Self-Affirmations

Do they work?

Hey Rewire Collective!

Welcome to this week’s newsletter. We’re looking into the science behind affirmations.

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What are Affirmations?

Affirmations are short statements that one says to oneself to promote some positive message¹:

“I am growing and improving every day.”

“I am worthy of love and respect.”

“My expectations are reasonable and rational.”

These affirmations may also be written and placed in easily accessible locations – but most importantly they are repeated multiple times every day.

The theory-based intervention of self-affirmations stems from the idea that at times of threat or stress, we can repeat these statements which affirm our sense of integrity, morality, and worth, which helps us respond to and dismiss the threat¹. This is especially helpful to those who are experiencing repeated threats to their integrity/worth/etc., and when the affirmations are appropriately timed to the threat¹.

(If you’ve seen Ted Lasso, think Colin repeating ‘I am a strong and capable man’ whenever he is challenged.)

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Does it work, and if so, how?

Self-Affirmation Theory states that positive messages we say to ourselves during stressful times can help protect us, and motivate us. Created in https://BioRender.com

We see in brain imaging studies that self-affirmations lead to an increase in brain activity in self-related processing and reward regions². Specifically, we see increases in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC), which alongside rewards, plays an important role in response to stress^3,4. And we know that these changes in brain activity can predict future behaviour changes^2,4! For example, self-affirmations have led to behavioral changes surrounding healthy eating⁵, academic achievement⁶, self-control⁷, and smartphone overuse⁸. A meta-analysis⁹ (review and analysis of lots of different studies) shows that when self-affirmations were paired with persuasive health information it was effective in changing health attitudes and behaviors. Finally, we see from that repeating positive affirmations about our values increases our feelings of happiness and meaning in life¹⁰.

What we say to ourselves, about ourselves, affects how we think and behave! On top of changing brain activity, we know that neurons that fire together, wire together. So, by repeatedly affirming our values and self-worth, the brain connections holding that belief grow stronger.

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Read more about how what we repeat about ourselves actually changes us in Rewire!

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Until Next Week,

Nicole x

P.S. Leave a comment with requests for future newsletter topics!

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References

1. https://labs.psych.ucsb.edu/sherman/david/sites/labs.psych.ucsb.edu.sherman.david/files/pubs/sherman.lokande.muller.cohen_.2021.sa_.pdf

2. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4814782/

3. https://academic.oup.com/scan/article/15/10/1086/5815969

4. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25646442/

5. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19025270/

6. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0065260106380045

7. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19309201/

8. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35084236/

9. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25133846/

10. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24781897/