Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome back to the Psychology of Your Twenties,
Speaker 1: the podcast where we talk through some of the big
Speaker 1: life changes and transitions of our twenties and what they
Speaker 1: mean for our psychology. Hello everybody, Welcome back to the show.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the podcast. New listeners, old listeners, wherever
Speaker 1: you are in the world, it is so great to
Speaker 1: have you here. Back for another episode Today. On the agenda,
Speaker 1: we have a highly requested episode from all you listeners
Speaker 1: out there. I ran a poll on my Instagram the
Speaker 1: other day at that psychology podcast shameless plug if you
Speaker 1: want to give us a follow, and I essentially asked
Speaker 1: what do you want to hear? Overwhelmingly you all wanted
Speaker 1: to hear about the psychology of Lucky Girl syndrome. And
Speaker 1: guess what we are going to do it. We are
Speaker 1: going to dive into all of the nitty gritty science
Speaker 1: and psychology of this trend. And spoiler alert, there are
Speaker 1: a lot of theories to talk about today, so many
Speaker 1: more than I anticipated. I think Lucky Girl syndrome has
Speaker 1: been doing the rounds across TikTok and Instagram in the
Speaker 1: past few months. I am sure we have all seen
Speaker 1: viral videos of people recounting all of the good things
Speaker 1: that have happened to them. The job offers the unexpected
Speaker 1: fifty dollar note on the ground, free coffees, new love
Speaker 1: interests that have started to crop up once they've adopted
Speaker 1: this mindset that they are a lucky person. But how
Speaker 1: much proof is there that positive affirmations like the universe
Speaker 1: is working in my favor and positive thinking actually creates
Speaker 1: tangible changes in our lives. Well, that is where the
Speaker 1: psychology comes in. I think what sometimes bothers me about
Speaker 1: this trend is all the people putting it down to
Speaker 1: luck or manifestation. We are here to bust that myth
Speaker 1: today by providing some pretty interesting explanations behind the workings
Speaker 1: of lucky girl syndrome and all that comes with it.
Speaker 1: We are going to examine theories like self fulfilling prophecies,
Speaker 1: confirmation bias, the external versus internal locus of control, the
Speaker 1: Pygmalion theory, and even dive into some of our brain
Speaker 1: anatomy to explain why this idea of positive and lucky
Speaker 1: manifestation may actually have some evidence behind it. So come
Speaker 1: along for the journey. We're going to reveal a lot
Speaker 1: of the truth and of course, the psychology behind this
Speaker 1: trend and what it actually means for our lives. I
Speaker 1: will acknowledge there is also a dark side to lucky
Speaker 1: girl syndrome. I don't think we can discuss this phrase
Speaker 1: or this without also talking about privilege, and that may
Speaker 1: be controversial, but I do think that at a brief
Speaker 1: glance of the most popular videos associated with this trend,
Speaker 1: we will primarily see people who are very attractive, very wealthy,
Speaker 1: well off, and healthy. And some of the controversy of
Speaker 1: this trend is that manifestation sometimes ignores things like wealth
Speaker 1: and privilege in favor of a simple explanation, so I
Speaker 1: think we should definitely proceed with caution. We will talk
Speaker 1: about that later. This is probably one of my favorite
Speaker 1: episodes that I have ever done. I know I am
Speaker 1: setting the expectations high from the outset, but wow, when
Speaker 1: I first started researching this, I had no idea what
Speaker 1: I would find, and it has blown my mind. So
Speaker 1: I am really excited to be able to share. If
Speaker 1: you have been confused or skeptical of this lucky girl trend,
Speaker 1: you're in the right place. We have a lot to
Speaker 1: discuss today, so let's jump right into it. For those
Speaker 1: of you who are thinking what in the world is
Speaker 1: lucky girl syndrome and have no idea what I'm talking about.
Speaker 1: You're just along for the ride. Let me give you
Speaker 1: a brief synopsis and overview. This idea has emerged largely
Speaker 1: on TikTok and trending videos in which people essentially explain
Speaker 1: how by convincing themselves and believing that they are lucky,
Speaker 1: good things inevitably happen to them. It's often accompanied by
Speaker 1: certain affirmations and positive thinking statements. One of the most
Speaker 1: popular audios that goes along with these videos is about
Speaker 1: how your life is supposed to go well and things
Speaker 1: are meant to work out for you. These creators essentially
Speaker 1: say that their secret to a great life is assuming
Speaker 1: and believing that the they will have a great life,
Speaker 1: and with that they show how they have received all
Speaker 1: these amazing benefits like I mentioned, new jobs and unexpected
Speaker 1: money and new outfits and positive news. You will find thousands,
Speaker 1: maybe millions at this point of videos exactly like this,
Speaker 1: all across TikTok and platforms like Instagram. Although this idea
Speaker 1: of lucky girl syndrome really began to trend last year,
Speaker 1: it's not entirely a new concept. In fact, it's essentially
Speaker 1: just manifestation, or the idea of manifestation that has been
Speaker 1: wrapped up in fancy packaging and given a new name
Speaker 1: for this generation. Let's go back a little bit the
Speaker 1: origins of manifestation, which is essentially what Lucky Girls syndrome is.
Speaker 1: It can be traced back to various philosophical and spiritual
Speaker 1: traditions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Greek philosophy, even Christianity, among others.
Speaker 1: But the idea that we now speak of and that
Speaker 1: we normally think of when we think of manifestation. It
Speaker 1: was popularized in quite a few pop psychology books and
Speaker 1: publications that were released in the early two thousands, and
Speaker 1: then the idea was scooped up by people like Oprah
Speaker 1: and other inspirational thought leaders until it kind of trickled
Speaker 1: down to everyday people like you and I. Vox wrote
Speaker 1: a really fascinating article on this topic. I will leave
Speaker 1: it in the description, and it essentially concludes that lucky
Speaker 1: Girl syndrome is just the latest revision of historical ideas
Speaker 1: like the law of attraction or assumption, which essentially proposed
Speaker 1: that our thoughts and our beliefs can alter our reality.
Speaker 1: For example, believing that I will be rich will make
Speaker 1: you rich, and you attract what you desire and what
Speaker 1: you put out into the universe. I think this sounds
Speaker 1: very simplified and undervalues the power of individual action, hard work,
Speaker 1: and agency. You are not the only one manifestation the
Speaker 1: law of assumption attraction, and with that, trends like lucky
Speaker 1: Girl syndrome have been repeatedly criticized by many psychologists as
Speaker 1: being essentially a pseudoscientific self help trend with no basis
Speaker 1: in actual science or traditional academic research to back it up.
Speaker 1: Of course, you can't make magical things automatically happen with
Speaker 1: your mind as far as we know, that's not physically
Speaker 1: possible at this stage. But when we dive deeper into
Speaker 1: this science behind the impact of positive affirmations on our brain,
Speaker 1: we might reach a different conclusion. And it doesn't have
Speaker 1: anything to do with abstract concepts like mind control or
Speaker 1: fate or the power of the universe, but with how
Speaker 1: our minds can be altered by our beliefs to approach
Speaker 1: life in a way that does impact our decision making,
Speaker 1: our outlook, our success, and therefore the outcomes of our
Speaker 1: lives at the end of the day. The power of
Speaker 1: lucky Girl syndrome is that it retrains our brain into
Speaker 1: adopting a more positive mindset. Therefore, by believing you're a
Speaker 1: lucky person, by repeating it as a lot of these
Speaker 1: videos instruct you to do and that you deserve good
Speaker 1: things and that you will be successful, you actually have
Speaker 1: a greater tendency to seek out experiences, situations, opportunities in
Speaker 1: which this is confirmed. There has been legitimate studies on this,
Speaker 1: and it backs up some of those anecdotal experiences we
Speaker 1: see on social media. One study in particular, it hypothesizes
Speaker 1: that believing you are lucky or some other positive statement
Speaker 1: about yourself, it promotes positive, goal oriented behavior, which produces
Speaker 1: those positive outcomes. It's not that we manifested these things,
Speaker 1: but that because of our beliefs, we implicitly and unconsciously
Speaker 1: work harder, we pursue more opportunities, and these actions are
Speaker 1: what produces the outcomes associated with lucky girl syndrome. It's
Speaker 1: not so much spiritual, it's not so much to do
Speaker 1: with the universe or some intangible force. It really is
Speaker 1: based in the mind. This can be explained by the
Speaker 1: psychological concept of self fulfilling prophecies, otherwise known as the
Speaker 1: pigmalion effect. In psychology, a self fulfilling prophecy revolves around
Speaker 1: this idea that our expectations impact how we act, which
Speaker 1: as a result, impacts the outcome so that it is
Speaker 1: the one that we expected. A self fulfilling prophecy. Just
Speaker 1: to give you more of a definition, it's basically a
Speaker 1: belief or an expectation that an individual holds about something
Speaker 1: in the future that manifests purely because the individual believes
Speaker 1: it and therefore it impacts their actions. There are some
Speaker 1: real world and clinical examples that confirm this theory. The
Speaker 1: first one that comes to mind is the placebo effect.
Speaker 1: When we believe something like a medication will work, that
Speaker 1: inadvertently alters how our mind perceives our response and our
Speaker 1: reaction and the impact of the medication, making it so
Speaker 1: that we either actually display a positive response or our
Speaker 1: brains mimic positive symptoms in order to confirm our belief
Speaker 1: that the medication is effective. I know that sounds like
Speaker 1: a kind of a random example, but what it shows
Speaker 1: is the power of the mind to actually alter our
Speaker 1: environment in some ways because of how strong it wants
Speaker 1: to believe in something. That's why when they do clinical
Speaker 1: trials with new medications, they give one group a placebo
Speaker 1: and one group of medication that actually works to see
Speaker 1: whether it's just purely the act of taking the medication
Speaker 1: and believing that it will work that helps people. In
Speaker 1: one particularly famous study that my fellow psychology students will
Speaker 1: definitely know about, they examined the grades of children before
Speaker 1: and after they wore fake glasses to see whether it
Speaker 1: would influence how the teachers treated them or how these
Speaker 1: students performed themselves. And what they found was that their
Speaker 1: grades actually improved because teachers implicitly associate glasses with intelligence.
Speaker 1: Therefore they treated the students better, they showed them more attention,
Speaker 1: they were more involved in the academic success because they
Speaker 1: held an implicit belief that glasses equals academic ability. So
Speaker 1: it shows how our belief system will unconsciously impact how
Speaker 1: we choose to act and behave in a way that
Speaker 1: will confirm our pre existing belief, resulting in our expectation
Speaker 1: becoming a reality. This also occurs on an individual level
Speaker 1: as well, as explained by the pigmalion effect, whereby our
Speaker 1: self imposed expectations all to how we behave and therefore
Speaker 1: where we end up. If you believe that you attract
Speaker 1: good people, that you are magnetic and attractive and beautiful,
Speaker 1: you will behave this way based on your belief system,
Speaker 1: and people pick up on that energy and how you
Speaker 1: hold yourselves and will react to that attitude. It's part
Speaker 1: of the reason why we always say that confidence matters
Speaker 1: more than conventional beauty, because people will react to how
Speaker 1: you hold yourself and treat you accordingly. And it's an
Speaker 1: example of how the beliefs we hold about ourselves therefore
Speaker 1: impact how we act, which actually creates the positive outcome
Speaker 1: that we expected in the first place. Of course, this
Speaker 1: doesn't always happen voluntarily or on a conscious level, hence
Speaker 1: why we don't always attribute the fruits of our labour
Speaker 1: to our actions, but rather this idea of manifestation. Essentially,
Speaker 1: we are stubborn creatures and we don't like to be wrong,
Speaker 1: so our minds work behind the scenes in order to
Speaker 1: make our beliefs a reality, so that we avoid the
Speaker 1: pain of being embarrassed or questioning ourselves and therefore injuring
Speaker 1: our self esteem. That is essentially the psychological basis behind
Speaker 1: lucky girl syndrome and behind positive affirmations. In another vein, though,
Speaker 1: this idea of confirmation bias can also be used to
Speaker 1: explain this phenomena whereby our brains will unconsciously work to
Speaker 1: affirm your belief by ignoring instances or experiences that don't
Speaker 1: align with your idea of being lucky, like getting a
Speaker 1: parking fine or slipping on the street, and it will
Speaker 1: amplify the events that confirm the idea that you are lucky,
Speaker 1: such as something favorable happening for you, and we end
Speaker 1: up having an altered view of our reality. Confirmation bias
Speaker 1: essentially refers to our tendency to process information by looking
Speaker 1: for or interpreting information that is consistent with our values
Speaker 1: and what we expect and ignoring counter evidence. And all
Speaker 1: of this offers a deeper insight into the underlying psychology
Speaker 1: of lucky Girl syndrome and the broader idea of manifestation.
Speaker 1: Our brain is phenomenal. It is a very very powerful tool,
Speaker 1: and what we tell it will impact our reality, not
Speaker 1: in some hidden way, but because our brains will alter
Speaker 1: how we act. Maybe I'm getting repetitive with that, but
Speaker 1: I really think it's an important link or kind of
Speaker 1: thought to follow through. But it doesn't mean that positive
Speaker 1: affirmations and positive self talk aren't actually highly beneficial. Regardless
Speaker 1: of some of the flimsy scientific reasoning and the impact
Speaker 1: of self fulfilling prophecies and confirmation bias, I do truly
Speaker 1: believe in the psychological power and impact of affirmations on
Speaker 1: our life, particularly how we interpret the world. I have
Speaker 1: talked about affirmations before in my confidence episode and in
Speaker 1: some of my other episodes. They've worked for me, and
Speaker 1: there are a number of scientific explanations that confirm this.
Speaker 1: I'm going to dive into them in just a second.
Speaker 1: Let's discuss some of the evidence for lock of your syndrome, manifestation,
Speaker 1: whatever you want to call it. Like I mentioned before,
Speaker 1: much of the evidence for this trend rests upon the
Speaker 1: power of affirmation and positive thinking or self talk. I'm
Speaker 1: going to use an explanation from the Berkeley Institute to
Speaker 1: explain this, because they said it very well. When we
Speaker 1: repeat positive affirmations enough, we begin to integrate these statements
Speaker 1: into our belief system, which in turn creates a more
Speaker 1: positive mindset. And a more positive mindset is associated with
Speaker 1: things like greater resilience and optimism, problem solving and as
Speaker 1: a result, life satisfaction, less stress, and better coping skills.
Speaker 1: That is the mechanism behind this technique. There are a
Speaker 1: number of affirmations associated with Lucky Girl's syndrome that I
Speaker 1: want to pause and talk about for just a second.
Speaker 1: Here are a few of my favorites. I really did
Speaker 1: do my research. I was very interested when I started
Speaker 1: seeing all these tiktoks come up on my feed. I
Speaker 1: may or may not have written some of them down
Speaker 1: before I really looked into it, but these were the
Speaker 1: ones that I actually had in my notes app and
Speaker 1: I thought they were interesting to share. So some of
Speaker 1: the affirmations you will see in these trending videos you
Speaker 1: maybe have already seen them, are things like great things
Speaker 1: are always happening to me. I am so lucky. Everything
Speaker 1: is always working out for me, The universe is working
Speaker 1: in my favor. There's something that these all have in common.
Speaker 1: They all concern things that have to do with some
Speaker 1: external source of power or fate. And although they may work,
Speaker 1: if you truly want to use affirmations and unlock their
Speaker 1: psychological power, you need to change them to be focused
Speaker 1: on your strength and your power, and your agency and
Speaker 1: your qualities rather than some external, intangible force that's acting
Speaker 1: beyond your control. So let me give you some examples.
Speaker 1: Instead of saying things like great things are always happening
Speaker 1: to me, or everything always works out for me, say
Speaker 1: things like I am always moving towards something better, I
Speaker 1: am an intelligent and strong person, I deserve love, I
Speaker 1: work to attract good things into my life. These affirmations
Speaker 1: are all about how you see yourself, and at the
Speaker 1: end of the day, that is the only factor you
Speaker 1: really have control over. When we routinely use affirmations concerning
Speaker 1: things beyond our control, it can often lead to a
Speaker 1: negative or toxic mindset, whereby we blame all of the
Speaker 1: good things in our lives all of the bad things
Speaker 1: on elements beyond our control. And there is a slight
Speaker 1: problem with that because it rests on this idea of
Speaker 1: an internal versus an external locus of control. I'm going
Speaker 1: to give you a summary if you've never heard about
Speaker 1: this before, but essentially, people who believe that external forces
Speaker 1: like luck and fate or the universe determine their outcomes,
Speaker 1: they have an external locus of control, whereby there are
Speaker 1: things beyond their power, that are acting beyond their kind
Speaker 1: of mindset or vision, that are truly responsible for what's
Speaker 1: happening in their life. Hence the term external. In comparison,
Speaker 1: those who hold themselves responsible for their successes, they have
Speaker 1: internal locus of control. Internal meaning individual having an external
Speaker 1: locus of control has been repeatedly associated with things like
Speaker 1: less motivation, more problematic behaviors, even in some studies criminal behavior,
Speaker 1: not saying that that's always the case, but people who
Speaker 1: have an external locus of control, they're more likely to
Speaker 1: be quite pessimistic, and they're more likely to be inactive
Speaker 1: in the face of adversity. And that makes sense, right,
Speaker 1: because if you truly believe that everything is outside of
Speaker 1: your power and outside of your control, you're going to
Speaker 1: act accordingly, so when things are happening in your life
Speaker 1: that you might actually be able to change. Your whole
Speaker 1: mindset is focused on things moving without you needing to
Speaker 1: do anything, so you become inactive and therefore some of
Speaker 1: your life outcomes might be declining or become worse. This
Speaker 1: is why I really recommend that if you are someone
Speaker 1: who uses affirmations, that they be about your own abilities,
Speaker 1: like I said, the only thing that you can control
Speaker 1: in your life is your own actions, is yourself. So
Speaker 1: it's important to reinforce that, thereby enabling you to feel
Speaker 1: more successful when good things happen, but also understand that
Speaker 1: you can change your reality when bad things happen. I'm
Speaker 1: very sorry I've gone on a bit of a tangent there.
Speaker 1: I realize that now I've just gone way of course,
Speaker 1: so let's get back on track. Why do affirmations work
Speaker 1: on a neurological level, Well, it has a lot to
Speaker 1: do with one brain structure in particular, it's called the
Speaker 1: reticular activating system, and this part of the brain is
Speaker 1: located just above the mid brain. It's pretty small, it's
Speaker 1: kind of tiny, actually, but it is responsible for a
Speaker 1: lot of really important things like wakefulness, our ability to focus,
Speaker 1: but most importantly in this topic, how we perceive the world.
Speaker 1: Its main function is to choose what information in our
Speaker 1: environment to process and which stuff that we can disregard
Speaker 1: as irrelevant and we can filter it out. Consider it
Speaker 1: like a metal detector for our brain. It only buzzes,
Speaker 1: for lack of a better word, when we come across
Speaker 1: something that we deem as important, So it filters things out.
Speaker 1: It says, you know, that random thing on the sidewalk.
Speaker 1: We might see it, our eyes might pick up on
Speaker 1: it as something in our environment, but we probably can't
Speaker 1: remember it because our brain, particularly our recticular formation, has
Speaker 1: chosen to ignore it. That's how it works, and our mindset,
Speaker 1: our outlook, our set of beliefs and expectations about the world,
Speaker 1: is what the recticular activating system enlists to undertake this
Speaker 1: filtering process. And surprise, surprise, guess what can greatly impact
Speaker 1: that belief system. You guessed it. Positive self talk and affirmations.
Speaker 1: When we believe we are strong and intelligent, when we
Speaker 1: believe we are lucky, this system, this part of our
Speaker 1: brains will confirm that for us, it might not be
Speaker 1: objectively true that we are lucky or that we are strong,
Speaker 1: but when we believe it, we feel it, we see it,
Speaker 1: So that's what really matters. That is basically a very
Speaker 1: roundabout way of saying that there may be some truth
Speaker 1: in Lucky Girl syndrome. When we break it down to
Speaker 1: its core components. It's not mystical, it's not some magical thing.
Speaker 1: It's very much neurological and psychological, whereby it's based in
Speaker 1: the kind of systems and patterns of behavior and habits
Speaker 1: that our brain enlists to protect us in some ways
Speaker 1: and to sort out the information in our environment. So
Speaker 1: it can be very powerful. It can be very impactful
Speaker 1: on our lives. However, I don't think I would be
Speaker 1: doing this topic justice if I didn't mention the inherent
Speaker 1: privilege associated with lucky girl syndrome. I think it is
Speaker 1: very easy, like I said, to believe that you are
Speaker 1: lucky and destined for greatness and that everything works out
Speaker 1: for you when you are already coming from a place
Speaker 1: of extreme wealth and opportunity, and particularly privilege in many
Speaker 1: Western societies. I can admit that I am one of
Speaker 1: these people. You know. I grew up in Australia, which
Speaker 1: is a relatively safe place. I'm well educated as of
Speaker 1: my parents. I have a nice job, and yes, I
Speaker 1: did work hard to get to this place. But it
Speaker 1: doesn't mean that there weren't a lot of factors in
Speaker 1: my favor from day one, from the day I was born.
Speaker 1: Now that I think about it, I don't think I
Speaker 1: have seen any videos of people claiming that lucky girls
Speaker 1: in during works for them. Out of developing countries or
Speaker 1: places with famine or drought or war. It feels particularly
Speaker 1: elitist to suggest that just believing good things will make
Speaker 1: your life good. You know, if it was that simple,
Speaker 1: we wouldn't see so much suffering in the world. It
Speaker 1: looks it's like to me, at least, that this trend
Speaker 1: is very much reserved for individuals who, the majority of
Speaker 1: which already have all the tools that would have enabled
Speaker 1: their success. Anyways, it's not luck that has given them
Speaker 1: a good life. It's not positive self talk. It's this
Speaker 1: kind of global systemic, ingrained system of wealth distribution and inequality.
Speaker 1: Maybe that's an inconvenient truth. It might upset some people,
Speaker 1: but I do think that it deserves some focus. We
Speaker 1: can't be blind to some of the reasoning behind this stuff.
Speaker 1: I think trends like lucky Girl syndrome have a habit
Speaker 1: of becoming these huge Internet sensations and attracting a lot
Speaker 1: of craze whilst minimizing a lot of the crucial truths
Speaker 1: and kind of pushing sometimes a dangerous narrative that simply
Speaker 1: believing is going to fix all of your problem when
Speaker 1: we know when we look at the world that it
Speaker 1: probably doesn't. Of course, no singular individual or creator or
Speaker 1: person who supports this trend is to blame. It's not
Speaker 1: about shaming people and being like you should be embarrassed
Speaker 1: or you should be ashamed that you believe this. I
Speaker 1: really don't think that's the case on an individual level.
Speaker 1: I think it can be really really beneficial. Like I
Speaker 1: do genuinely believe in the power of a positive mindset,
Speaker 1: but I do think it's important to believe and recognize
Speaker 1: both things at once. That it is based in a
Speaker 1: system of privilege. Not everyone is going to have a
Speaker 1: lucky Girl syndrome experience, but for some individuals it can
Speaker 1: be pretty life changing to shift to a positive mindset
Speaker 1: for the pursuit of your own goals and your ambitions
Speaker 1: in life. Also, we haven't mentioned this yet, but whether
Speaker 1: you are in innately pessimistic or optimistic person also seems
Speaker 1: to matter when we discuss manifestations or lucky Girl syndrome,
Speaker 1: and it's very important and relative to the quote unquote
Speaker 1: success of these mechanisms and these tools for manifesting a
Speaker 1: lucky and a happy life. A pretty brief explanation, but essentially,
Speaker 1: there is a difference between people who are optimistic and pessimistic.
Speaker 1: I feel like most people know that. But an optimistic
Speaker 1: person they see good things everywhere. They're really confident and
Speaker 1: hopeful about what the future holds. They believe that things
Speaker 1: will work out for them. They are very happy and
Speaker 1: have a great outlook on the potential opportunities that will
Speaker 1: come their way. The pessimist, on the other hand, they
Speaker 1: observe mainly the negative aspects of everything around them. They
Speaker 1: are always prepared for the worst, They always expect the worst.
Speaker 1: They see the world as kind of a scary, dangerous,
Speaker 1: ambiguous space. I think it's common sense, but we can
Speaker 1: see that a positive mindset and a perception of our
Speaker 1: inherent luckiness is going to be a lot harder for
Speaker 1: someone who is generally pessimistic, and pessimism is not always
Speaker 1: something that you can change. Attributes like pessimism and optimism,
Speaker 1: they obviously fall on a spectrum, but they are a
Speaker 1: core part of our personality and our temperament that we
Speaker 1: are born with, so they can be very hard to
Speaker 1: shift or to alter. So saying to a friend who
Speaker 1: is pessimistic that in order to secure their future or
Speaker 1: they need to do is manifest good things or have
Speaker 1: a positive outlook or repeat a certain number of affirmations
Speaker 1: every day. I don't think it's going to be entirely helpful.
Speaker 1: If anything, it could potentially be quite patronizing. Of course,
Speaker 1: there are some things you can do to break out
Speaker 1: of a pessimistic mindset. I actually think that's an entirely
Speaker 1: separate episode that's going to make such a good episode.
Speaker 1: I should really do that. But I think it just
Speaker 1: goes to show that distinction between people who are optimistic
Speaker 1: and pessimistic, that the application of being a lucky girl
Speaker 1: is going to be very nuanced and differ from person
Speaker 1: to person. It's a nice thing to believe and probably
Speaker 1: very easy if you are naturally optimistic. I'm going to
Speaker 1: call myself out here, that's what I'm like. But it's
Speaker 1: not as simple as the trending TikTok sounds and viral
Speaker 1: videos make it. See, so what have we learned today?
Speaker 1: I think lucky girl syndrome is a very attractive idea.
Speaker 1: It is very attractive to be told that you can
Speaker 1: sort your life out, you can have an amazing life
Speaker 1: by doing something really simple like repeating to yourself a
Speaker 1: series of phrases or words every day. And I do
Speaker 1: really see the benefit in that. From a psychological perspective,
Speaker 1: like we mentioned, having a positive mindset is very indicative
Speaker 1: of later on life satisfaction and success because it will
Speaker 1: subjectively change how you perceive the world, how you act,
Speaker 1: and how you see your successes versus your failures. But
Speaker 1: when we dig deeper into it, we can see that
Speaker 1: lucky girl syndrome or manifestation, the law of attraction, all
Speaker 1: of those things. It doesn't really have anything to do
Speaker 1: with some mystical, higher up source of infinite wisdom and power.
Speaker 1: It's not about the universe. It's not about some abstract idea.
Speaker 1: It's really about our brains and how our brains are
Speaker 1: taught to process information and how they implicitly impact our
Speaker 1: actions and our behavior to create positive outcomes and confirm
Speaker 1: our expectations and our biases. So it is a very
Speaker 1: complicated interaction, I think, a very interesting interaction, one that
Speaker 1: I am very glad we talked about today and will say,
Speaker 1: if you are someone who believes in lucky girl syndrome, congratulations.
Speaker 1: That is amazing. People are allowed to have their own
Speaker 1: opinions and are allowed to view their lives a certain way.
Speaker 1: If you've had a really amazing, wonderful, like inexplicable experience
Speaker 1: with lucky girl syndrome. Can you let me know, because
Speaker 1: I really do want to hear about it. I find
Speaker 1: it really interesting watching these tiktoks and being like, wow,
Speaker 1: how did she do it? Because I'm even sold on
Speaker 1: it sometimes having investigated this and looked at the science
Speaker 1: and the psychology. But like I said, we cannot discuss
Speaker 1: this idea or this trend without also acknowledging privilege thinking
Speaker 1: about it on a deeper level. Maybe that was a
Speaker 1: controversial thing to say, but of course we cannot talk
Speaker 1: about something like lucky girl syndrome, or a trending sound
Speaker 1: on TikTok, or something like positive affirmations without also having
Speaker 1: a look into the deeper reasons behind why it's so compelling.
Speaker 1: And sometimes that does force us to acknowledge hard controversial
Speaker 1: truths like privilege. I'm sorry if it offended you, but
Speaker 1: I do just think it's a valuable skill to think
Speaker 1: about things like lucky Girl syndrome, like anything in our lives,
Speaker 1: from different perspectives. So I really enjoyed this episode. It
Speaker 1: is probably one of my favorites. I really enjoyed looking
Speaker 1: into all the research and the science. I found so
Speaker 1: many unexpected things. Maybe you already knew all of this,
Speaker 1: in which case you are much smarter than me and
Speaker 1: you should be running my podcast. Please get in touch.
Speaker 1: But I really do hope that you learn something and
Speaker 1: that you're able to apply some of the things that
Speaker 1: we talked about today to your own life. That is
Speaker 1: always the aim of the show, and I am so
Speaker 1: glad if you've listened this far, as I always say,
Speaker 1: if you feel cool to do so, if you feel compelled,
Speaker 1: if you enjoyed this episode, please feel free to leave
Speaker 1: a five star review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you
Speaker 1: are listening right now. It really does help the show
Speaker 1: to reach new people. It's just me doing it here,
Speaker 1: so it's really nice when people leave me really love
Speaker 1: reviews or they send me nice messages. It really does
Speaker 1: make my day. So if you want to join the community,
Speaker 1: if you have an episode that you think I should cover,
Speaker 1: I love to hear it. I love when people have
Speaker 1: ideas for me. So please follow us at that Psychology
Speaker 1: podcast on Instagram. Follow along, see you all up to
Speaker 1: You're gonna hear about what's coming next. Things like merch
Speaker 1: all of those wonderful things, so hopefully we will see
Speaker 1: you over there, and we will be back on Tuesday
Speaker 1: for another episode.