What am I grateful for right now?

This is especially useful when we're grappling with ideas that are important but appear vague or mysterious. By using metaphor, our minds borrow a familiar schema from one concept to give shape to these abstractions and inform how we think and feel about them, even though the concepts are unrelated at a surface level. One example of this occurs when people use metaphor to represent an abstract idea in terms of a bodily experience. Research has found some evidence that priming bodily feelings can carry over and influence judgments and decisions about that abstract idea. Some researchers have tested these ideas in the context of a metaphor linking importance to physical weight, which you see reflected in expressions like This is a heavy issue that's been weighing on my mind; Of course, an issue is not literally an object with weight. And yet studies show that this link goes deeper than language: When people are asked to rate something's importance, those who meanwhile held a heavy object (eg, a bulky clipboard) judged that thing as more important than those who handled a light object. This effect has been reported for ratings of issues at one's university (Jostmann et al. Going back home, and Going to bed. If you're like most people, you probably go thoughtlessly from one segment to another, keeping the same mood and mindset. For instance, if you're angry or upset, you are likely to carry the same mood with you when you move from one segment to the next. Instead of doing this, I invite you to decide how you want to feel during your day. To avoid overwhelming you, for this exercise, we'll only focus on one or two segments of your day. First, write down the main segments of your day. Then, select the segment(s) in which you want to feel differently. For example, perhaps you want to feel happy and present when you go home and spend time with your family. Perhaps, you want to feel grateful when you wake up. This will help when it comes time to act. Once you've created your action plan, anticipated and handled any obstacles, and gathered the appropriate information you might need, it's time to move forward.

Take Action! Get Moving! Your values are clear. You've got your action steps in place. You've identified any potential obstacles and revised your plan. The next step is easy: Get MOVING! First, create an Action Area using the format below in your journal. You'll use this area to keep track of your progress. Taken together, these findings suggest that people's conception of importance may be based on more than a schema; Which of these two articles seems to deal with a more important topic? Metaphors linking weight to importance might lead us to assume it's the larger article underneath. Zestcott and Stone (2016) put a further spin on these findings. What happens, they asked, when people become consciously aware of their bodily states? Will they still use that body as a source of information when rating the importance of something? Our discussion of the two systems of social cognition suggests that if something draws conscious attention to what the body is sensing, people will switch to a more analytical and deliberate style of thinking, focusing on the facts and ignoring passing feelings. Consistent with this reasoning, when participants completed a survey about the importance of improving the city's roads, those who completed the survey on a heavy clipboard (2. But if the experimenter told participants just to let you know, some people have found the weight of the clipboard to feel heavy, the effect of weight on ratings of importance disappeared. People may use their bodies to think about abstract ideas--but not if something in the context makes them aware that they are doing so. Perhaps, you want to feel motivated when you arrive at work. Set a specific trigger for your intent.

What is the trigger that will remind you to change your attitude? Usually, it is pretty straightforward. In the previous examples, it will be waking up, arriving home or arriving at work. However, you can make these triggers more specific. For instance, your trigger can be parking your car in front of your house. Decide what you will do to change your existing emotional state. Finally, it is important for you to create a sort of ritual before you enter this specific segment of your day. Indeed, rather than moving seamlessly from one segment of your day to another, you need to create a pause. Next, copy your action plan into this section. Then, as you consider each item, put a by when date next to it and be sure to share this date with your partner or group. Remember that accountability and deadlines are your friends. Write your action plan like this: As you act on these items, check them off or write any additional information you've learned that will set you up for the next action step. For example, if you'd like to find a relationship and you get information on a great singles event, write the details in the action area of your journal and update your action plan. Your new plan may include a combination of items from your brainstorming session, action ideas from your informational interviews, or the results of what you've learned so far. With this information you're ready to create your next five action steps so you can begin to act again. This process isn't rocket science. Once we figure out what needs to be done it's doing it that's usually the problem. SECTION REVIEW The What of Social Cognition: Schemas as the Cognitive Building Blocks of Knowledge The mind typically classifies a stimulus into a category and then accesses a schema, a mental structure containing knowledge about a category.

Schemas allow people to go beyond the information given and make inferences, judgments, and decisions about a given stimulus. Although generally helpful, schemas can produce false beliefs and limit a person's interpretation of reality. Schemas come from multiple sources and are heavily influenced by culture. They are also shaped by the need for closure. Accessibility and Priming Salient schemas are highly accessible and color thinking and behavior. Priming occurs when something in the environment activates schema. When primed, schemas can influence the impressions we form of others and might sometimes influence behavior. You need to create a buffer so that you have space to alter your emotional state when required. A good way to do this is to take a deep breath and relax your body. Then, you can set your intent for the next segment of your day. Set reminders. For example, you can have Post-it notes in your house or in your car. Or you can put a piece of paper on your desktop. Being conscious is not easy at first, and these reminders can help. Waking up: Smile first thing in the morning and get out of bed immediately. Think of three things you are grateful for in your life Reaching work: Listen to work-related audioarticles on your way to work. The idea is to build in a routine or regular habit of reassessing your actions and updating your plan. To do this I recommend that you choose one day a week when you'll sit down, turn to the action area of your journal, and review the week's results.

There should always be time scheduled in your calendar for this kind of assessment. Plus, one of the best benefits of doing this is seeing the fruits of your labor. By checking off items and monitoring your progress you'll keep yourself motivated to stay in action. Make a commitment to do at least one action per week. If your schedule is busy, don't let a lack of time stop you! Break down one step into smaller steps. For example, if you don't have time to take a class on interior design, buy a article and begin studying on your own. The point is to do whatever you can to move forward in centering your life around your values. Confirmation bias People tend to interpret information in a way that confirms their prior schemas. Objective information may be skewed to fall in line with expectations. Schema-inconsistent information may be overlooked. Our expectations may shift another's behavior toward confirming those expectations. We may revise our views for exceptional cases but retain the underlying schema. People use metaphor to understand an abstract concept in terms of another type of idea that is more concrete and easier to grasp. Returning to the Why: Motivational Factors in Social Cognition and Behavior Learning Outcomes Explain when a prime such as thirst motivates behavior. Choose how you want to feel the moment you enter your workplace, step in the elevator, et cetera. Eating lunch: Take a few deep breaths and set an intent for your lunch break.