Insights from The Expectation Effect by David Robson

“Our brain’s expectations are intricately woven into everything we experience.” – David Robson

 In World War II, morphine was running low, so thousands of soldiers undergoing surgery were injected with a saline solution
and told it was morphine. The placebo was 90% as effective as the actual drug!
 In an antidepressant drug trial in Minnesota, a man took all 29 pills and was immediately rushed to the hospital. When he
arrived, he was pale, drowsy, shaking, and had extremely low blood pressure. Doctors spent hours trying to improve his
condition but couldn't. When the doctor from the clinical trial arrived, he told the man that he had NOT taken the active drug
and was overdosing on dummy pills. After hearing the news, the man made a full recovery.
 In 2011, psychologist Dan Ariely handed out identical sunglasses to study participants and asked them to read words under the
glare of bright light. Participants told they were wearing expensive Ray‐Ban sunglasses read twice as many words correctly as
those who thought they were wearing mid‐market brand sunglasses.

These findings are examples of what scientists call the expectation effect. In the book, The Expectation Effect, author David Robson
provides practical ways we can leverage the expectation effect in our lives and tap into our full potential.

Expect rituals to boost your performance

 Serena Williams bounced the ball exactly five times before serving.
 Rafael Nadal always took a cold shower before matches.

If you think these rituals seem like a waste of time, think again. Empirical research shows that rituals are powerful
performance‐enhancing tools. A study in the Journal of Sports Sciences found that elite basketball players are 12.4%
more likely to make a free throw if they execute their pre‐shot ritual than if they deviate from it. Rituals seem to
work because executing a series of deliberate actions generates a sense of self‐control and concentration, which creates an expectation of
continued self‐control and concentration.

After discovering the power of ritual, author David Robson started counting his coffee beans before making coffee for a writing session.
He says, "It imbues my drink with a sense of significance and primes my mind for focus concentration." Before any activity that requires
total concentration, perform a ritual you believe will boost your performance.

 Repeat your favorite quote or say a prayer.

 Do a breathing exercise, like three deep diaphragmic breaths.
 Listen to a specific song. If you pick a soundtrack song that makes you think of a character in a movie with heightened abilities,
you might tap into the second performance‐enhancing expectation effect.

Expect mental simulation to enhance your abilities

When a group of cadets in officer training were given a standard eye test and then asked to go in a flight simulator
and told to take the simulation seriously (like a pilot would), they read serial numbers on approaching planes in the
simulation that were much smaller than text on the standard eye test they were unable to read.

Why could the cadets see better after imagining they were pilots?

The cadets expected pilots to have excellent vision, so their minds and bodies did what they could to improve their eyesight.

You can use this finding by visualizing demanding situations to enhance your abilities ‐ whatever activity you're about to do, imagine an
extreme version of the activity that demands your best self.

 If you're about to play a chess game with a friend, close your eyes and imagine you're sitting across from world champion
Magnus Carlson – if you’re going to have any chance against him, you’ll need extreme levels of concentration and mental acuity.
 Before a pickup basketball game with friends, imagine playing one‐on‐one with LeBron James and needing the quickness to
defend against James' drive. When you go to start the game with your friends, you might play the best basketball of your life.

Expect your willpower to be limitless

Think of a time you resisted a strong temptation, felt strengthened, and found it easier to withstand additional
temptation.

Numerous studies show that those who adopt a “non‐limited” view of the mind's resources recover faster from a
tiring workday and achieve greater productivity the following day. In fact, people with a “non‐limited” view of
willpower are more productive after demanding days.

Believing willpower is limitless should NOT give you the green light to work until you collapse ‐ the mind has a limit, but that limit is much
further away than you think, and your ability to recover happens much faster than you believe.

“It is possible to push the limits of what we can achieve through a simple change of mindset.” – David Robson

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