Paging Stuart Smalley: your daily affirmations might matter more than you think!
This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.
We’ve all heard “mind over matter”. But can positive thinking REALLY improve your life?
Dakota Witzel, and team at South Dakota State University investigated. They surveyed over seventeen HUNDRED people about stress. What caused stress during the day? How much control did people feel? And later, did they solve the problem?
Results were surprisingly clear! People who reported feeling more control were more likely to solve their problems! And ten years later? The effect grew even stronger! Believing in yourself mattered even more with age.
So if you think you got this, you got this!!
Witzel, D.D., Cerino, E.S., Stawski, R.S. et al. Daily association between perceived control and resolution of daily stressors strengthens across a decade of adulthood. Commun Psychol 3, 130 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44271-025-00313-7