The dark side of the trend for ‘manifesting’: People who think they can get anything they want simply by imagining it are more likely to go bankrupt, study finds

It is the increasingly popular idea that we can attract ‘cosmic’ success to ourselves.

But those who believe in the practice of ‘manifesting’ are at greater risk of bankruptcy, a study suggests.

Researchers also found that they were more likely to be drawn to risky investments and believe they could achieve unlikely levels of success more quickly.

‘In our studies, we have defined manifestation as the belief that if you send your desires out to the universe through positive thoughts, visualizations, or by pretending that goals have already come true – such as writing a check to yourself – the universe will deliver whatever you want. desire,” says study author Lucas Dixon of the University of Queensland, Australia.

Manifesters appear overly optimistic because they believe they are more likely to be successful in the future, in shorter time frames, meaning they may overestimate the chances of success.

‘By focusing on positive aspects of someone’s life, as manifesters often do, people feel good and become more resilient. “However, it may lead to downplaying negative but important signs of corporate fragility, such as rising debt levels.”

Believers are “more likely to feel in control of fairly uncontrollable aspects of their lives – whether getting rich quick or becoming famous,” he added.

‘In business this could lead to opportunity costs, where time is spent focusing on more uncontrollable long-term goals rather than controllable short-term goals in the business.

‘Or perhaps focus on more symbolic actions – for example visualizing success – rather than instrumental actions such as managing finances, reaching new customers etc.’

For the study, the researchers measured the manifestation beliefs of 375 people. They were asked to indicate on a seven-point scale how much they agreed with statements such as “I attract success into my life with the help of the universe or a higher power”; ‘my soul, mind or higher self helps me attract success’; and “the universe or a higher power sends me people and events to further my success.”

Their answers were then analyzed along with their finances.

“For every point people scored higher on the manifestation scale, they were about 40% more likely to have filed for bankruptcy and about 30% more likely to have invested in cryptocurrency, although they were not more likely to have invested in stocks,” Mr. Dixon said .

People who believe in manifesting are more likely to be attracted to risky investments and believe they can reach unlikely levels of success more quickly (stock image)

“Given that crypto has a history of massive gains in short time frames, we imagine this finding is related to manifestors having a stronger belief in getting rich quick.”

Mr Dixon said he was surprised by some of the findings, which were published in the journal Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.

“I think we expected too much optimism as this seems to be part of the belief system,” he said.

‘But some of the less obvious results, such as bankruptcy and the belief in getting rich quick, were surprising.

“While it is possible that a higher belief in manifestation leads to these outcomes, another possibility is that people develop a stronger belief in manifestation after having experiences with get-rich-quick schemes or going bankrupt.

“This is something we don’t know yet.”

Mr. Dixon said he was also surprised at how widespread the belief in manifestation seems to be. One in three respondents had some degree of faith.

“This may be due to the continued popularity of books such as The Secret and Think and Grow Rich, as well as the rise of social media influencers,” he said.

“Today, videos with the hashtag “manifestation” have been viewed 42.8 billion times on TikTok.”