Pushkin

Back in 1863, the Russian novelist Dostoevsky gave his readers a challenge.

One which I'm going to argue has a huge impact on happiness.

Tried to pose for yourself this task he wrote, not to think of a polar bear.

So for the next few seconds, let's do it. Let's not think of a white bear.

Ready? Go!

How'd you do? My guess is that even though you were trying not to think of a white bear,

your mind immediately went to thoughts of a white bear.

That's what Dostoevsky realized. He warned that when you try not to think of something,

you will see that cursed thing come to mind every minute.

The Harvard psychologist, Den Wagner, was interested in these effects,

which he referred to as ironic processes. Cases were our minds, ironically enough,

go to the exact place where we don't want them to go.

Wagner created a version of Dostoevsky's polar bear challenge as an experiment with college students.

He asked them to speak their stream of consciousness for five minutes.

Living with five boyfriend right now, so I didn't have to...

That sunburn. And I didn't want to be out in the sun.

Really quiet in this room, which freaks me out a little bit.

Next, he asked them to repeat the task, but explicitly tells them not to think of a white bear.

If the bear does pop into their minds while babbling...

You have to bring the bell.

I asked my students to repeat the experiment.

...