The ‘blanking your mind’ strategy seems like a winning one, similar to the adage “count slowly to ten” you’re supposed to do if you’re angry at someone, or taking deep breaths to relax if you’re feeling stressed.
What these seem to share is they focus your attention on something inert, like numbers or breathing, breaking whatever unconscious cycles are reinforcing your anger or stress. Its not obvious to me whether the same effect will occur with a much more subtle process like priming, so I’d be interested if any studies have been performed in this area.
The ‘blanking your mind’ strategy seems like a winning one, similar to the adage “count slowly to ten” you’re supposed to do if you’re angry at someone, or taking deep breaths to relax if you’re feeling stressed.
What these seem to share is they focus your attention on something inert, like numbers or breathing, breaking whatever unconscious cycles are reinforcing your anger or stress. Its not obvious to me whether the same effect will occur with a much more subtle process like priming, so I’d be interested if any studies have been performed in this area.