRI scanning. Physical activity levels were measured using accelerometers before and after the intervention.
Results:
Participants who underwent self-affirmation showed greater VMPFC activity during health message exposure.
Those in the affirmation condition decreased their sedentary behavior more over the month following the intervention compared to the control group.
The degree of VMPFC activity during message exposure predicted the extent of behavior change.
Implications:
Self-affirmation can enhance the effectiveness of health interventions by making messages more personally relevant and valuable.
Understanding the neural mechanisms of self-affirmation can inform the development of more effective behavior change interventions across various domains.
Conclusion: Self-affirmation increases activity within the VMPFC during health message exposure, which in turn predicts positive behavior change. This suggests that self-affirmation helps individuals see health messages as more relevant and valuable, leading to decreased sedentary behavior.
Magazine Published, Time, and Issue: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS), February 17, 2015, Volume 112, Issue 7, Pages 1977-1982
PMCID: PMC4343089
Link: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4343089/
Understanding the Efficacy of Self-affirmation Intervention for Subclinical Depression Among Young Adults
Conducted By:
Ruchi Pandey, Gyanesh Kumar Tiwari, Pramod Kumar Rai
Department of Psychology, School of Humanities & Social Sciences, Doctor Harisingh Gour Vishwavidyalaya, Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, India
Study Objective:
To evaluate the effectiveness of self-affirmation intervention in reducing and preventing subclinical depressive symptoms in young adults.
Key Findings:
Self-affirmation intervention significantly reduced subclinical depressive symptoms.
The intervention showed both curative and preventive effects on depressive symptoms.
Positive effects persisted even after the intervention, indicating potential for long-term benefits.
Methodology:
Participants: 80 young adults (27 males, 53 females) aged 20-27 years from Doctor Harisingh Gour Vishwavidyalaya.
Design: Experimental and control groups tested on depressive symptoms at pre-, post-, and follow-up stages.
Intervention: Experimental group engaged in self-affirmation writing; control group wrote about mundane facts.
Duration: 3-week intervention with a follow-up 10 days post-intervention.
Results:
Significant reduction in depressive symptoms in the experimental group compared to the control group.
Experimental group maintained lower depressive symptoms at follow-up, indicating preventive efficacy.
Significant main effects of intervention conditions and treatment intervals, with large effect sizes for both.
Implications:
Self-affirmation intervention is simple, economical, and effective in reducing depressive symptoms.
Potential for broad application in individual, group, and community settings.
Further research suggested for diverse cultural groups and other psychopathological symptoms.
Conclusion:
Self-affirmation intervention helps in dealing with depressive tendencies by enhancing self-worth and personal resources.
It offers both curative and preventive benefits, maintaining positive effects beyond the intervention period.
Practical implications for mental health practitioners and policymakers.
Magazine Published, Time, and Issue:
Journal: Practice in Clinical Psychology
Issue: Volume 11, Issue 1
Publication Date: Winter 2023
Reinstating the Resourceful Self: When and How Self-Affirmations Improve Executive Performance of the Powerless
Conducted By: Sumaya Albalooshi, Mehrad Moeini-Jazani, Luk Warlop
Study Objective: To investigate whether self-affirmations can improve the executive performance, specifically inhibitory control, of individuals who feel powerless.
Key Findings:
Self-affirmation improves inhibitory control abilities in powerless individuals.
Self-affirmation is most effective among powerless individuals who have low self-esteem.
The improvement in inhibitory control is mediated by an increased sense of self-efficacy among the powerless.
Methodology: The study consisted of three experiments:
Study 1: Participants were assigned roles of high-power (manager) or low-power (subordinate) and performed the Stroop task after a self-affirmation or control activity.
Study 2: Replicated Study 1 using a different inhibitory control task (flanker task) and included self-esteem as a variable.
Study 3: Replicated the previous findings and tested the mediating role of perceived self-efficacy using the Stroop task and self-affirmation through recalling acts of kindness.
Results:
Study 1: Low-power participants who engaged in self-affirmation showed better inhibitory control compared to those who did not. The performance gap between low-power and high-power individuals was eliminated with self-affirmation.
Study 2: Self-affirmation improved inhibitory control in low-power individuals, especially those with low self-esteem, using the flanker task. High-power individuals and those with high self-esteem did not benefit significantly from self-affirmation.
Study 3: Self-affirmation improved inhibitory control in low-power participants by increasing their sense of self-efficacy. This mediating effect of self-efficacy was confirmed.
Implications: Self-affirmation can be an effective intervention to mitigate the cognitive impairments associated with feeling powerless. This has practical applications in educational, organizational, and social settings to enhance the performance of individuals in low-power positions.
Conclusion: Self-affirmation helps to restore a sense of efficacy among powerless individuals, thereby improving their inhibitory control and reducing the performance gap with powerful individuals.
Magazine Published, Time, and Issue: Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Volume 46, Issue 2, first published online June 11, 2019
PMCID: The PMCID is not provided directly in the document, but the DOI for the article is 10.1177/0146167219853840. PMCID can typically be found through databases like PubMed using this DOI.
Link: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0146167219853840
The Impact of Self-Affirmation on Health-Behavior Change: A Meta-Analysis
Conducted By: Tracy Epton, Peter R. Harris, Rachel Kane, Guido M. van Koningsbruggen, and Paschal Sheeran
Study Objective: To quantitatively integrate the effects of self-affirmation on health-behavior change, specifically on message acceptance, intentions to change, and subsequent behavior.
Key Findings:
Self-affirmation had small but reliable positive effects on message acceptance (d = .17), intentions to change (d = .14), and behavior (d = .32).
Effects held across a range of health problems and behaviors.
Self-affirmation can promote message acceptance, intentions to change, and healthier behavior.
Methodology:
Meta-analysis of 144 experimental tests on self-affirmation.
Effect sizes were extracted and meta-analyzed using random effects models.
Studies were included based on specific criteria: comparing self-affirmation manipulation with a control, measuring at least one outcome (message acceptance, intentions, behavior), and providing sufficient data for effect size calculation.
Results:
34 tests on message acceptance (N = 3,433) indicated a small positive effect (d = .17).
64 tests on intentions (N = 5,564) showed a small positive effect (d = .14).
46 tests on behavior (N = 2,715) demonstrated a small to moderate positive effect (d = .32).
Effectiveness was not significantly moderated by gender, age, or ethnicity.
Stronger effects on behavior were observed when the hazard was proximal, when a values essay was used, and among samples with a smaller proportion of White participants.
Implications:
Self-affirmation can be integrated with health communication strategies to reduce resistance and promote healthier behaviors.
Practitioners should ensure the use of strong messages as self-affirmation promotes open-minded appraisal, which can also increase rejection of weak messages.
Further research is needed to develop brief, acceptable self-affirmation methods suitable for diverse populations and mass communications.
Conclusion: Self-affirmation has positive effects on health-behavior change by increasing message acceptance, intentions to change, and subsequent behavior. Though the effects are small, they are consistent and comparable to other health behavior interventions. The findings support the use of self-affirmation in reducing resistance to health-risk information and promoting healthier behaviors.
Magazine Published, Time and Issue: Health Psychology, Advance online publication, August 18, 2014, Vol. 33, No. 7.
PMCID: PMCID not provided in the text.
Link: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25133846/
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