For decades, self-help gurus have preached the virtues of positive affirmations. That is, they’ve recommended repeating optimistic statements as a means of helping people “rewire” themselves and stop negative self-talk. For example, substituting “I am so stupid” with “I am trying my best and learning more all the time”.
However, the results of a joint study from two Canadian universities, the University of New Brunswick and the University of Waterloo, suggest, surprisingly, that it doesn’t work for people with low self-esteem who are most in need of a confidence boost. The researchers found that when people with low self-esteem repeated positive statements about themselves, they were even more likely to think negative thoughts.
The authors speculate that, rather like excessive compliments, people with low self-esteem brush off positive self-statements as being unrealistic and something that they don’t consider will happen to them.
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