Research – Positive Speech

Neuroscientist Dr. Andrew Newberg and Mark Robert Waldman are leading experts on communication, spirituality and the brain. Combining research on brain scans and other clinical data the two have found in just seven seconds, with the use of the right kind of words, positive words, people can build rapport, trust and co-operation with others. “The mere repetition of words like love, peace, and compassion will turn on specific genes that lower your physical and emotional stress.” Alternatively, the wrong words can instantly cause conflict.

Read why Waldman and Newberg believe “No” is damaging to our selves and our relationships:

The Most Dangerous Word in the World

Discover more about their work and their publication Words Can Change Your Brain here:

Mark Robert Waldman

(If you have any problems following links in our research, then please copy and paste the text from our footnote* into your browser top bar)

Ernil Hansen and Christel Bejenke, anaesthesiologists, found when patients are facing an extreme situation, such as being in an emergency or going into surgery, their brains enter a trance-like state, heightening and focussing their attention, which makes them highly susceptible to verbal suggestion. Whether intentional or not, negative clues can aggravate anxiety, stress and pain, whilst positive words can do the opposite. Hansen and Benjenke recommend that during this time medical staff can improve the communication process by employing hypnotherapeutic insights and methods, such as teaching patients to turn negative thoughts and worries into positive affirmations. Doing this has found to help the patient regain self-control and access inner resources.

Access the publication here:

Negative and positive suggestions in anaesthesia: Improved communication with anxious surgical patients [Abstract in English, article in German]

Dr. Nelly Alia-Klein et al. recorded the regional brain activity in 23 healthy male participants while they were exposed to emphatic vocalisations and visual displays of the words “Yes” and “No”. The participants also rated the statements on valence (emotional significance) and what associations they gave the words. The researchers found the right hemisphere of the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) was stimulated when hearing and seeing the word “No”. This is the part of the brain associated with negative emotions and inhibiting behaviours, especially relating to punishment, and when activated, triggers motivation to withdraw. Therefore, hearing the negative word and negative thinking is self-perpetuating. Positive words and thoughts, however, evoking signals in a different part of the OFC, propel the motivational centres of the brain into action.

Read the full report here:

What is in a word? No versus Yes differentially engage the lateral orbitofrontal cortex

Barbara Fredrickson and Marcial Losada compared daily reports by 188 participants on what emotions they were experiencing to initial surveys that identified their individual states of mental health. From the results, Fredrickson and Losada advocate when you generate a minimum of three, ideally five, positive thoughts and expressions to each negative one, you’ll experience “an optimal range of human functioning.”

Find out more here:

Positive affect and the complex dynamics of human flourishing

Resources

Watch this video to see what happened when the boys in a high school class wrote positive things or phrases about the girls and then let them see what they had written.

An Experiment in Words

Feel like you’ve exhausted your vocabulary of positive words? Check out this Positive Words Vocabulary List for inspiration:

Enchanted Learning – Positive Words

Footnote*

(If you have any problems following links in our research, then please copy and paste the text below relating to the article you wish to see into your browser top bar)

Dr. Andrew Newberg and Mark Robert Waldman
The Most Dangerous Word in the World
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/words-can-change-your-brain/201208/the-most-dangerous-word-in-the-world

Discover more about their work and their publication Words Can Change Your Brain here:
Mark Robert Waldman
http://markrobertwaldman.com

Ernil Hansen and Christel Bejenke
Negative and positive suggestions in anaesthesia: Improved communication with anxious surgical patients [Abstract in English, article in German] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20155243

Dr. Nelly Alia-Klein et al.
What is in a word? No versus Yes differentially engage the lateral orbitofrontal cortex
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2443710/

Barbara Fredrickson and Marcial Losada
Positive affect and the complex dynamics of human flourishing
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3126111/

An Experiment in Words
An Experiment in Words

Positive Words Vocabulary List
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/wordlist/positivewords.shtml