Roger Guibert bannister
Until 1954, it was considered impossible to run a mile in four minutes. The doctor proved that four minutes is the limit of one mile. Physiologists have carried out various experiments and scientifically proved the limits of human ability. Humans can't run for four minutes.
In turn, the athletes also confirmed the scientists' conclusions with practical actions. The record for running a mile is 4 minutes and 2 seconds, and 4 minutes is 1 second. . . No one has been able to run for four minutes since running a mile.
The athlete Roger Guibert bannister, also a doctor of medicine at Oxford University, said, "It is possible to run for four minutes. I'll show you. " Bannister's personal best score when he said this sentence was 4 minutes 12 seconds, and everyone took his words as a joke.
Bannister ignored others and continued to train as hard as the best athlete, 4 minutes 10 second, 4 minutes 5 seconds, 4 minutes 2 seconds. But here he stopped, just like other athletes, and reached his limit. He can't break four minutes and two seconds.
4 minutes and 2 seconds, he was not the best athlete in the world at that time, but he was one of the best athletes. But he still insisted: "In this matter, there is no limit for human beings." We can run for four minutes. "After that, I persisted, failed, and persisted for many years.
1On May 6th, 954, bannister ran in his alma mater for 3 minutes and 59 seconds, which caused a sensation in the whole western world.
The headline of the whole western world reads "Science is challenged!" "Impossible is possible". For decades, since there was a mile-long sports event, no one has ever broken the limit of four minutes for human beings, but bannister did it.
This is the power of faith.
The story doesn't end here, and then it's time to witness the miracle. Only six weeks later, Australian athlete John Wen Lan ran 3 minutes and 57.9 seconds. The following year 1955, 37 runners ran for 4 minutes. 1956,300 athletes broke the so-called human four-minute limit.
What's going on here? Are the athletes working harder than before? Of course not. The development of science and technology has brought new technology, new running shoes? Of course not.
It's faith. Think about the power of faith.
1954 Before May 6th, they also worked hard and tried their best in the competition, but their subconscious beliefs limited them. They didn't believe that humans could run for four minutes, so they couldn't. Four minutes is not a physical human limit, but a psychological limit set by scientists and accepted by athletes.
After May 6th, 1954 proved that four minutes is no longer the limit. So many excellent athletes got rid of their inner shackles, so they all did it.
Faith is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Many times, faith determines whether we perform well or not; It determines the quality of our interpersonal relationship. Faith is the number one predictor of happiness and success in life.
How does belief form reality?
Bannister's story sometimes brings us some confusion. We don't understand why faith has such a powerful force and casts a mysterious veil over it. Next, we try to start from scientific experiments and see how beliefs form reality. There are still quite a few unknowns in this science, waiting for us to explore.
pygmalion effect
From 65438 to 0960, Robert Rosenthal, a professor at Harvard University, walked into an ordinary school and gave students psychological tests.
Then Rosenthal told the teacher, "Your students have just done a test of Harvard's latest research, which can help us find out the students who have made the greatest progress next semester, that is, the students with the most potential." But you can't tell the students the test results, because it will cause discrimination among students and be unfair to them, as long as you know it yourself. "
But what the teacher didn't know was that these so-called "most promising students" were all drawn out of his hat by Rosenthal. What the teacher doesn't know is that the students are just doing ordinary IQ tests.
A year later, Rosenthal came to this school again. Compared with other students, this "most promising student" has made remarkable progress in English and mathematics. Rosenthal gave the students another IQ test. The IQ of the "most potential students" has improved a lot in this year and will continue to improve for many years to come. This is the most amazing, because generally speaking, IQ is innate and will remain unchanged for life.
Teachers' trust in students has brought such great changes to "the most potential students". Faith is a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Why is this happening?
The "most promising students" are randomly selected, so is their potential false? Of course not. Facts have proved their potential. Rosenthal only brought the teacher's attention to these students and brought him potential that he had never seen before, but it was true. In fact, every student and everyone has these undiscovered potentials.
These potentials are like a seed. Without light, water and cultivation, it will always be a seed and will not take root and sprout. Only when we believe that it can grow, water and fertilize, will the seeds break out of the ground.
This is the famous pygmalion effect in psychology, that is, belief is a self-fulfilling prophecy. The name comes from Greek mythology.
Pygmalion lived in Athens, ancient Greece and was a sculptor. He traveled all over the Greek Empire, but he couldn't find his dream lover, so he decided to carve a statue for his ideal goddess. In front of the perfect statue, he was moved to burst into tears. Aphrodite felt his sorrow and gave life to the statue. From then on, Pygmalion lived happily with her. This Greek myth means that dreams come true.
Similar experiments have been verified many times in different places. Enter a company and tell the supervisor that these are the "most potential employees". These randomly selected people have really become the most potential people.
The same effect can be achieved after the roles are exchanged. 1997, jamison made a very interesting study. At the beginning of a semester, she went to two classes taught by the same teacher. In the first class, she told the students that the teacher was very popular before and the students liked him very much. As a psychologist, jamison also spoke highly of the teacher. Jamison didn't say anything in the second class.
At the end of the school year, jamison came to school again. It is found that the teacher's evaluation in the first class is higher than that in the second class. The students in the first class also worked harder and got better grades. Because they believe that the teacher is a great teacher, they will find the potential of the teacher more actively, and the teacher will respond positively to it, behave better and form a win-win situation.
This is Goethe's famous saying.
This is an ancient proverb that our ancestors told every Chinese son and daughter.
In the last article, I told the story of Marfa, a black teacher. Mafa believes in her students and sees potential in every student, even though these children are forced to drop out of school and are destined to become street hooligans in the eyes of others. Mafa's belief finally changed the fate of every child.
But in real life, we often can't see each other's potential and our own potential. Because our focus is not on discovering potential, but on doubting the potential of others and ourselves.
The focus of attention creates our real world, and faith is a self-fulfilling prophecy.