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"Fake it till you make it" (or "Fake it until you make it") is an aphorism that suggests that by imitating confidence, competence, and an optimistic mindset, a person can realize those qualities in their real life and achieve the results they seek. [1] [2] [3]
The phrase is first attested some time before 1973. [4] The earliest reference to a similar phrase occurs in the Simon & Garfunkel song "Fakin' It", released in 1968 as a single and also on their Bookends album. Simon sings, "And I know I'm fakin' it, I'm not really makin' it." [5]
Similar advice has been offered by a number of writers over time:
Action seems to follow feeling, but really action and feeling go together; and by regulating the action, which is under the more direct control of the will, we can indirectly regulate the feeling, which is not. Thus the sovereign voluntary path to cheerfulness, if our spontaneous cheerfulness be lost, is to sit up cheerfully, to look round cheerfully, and to act and speak as if cheerfulness were already there. If such conduct does not make you soon feel cheerful, nothing else on that occasion can. So to feel brave, act as if we were brave, use all our will to that end, and a courage-fit will very likely replace the fit of fear.
In the pseudoscientific law of attraction movement, "act as if you already have it", or simply "act as if", is a central concept:
How do you get yourself to a point of believing? Start make-believing. Be like a child, and make-believe. Act as if you have it already. As you make-believe, you will begin to believe you have received.
In the 1920s, Alfred Adler developed a therapeutic technique that he called "acting as if", asserting that "if you want a quality, act as if you already have it". This strategy gave his clients an opportunity to practice alternatives to dysfunctional behaviors. [8] Adler's method is still used today and is often described as role play.[ citation needed ]
"Faking it till you make it" is a psychological tool discussed in neuroscientific research. [9] [10] [11] A 1988 experiment by Fritz Strack claimed to show that mood can be improved by holding a pen between the user's teeth to force a smile, [8] but a posterior experiment failed to replicate it, due to which Strack was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize for psychology in 2019. [12] A later 2022 study about strategies to counter emotional distress found forced smiling not more effective than forced neutral expressions and other strategies of emotional regulation. [13]
Alfred Adler was an Austrian medical doctor, psychotherapist, and founder of the school of individual psychology. His emphasis on the importance of feelings of belonging, relationships within the family, and birth order set him apart from Freud and others in their common circle. He proposed that contributing to others was how the individual feels a sense of worth and belonging in the family and society. His earlier work focused on inferiority, coining the term inferiority complex, an isolating element which he argued plays a key role in personality development. Alfred Adler considered a human being as an individual whole, and therefore he called his school of psychology "Individual Psychology".
Emotional labor is the process of managing feelings and expressions to fulfill the emotional requirements of a job. More specifically, workers are expected to regulate their personas during interactions with customers, co-workers, clients, and managers. This includes analysis and decision-making in terms of the expression of emotion, whether actually felt or not, as well as its opposite: the suppression of emotions that are felt but not expressed. This is done so as to produce a certain feeling in the customer or client that will allow the company or organization to succeed.
In psychology, an inferiority complex is a consistent feeling of inadequacy, often resulting in the belief that one is in some way deficient, or inferior, to others.
Coping refers to conscious or unconscious strategies used to reduce and manage unpleasant emotions. Coping strategies can be cognitions or behaviors and can be individual or social. To cope is to deal with struggles and difficulties in life. It is a way for people to maintain their mental and emotional well-being. Everybody has ways of handling difficult events that occur in life, and that is what it means to cope. Coping can be healthy and productive, or destructive and unhealthy. It is recommended that an individual cope in ways that will be beneficial and healthy. "Managing your stress well can help you feel better physically and psychologically and it can impact your ability to perform your best."
Neuromarketing is a commercial marketing communication field that applies neuropsychology to market research, studying consumers' sensorimotor, cognitive, and affective responses to marketing stimuli. The potential benefits to marketers include more efficient and effective marketing campaigns and strategies, fewer product and campaign failures, and ultimately the manipulation of the real needs and wants of people to suit the needs and wants of marketing interests.
Emotional contagion is a form of social contagion that involves the spontaneous spread of emotions and related behaviors. Such emotional convergence can happen from one person to another, or in a larger group. Emotions can be shared across individuals in many ways, both implicitly or explicitly. For instance, conscious reasoning, analysis, and imagination have all been found to contribute to the phenomenon. The behaviour has been found in humans, other primates, dogs, and chickens.
Individual psychology is a psychological method or science founded by the Austrian psychiatrist Alfred Adler. The English edition of Adler's work on the subject (1925) is a collection of papers and lectures given mainly between 1912 and 1914. The papers cover the whole range of human psychology in a single survey, and were intended to mirror the indivisible unity of the personality.
The Secret is a 2006 Australian-American spirituality documentary consisting of a series of interviews designed to demonstrate the New Thought "law of attraction", the belief that everything/one wants or needs can be satisfied by believing in an outcome, repeatedly thinking about it, and maintaining positive emotional states to "attract" the desired outcome.
The law of attraction is the New Thought spiritual belief that positive or negative thoughts bring positive or negative experiences into a person's life. The belief is based on the idea that people and their thoughts are made from "pure energy" and that like energy can attract like energy, thereby allowing people to improve their health, wealth, or personal relationships. There is no empirical scientific evidence supporting the law of attraction, and it is widely considered to be pseudoscience or religion couched in scientific language. This belief has alternative names that have varied in popularity over time, including manifestation and lucky girl syndrome.
Thalassophobia is the persistent and intense fear of deep bodies of water, such as the ocean, seas, or lakes. Though related, thalassophobia should not be confused with aquaphobia, which is classified as the fear of water itself. Thalassophobia can include fears of being in deep bodies of water, the vastness of the sea, sea waves, aquatic animals, and great distance from land.
Affirmations in New Thought and New Age terminology refer primarily to the practice of positive thinking and self-empowerment—fostering a belief that "a positive mental attitude supported by affirmations will achieve success in anything." More specifically, an affirmation is a carefully formatted statement that should be repeated to one's self and written down frequently. For affirmations to be effective, it is said that they need to be present tense, positive, personal, and specific.
The Secret is a 2006 self-help book by Rhonda Byrne, based on the earlier film of the same name. It is based on the belief of the pseudoscientific law of attraction, which claims that thought alone can influence objective circumstances within one's life. The book alleges energy as assurance of its effectiveness. The book has sold 30 million copies worldwide and has been translated into 50 languages. Scientific claims made in the book have been rejected by a range of critics, who argue that the book has no scientific foundation.
Beyond Words Publishing is a book publishing company located in Portland, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1983, the company was unprofitable in its early years, though its works were award-winning. The privately owned company focuses on non-fiction titles in the New Age genre, but began as a publisher of coffee table books. Beyond Words has a national distribution agreement with Simon & Schuster's Altria Books imprint and has published works by John Gray, Masaru Emoto, and Rhonda Byrne, including her book The Secret.
In psychology, manipulation is defined as an action designed to influence or control another person, usually in an underhanded or unfair manner which facilitates one's personal aims. Methods someone may use to manipulate another person may include seduction, suggestion, coercion, and blackmail to induce submission. Manipulation is generally considered a dishonest form of social influence as it is used at the expense of others.
The Power is a 2010 self-help and spirituality book written by Rhonda Byrne. It is a sequel to the 2006 book The Secret. The book was released on 17 August 2010 along with an audio-book based on it. The Power's mission statement is, "The philosophy and vision of the Secret is to bring joy to billions. To bring joy to the world, the Secret creates life-transforming tools in the mediums of books, films, and multi-media. With each creation from the Secret, we aim to share knowledge that is true, simple, and practical, and that will transform people's lives." The "Power" of the title is the power of love, the mainspring of the universe. A large portion of The Power describes how Byrne greets each blessed moment with overwhelming love and gratitude toward all creation. The book is based on the law of attraction and claims that positive thinking can create life-changing results such as increased happiness, health, and wealth. Byrne describes this as a fundamental universal law akin to gravity.
Motivated reasoning is a cognitive and social response in which individuals, consciously or sub-consciously, allow emotion-loaded motivational biases to affect how new information is perceived. Individuals tend to favor evidence that coincides with their current beliefs and reject new information that contradicts them, despite contrary evidence.
"Spring-a-Ding-Fling" is the 16th episode of the fifth season of the American sitcom Modern Family, and the series' 112th overall. It was aired on March 5, 2014. The episode was written by Ben Karlin and directed by Gail Mancuso. Ty Burrell won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for his performance in this episode.
Lorna Byrne is an Irish author and peace ambassador. She is best known for her bestselling memoir, Angels in My Hair (2008). A Message of Hope from the Angels (2012) and Love from Heaven (2014) debuted at No. 1 on the UK Sunday Times Book Chart. Her books have been translated into 30 languages and published in over 50 countries. Byrne says that she sees angels and spirits on a daily, continuous basis. She has been featured in many media outlets, including the BBC, CNN, The Economist, The Observer, and the Daily Telegraph.
Fritz Strack is a German social psychologist and professor emeritus at the University of Würzburg. Strack is a member of Germany's National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina and was awarded the Ig Nobel Prize for psychology in 2019.
Toxic positivity, also known as excessive positivity or positive toxicity, is dysfunctional emotional management without the full acknowledgment of negative emotions, particularly anger and sadness. Socially, it is the act of dismissing another person's negative emotions by suggesting a positive emotion instead.