Brian Johnson summarizes and reflects on research about the psychological benefits of role-playing/alter egos. He cites Todd Herman (The Alter Ego Effect) who cites a University of Minnesota study with 4- and 6-year-old children: kids asked to impersonate characters like Batman or Dora persisted longer, tried more strategies, and were calmer while attempting to unlock a toy in a locked glass box (no keys worked). The video’s practical takeaway: temporarily adopting a heroic alter ego can improve perseverance and executive functioning.
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Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another Optimize plus one. Not too long ago we talked about Ellen Langer's fascinating research on the power of pretending you're an Air Force pilot. Play the role well and voila, the quality of your vision goes up. Sing it with me. That's crazy. In his super fun book the Alter Ego Effect, Todd Herman shares some similar wisdom. I'll let him tell us the goods. He says, I quote, a recent University of Minnesota study of 4 and 6 year old children found that to teach kids perseverance, parents should teach children to pretend to be like Batman or another favorite character because it creates psychological distance. The very thing my clients like Ian talk about and what I've observed happens when people create alter egos. Check out the book for more on that theme. He continues by saying the study split kids into three groups. The researchers put a toy in a locked glass box and gave the kids a ring of keys. The catch? No key worked. The researchers wanted to see how to improve the children's executive functioning skills and were interested in seeing how long they would try to unlock the box and what they would try to help the kids. The researchers gave them what they called strategies. One strategy was to pretend to be Batman. The kids would even wear a cape. Dora the explorer was a choice too. Researchers found that the kids who worked the longest were the ones who impersonated Batman or Dora, followed by children who just pretended and finally the kids who remained in the first person perspective. The kids impersonating Batman or Dora were flexible thinkers. They tried the most keys and they were calmer. 14 year old even said Batman never gets frustrated. Todd continues by saying the study shows us the power of identity, the power of how we see ourselves and what happens when we, for a moment in time can call forth a different self one more time. What? That's today's plus one. Let's go to our optimized closet and put on our favorite heroic self costume and play the part well.
