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The ‘Batman Effect’: How having an alter ego empowers you
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The creation of an alter ego
Creating a fictional persona is a strategy that involves taking a step back from our immediate feelings to allow us to think rationally about a situation. It allows us to rein in feelings like anxiety, and increase our perseverance and self-control.
Beyoncé created a persona that she stepped into just before a performance: "the moment right before when you're nervous... then Sasha Fierce appears, and my posture and the way I speak and everything is different."
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Changing perspective and emotion regulation
Research shows that small shifts in perspective can help people in controlling their emotions.
In an experiment, when people viewed themselves as "distanced" from a situation, they were less anxious than the group that viewed themselves as in the middle of the situation.
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Thinking in the third person
Self-distancing enables people to focus on the bigger picture rather than concentrating on immediate feelings. It improves the sense of emotional regulation, self-control, and general poise.
In a study, participants were asked to practice self-distancing when faced with various kinds of food - for example, fruit instead of candy. When participants asked, "What does David want?" instead of "What do I want?" they were more likely to choose the healthier option.
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The ‘Batman Effect’
Researchers found that when children were told to consider their behaviour as if they were a character, such as Batman, the children seemed to have increased their resolve and were able to concentrate longer.
These laboratory experiments may be useful to avoid feeling dispirited during new challenges.
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Psychological distance from yourself
We could all increase our emotional regulation, self-control, and general poise by choosing to step into another persona.
To try it for yourself, pick a different person for different goals, a wise person for a personal dilemma, or a work mentor for a professional problem. The practice should create some psychological distance from potentially distracting feelings.
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The Error in Isolating Events
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Good News, Bad News
A comprehensive study on Australian households, measuring the quality of wellbeing over 16 years found the following results:
- The biggest emotional scars come from deaths, divorce, and heavy financial losses.
- Negative events linger in the mind for much longer than the positive ones.
- The emotional costs involved with separation (like from a spouse) can be significant, and should be avoided unless completely necessary.
- Problems rarely come all at once, and most people recover, showing resilience and adaptability.
You Remain What You Are
Our level of wellbeing does not change much, with each event, even a catastrophic one, impacting us for a length of time, say a year or two, and then becoming normal to our minds, returning us to our previous levels of wellbeing.
This applies to boosts as well as the plunges.
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Key Ideas
Self-distancing
The act of increasing the psychological distance from your own subjective perspective when assessing events that you experience.
Is an external perspective that you can use when th...
Benefits of self-distancing
- It can help people cope with difficult events from their past.
- It can help people deal with socially distressful situations.
- Useful because of our tendency to display high levels of wise reasoning when we give advice to others, but not when we decide how to act for ourselves.
- It reduces decisional biases and improves decision-making during times of information overload.
How to create self-distance
- Use self-distancing language: refer to yourself in the second or third-person.
- Try to view the situation from an alternative viewpoint, that is different from your own.
- Try to visualize the perspective of someone you admire, and then ask yourself what would they do in that situation.
- Try expressive writing: write about your thoughts and feelings when you’re trying to analyze an event that you’ve experienced.
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Neurotic In A Good Way
Various new studies outline the benefits of being borderline neurotic, where the worry is coupled with motivation to be disciplined and organized, and taking extra self-care.
...Inflammation in our bodies
Inflammation in a natural process in our body’s defence mechanism and helps repair tissues and kill bacteria.
Smoking, drinking, inactivity and overeating can cause long-term (chronic) inflammation in the body, which results in tissue damage, leading to many lifestyle diseases like diabetes and even cancer.
Positive Neuroticism: Inflamed Feelings
A study shows that healthy neurotics who are also disciplined and organized have reduced levels of inflammation.
They also tend to stick to regimes and plans for improving their health, like doing regular exercise and not indulging in drinking or smoking often.