Believing is seeing: using mindlessness (mindfully) to improve visual acuity.
These experiments show that vision can be improved by manipulating mind-sets. In Study 1, participants were primed with the mind-set that pilots have excellent vision. Vision improved for participants who experientially became pilots (by flying a realistic flight simulator) compared with control participants (who performed the same task in an ostensibly broken flight simulator). Participants in an eye-exercise condition (primed with the mind-set that improvement occurs with practice) and a motivation condition (primed with the mind-set "try and you will succeed") demonstrated visual improvement relative to the control group. In Study 2, participants were primed with the mind-set that athletes have better vision than nonathletes. Controlling for arousal, doing jumping jacks resulted in greater visual acuity than skipping (perceived to be a less athletic activity than jumping jacks). Study 3 took advantage of the mind-set primed by the traditional eye chart: Because letters get progressively smaller on successive lines, people expect that they will be able to read the first few lines only. When participants viewed a reversed chart and a shifted chart, they were able to see letters they could not see before. Thus, mind-set manipulation can counteract physiological limits imposed on vision.
Langer
Ellen
E
Department of Psychology, Harvard University, USA.
Djikic
Maja
M
Pirson
Michael
M
Madenci
Arin
A
Donohue
Rebecca
R
D000328:Adult; D001143:Arousal; D001364:Awareness; D003463:Cues; D003469:Culture; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007092:Imagination; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D012054:Reinforcement, Psychology; D012718:Set, Psychology; D014787:Vision Tests; D014792:Visual Acuity; D055815:Young Adult