And when you imagine this, what concrete test are you imagining performing on the Jesuits before and after the 30 days’ visualization, in order to confirm that there was in fact behavioral change between the two points? ;-)
To be clear, I use tests of a person’s non-voluntary responses to imagined or recalled stimuli. I also prefer to get changes in test results within the order of 30 minutes (or 3 minutes for certain types of changes), rather than 30 days!
What’s more, I don’t instruct clients to use directed or scripted imagery or self-talk. In fact, I usually have to teach them NOT to do so.
Basically, when they apply a technique and get no change in test response, I go back over it with them, to find out what they did and how they did it. And one of the most common ways (by far) in which they’ve deviated from my instructions are by making statements, directing their visualization, indulging in analytical and abstract thinking, or otherwise failing to engage the “near” system with sensory detail.
And as soon as I get them to correct this, we start getting results immediately.
Now, does that prove that you CAN’T get results through directed, argumentative, or repetitive thinking? No, because you can’t prove a negative.
However, please note that these are not people who disbelieve in self-talk, nor are they attempting to prove or disprove anything. Rather, they are simply not familiar with—or skilled in—a particular way of engaging their minds, and are just doing the same things they always do.
Which is, of course, why they get the same results they always do.
And it’s also why I have such a pet peeve about self-help and psych books that try to teach the Unteachable Excellence, without understanding that by default, people try to Guess The Teacher’s Password—that is, to somehow change things without ever actually doing anything different.
Practical psychology is still far too much alchemy, not enough chemistry. Rationalists must—and CAN—do much better than this.
And when you imagine this, what concrete test are you imagining performing on the Jesuits before and after the 30 days’ visualization, in order to confirm that there was in fact behavioral change between the two points? ;-)
To be clear, I use tests of a person’s non-voluntary responses to imagined or recalled stimuli. I also prefer to get changes in test results within the order of 30 minutes (or 3 minutes for certain types of changes), rather than 30 days!
What’s more, I don’t instruct clients to use directed or scripted imagery or self-talk. In fact, I usually have to teach them NOT to do so.
Basically, when they apply a technique and get no change in test response, I go back over it with them, to find out what they did and how they did it. And one of the most common ways (by far) in which they’ve deviated from my instructions are by making statements, directing their visualization, indulging in analytical and abstract thinking, or otherwise failing to engage the “near” system with sensory detail.
And as soon as I get them to correct this, we start getting results immediately.
Now, does that prove that you CAN’T get results through directed, argumentative, or repetitive thinking? No, because you can’t prove a negative.
However, please note that these are not people who disbelieve in self-talk, nor are they attempting to prove or disprove anything. Rather, they are simply not familiar with—or skilled in—a particular way of engaging their minds, and are just doing the same things they always do.
Which is, of course, why they get the same results they always do.
And it’s also why I have such a pet peeve about self-help and psych books that try to teach the Unteachable Excellence, without understanding that by default, people try to Guess The Teacher’s Password—that is, to somehow change things without ever actually doing anything different.
Practical psychology is still far too much alchemy, not enough chemistry. Rationalists must—and CAN—do much better than this.