And so, in the early 2000s, she set about investigating whether a simple reality check could put them back on track. Working with colleagues in Germany, she recruited 55 schoolchildren studying English. Some were asked to write a story about the benefits of being proficient in the language – a “positive fantasy”. (Their answers ranged from “my father is happy” to “I can talk to the Back Street Boys” [sic].) Others were asked to list the obstacles that might stop them achieving that goal – the “negative reality”, such as not knowing enough vocabulary or being tempted to play football rather than doing their homework. And a third group were asked to do both, engaging first in the positive fantasy followed by an acknowledgement of the negative reality. This was the “mental contrasting” intervention.

Sure enough, Oettingen found that the children who’d engaged in mental contrasting made much better progress over the following three months. This was especially true for the students who had the highest initial expectations of success: the simple exercise allowed them to translate those hopes into the best possible grades, while the others obtained middling results.

Mind over mettle

These early findings inspired a trickle, and then a torrent, of new studies in many different contexts over the following years – and together, they build a compelling case for mental contrasting as a versatile and valuable tool.

We now know the benefits include everything from better academic performance to improved diet, increased exercise and the reduced consumption of alcohol. In 2019, Oettingen found that mental contrasting could also predict success in competitive ballroom dancing, with more commitment to their training in the run-up to a competition. And in a paper published earlier this year, researchers showed that it can also lead to better relationships, by helping individuals overcome their frustrations and reconcile following disagreements.

“[Mental contrasting] is now very well researched,” says Katja Friederichs, a psychologist who studies mental contrasting at the University of Trier, Germany and the Liesenfeld Research Institute in Boston, Massachusetts. “It has been found to be very helpful for people to implement their goals in various areas, from sport to business.”

In each case, the technique seems to steel people’s resolve and determination. “For most wishes, you have to mobilise the effort to overcome an obstacle,” agrees A Timur Sevincer at the University of Hamburg. “And mental contrasting helps people to do that.”