Hi again, thanks for reading along this week.
I’m Nicolas, and I help ambitious professionals master their mental energy so they can excel at work and enjoy life.
In today’s newsletter we will simply see another nice example of how our mindset can influence our mental energy.
And actually, even more than just our mental energy..
Because as opposed to the featured study of the last edition of OptiMindInsights, this study measured more than just sustained focus.
It measured emotions, attention, creativity and hormone levels.
Let’s have a closer look.
Today's newsletter
Takeaways:
🧠 Mindset shapes emotions and cognition
Adopting a “stress-is-enhancing” mindset boosted positive affect, attention to happy stimuli, and cognitive flexibility.
💪 Mindset can be shifted quickly
Just a 3-minute video was enough to change participants’ beliefs about stress. This ones again demonstrates how rapidly and easily our perception can be guided.
Mindset, cognition, emotion and hormones:
In this study, the scientist made a super clever setup.
They recruited 124 participants with a median age of 24.1 years.
The participants were split into two groups; a “stress-is-enhancing or stress-is-debilitating”-group.
These mindsets were created by simply having the participants watch a 3 minutes long video emphasizing either the benefits or harms of stress.
After this, the participants were put through a task designed to induce two specific forms of stress.
Specifically, they participated in a mock job interview (a modified Trier Social Stress Test).
The mock job interview elicited either a “challenge” or a “threat” stress response, depending on whether participants received positive or negative evaluator feedback.
Thereby, the study had 4 groups:
- Stress-is-enhancing + Challenge
- Stress-is-debilitating + Challenge
- Stress-is-enhancing + Threat
- Stress-is-debilitating + Threat
To assess the different effects of mindset and stress in the study, the authors used several different types of measures administered at specific time points.
Measures:
Stress mindset, to assess participants’ beliefs about stress.
Threat vs. challenge evaluations, to determine whether the task was viewed as a challenge or a threat.
Positive and negative affect, to capture self-reported emotional states.
Attentional bias, to measure visual attention to positive vs. negative stimuli.
Cognitive flexibility, to assess creativity and flexible thinking.
DHEAS (dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate) and cortisol, collected through saliva samples.
The measures were taken as follows:
Baseline
Upon arrival, participants completed baseline mood (PANAS) and stress mindset assessments and provided the first saliva sample (T1) for cortisol and DHEAS.
Post mindset induction
After watching the mindset-induction video, participants repeated the stress mindset and mood measures.
Pre-stress
After receiving instructions for the mock job interview, participants again completed the PANAS to assess anticipatory affect.
After the stress test
Immediately after the speech and Q&A, participants rated task demands and resources (challenge/threat) and completed another PANAS.
Post-stress
Approximately 30 minutes after the onset of the stress task, participants provided a second saliva sample (T2), followed by the Dot-Probe Task (attentional bias) and the Alternative Uses Task (cognitive flexibility).
Recovery
Around 60 minutes after the onset of the stress task, participants provided a final saliva sample (T3) to assess hormonal recovery. The study then concluded.
Based on these measures, the authors concluded that the mindset manipulations were effective.
Furthermore, the feedback provided during the mock job interview successfully induced “threat” and “challenge”-stress conditions.
The affect measures indicated that participants’ emotional states were influenced by the experimental conditions.
Challenge-stress increased positive affect over time, and participants with a “stress-is-enhancing”-mindset exhibited higher positive affect over time compared to those with a “stress-is-debilitating”-mindset.
Regarding cognitive responses, the stress-is-enhancing mindset increased attentional bias toward happy faces, but only under “challenge”-stress conditions.
Moreover, it also enhanced cognitive flexibility.
Finally, for neuroendocrine responses, the stress-is-enhancing mindset led to a sharper increase in DHEAS following the stressor (mock job interview).
This effect were observed in both stress conditions.
However, there were no significant effects of mindset or stress condition on cortisol levels.
What can we learn from this study?
First of all, I again find it incredibly fascinating that a particular mindset towards stress and challenge, can be induced so quickly and so easily.
Just like last week, these specific mindsets were induced in a matter of minutes.
This gives me so much hope and confidence that I can deliberately put myself into a specific mindset when needed.
In other words, I realize that - to a large extent - I am in control of my own perception of the world, and that I can use this to my advantage.
Moreover, I find it exciting that this study provides clear evidence that our mindset can alter our emotional state.
It’s so motivating to see this demonstrated scientifically.
We really have a huge amount of control over our emotions, even in the face of challenge or stress.
Lastly, it’s fascinating that the “stress-is-enhancing” mindset led to better cognitive flexibility and even a sharper increase in adaptive DHEAS.
Without going into too much detail, DHEAS helps counteract some negative effects of cortisol and supports better physiological resilience, as well as positive mood and cognitive function under stress.
All in all a super interesting and useful study.
Although it has some limitations - specifically the tests used for cognitive flexibility is not one I’m a huge fan of - I hope this motivates you to start working strategically with your mindset.
Articles used for this newsletter:
Crum, A. J., Akinola, M., Martin, A., & Fath, S. (2017). The role of stress mindset in shaping cognitive, emotional, and physiological responses to challenging and threatening stress. Psychology & Health, 32(3), 323–336.
Let me know how you liked todays newsletter!
This weeks recommendations:
A message from a good friend:
“Would you like me to feature and describe a practical way to quickly change your mindset in next week’s newsletter?
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Until next time, Nicolas Lassen |
Disclaimer: The above is mainly based on the 1 article mentioned in the end of this newsletter, and aims to provide key takeaways and a condensed overview of its content. While the essence is drawn from the original articles, some parts have been simplified or rephrased to enhance understanding. Please note that we at, OptiMindInsights or any other potential writers or contributors to our summaries, do not accept responsibility for any consequences arising from the use of these summaries and/or newsletters as a whole. The information provided should not be considered a substitute for personal research or professional advice. Readers are encouraged to consult the original articles for detailed insights and references. The summary does not include references, but they can typically be found within the original publication. Always exercise due diligence and consider your unique circumstances before applying any information in your personal or professional life. We refer to the creative commons for reproducibility rights.
