WEBVTT

00:00:03.895 --> 00:00:07.266
So today, I'm going to talk
about how our mindsets matter

00:00:07.266 --> 00:00:10.806
in virtually every facet of our lives.

00:00:10.806 --> 00:00:15.536
But I want to begin by telling a story
about a group of researchers in Italy.

00:00:16.516 --> 00:00:18.987
Dr. Fabrizio Benedetti and his colleagues

00:00:18.987 --> 00:00:23.557
studied a group of patients
undergoing thoracic surgery.

00:00:23.557 --> 00:00:26.387
What you should know
about thoracic surgery

00:00:26.387 --> 00:00:29.668
is that it's a very invasive procedure.

00:00:29.668 --> 00:00:34.938
Patients are put under anesthesia
while the surgeons make major incisions

00:00:34.938 --> 00:00:38.479
into the muscles of the sides and the back

00:00:38.479 --> 00:00:42.848
in order to gain access
to their hearts and to their lungs.

00:00:44.459 --> 00:00:49.140
Now, about an hour
after the anesthesia fades away,

00:00:49.140 --> 00:00:51.590
the pain starts to set in.

00:00:51.590 --> 00:00:55.780
Fortunately, patients are given
strong doses of morphine sulfate,

00:00:55.780 --> 00:00:57.721
a powerful painkiller.

00:00:59.031 --> 00:01:02.331
This is routine treatment
for thoracic surgery,

00:01:02.331 --> 00:01:06.971
but Dr. Benedetti and his colleagues
made a few subtle tweaks:

00:01:07.762 --> 00:01:11.362
half of the patients
were given the dose of morphine

00:01:11.362 --> 00:01:14.262
by a doctor at their bedside;

00:01:14.262 --> 00:01:18.861
the other half was given
the exact same dose of morphine,

00:01:18.861 --> 00:01:23.912
but it was administered into their IV
by a pre-programmed pump.

00:01:25.993 --> 00:01:30.453
You would think that both
of these groups of patients

00:01:30.453 --> 00:01:33.184
would experience the same relief,

00:01:33.184 --> 00:01:35.493
but this was not the case.

00:01:35.493 --> 00:01:39.254
The group that received
the morphine by the doctor

00:01:39.254 --> 00:01:43.865
reported significant reductions
in their pain levels.

00:01:46.525 --> 00:01:47.736
The other group -

00:01:47.736 --> 00:01:50.466
the group who received
the same exact amount of morphine

00:01:50.466 --> 00:01:52.156
but wasn't aware of it -

00:01:52.156 --> 00:01:55.546
they didn't seem
to experience the same benefit.

00:01:56.786 --> 00:01:59.517
So Dr. Benedetti and his colleagues
didn't stop there.

00:01:59.517 --> 00:02:01.196
They used the same procedure

00:02:01.196 --> 00:02:03.796
to test the effectiveness
of other treatments -

00:02:03.796 --> 00:02:05.397
treatments for anxiety,

00:02:05.397 --> 00:02:09.857
treatments for Parkinson's disease,
treatments for hypertension.

00:02:09.857 --> 00:02:13.468
What they found
was remarkable and consistent.

00:02:13.468 --> 00:02:15.798
When the patients
were aware of the treatment

00:02:15.798 --> 00:02:18.718
and expected to receive the benefit,

00:02:18.718 --> 00:02:21.529
the treatment was highly effective.

00:02:22.889 --> 00:02:24.399
But when they weren't,

00:02:24.399 --> 00:02:30.060
that same drug, that same pill,
and that same procedure was blunted,

00:02:30.060 --> 00:02:33.510
and in some cases
not even effective at all.

00:02:35.640 --> 00:02:37.091
So I read about these studies


00:02:37.091 --> 00:02:39.401
when I was a student
at Harvard University,

00:02:39.401 --> 00:02:44.781
and at the time, I was heavily immersed
into the literature on the placebo effect.

00:02:44.781 --> 00:02:45.911
And the more I read,

00:02:45.911 --> 00:02:50.022
the more I started thinking
about the true nature of placebos.

00:02:50.022 --> 00:02:53.512
So what is the placebo effect really?

00:02:54.962 --> 00:02:57.852
Well, most people
discount the placebo effect

00:02:57.852 --> 00:03:03.623
as just some magical response
to some fake pill or some faux procedure,

00:03:03.623 --> 00:03:06.923
but that's not what the placebo effect is.

00:03:06.923 --> 00:03:09.993
The placebo effect
is not about the faux pill,

00:03:09.993 --> 00:03:12.604
or the sugar pill, or the fake procedure.

00:03:12.604 --> 00:03:15.294
What the placebo effect really is,

00:03:15.294 --> 00:03:19.704
is a powerful, robust
and consistent demonstration

00:03:19.704 --> 00:03:21.775
of the ability of our mindsets -

00:03:21.775 --> 00:03:25.055
in this case, the expectation to heal,

00:03:25.055 --> 00:03:28.306
to recruit healing properties in the body.

00:03:29.516 --> 00:03:31.696
So what is a mindset?

00:03:31.696 --> 00:03:35.556
A mindset is quite literally
a setting of the mind,

00:03:36.426 --> 00:03:40.617
it's a lens or a frame of mind
through which we view the world,

00:03:40.617 --> 00:03:45.477
we simplify the infinite number
of potential interpretations

00:03:45.477 --> 00:03:47.147
at any given moment.

00:03:47.977 --> 00:03:52.218
Now, the ability to simplify
our world through our mindsets

00:03:52.218 --> 00:03:54.557
is a natural part of being human.

00:03:54.557 --> 00:03:56.528
But what I want to suggest to you today

00:03:56.528 --> 00:03:59.429
is that these mindsets
are not inconsequential,

00:03:59.429 --> 00:04:01.829
and instead, they play a dramatic role

00:04:01.829 --> 00:04:04.419
in determining our health
and our well-being.

00:04:07.139 --> 00:04:08.579
So while I was at Harvard,

00:04:08.579 --> 00:04:11.370
I had the opportunity to work
with Professor Ellen Langer.

00:04:11.370 --> 00:04:13.810
She is a professor of psychology

00:04:13.810 --> 00:04:17.979
and when she heard that I was also
a division one athlete, laughed at me.

00:04:18.880 --> 00:04:22.271
She said, "You know,
exercise is just a placebo, right?"

00:04:23.141 --> 00:04:24.151
(Laughter)

00:04:24.151 --> 00:04:26.611
Now, I was kind of offended
because at the time

00:04:26.611 --> 00:04:31.982
I had been spending up to four hours a day
training my body to be in optimal shape.

00:04:32.952 --> 00:04:35.262
But she did get me thinking about mindsets

00:04:35.262 --> 00:04:38.562
and how they might matter
outside of medical laws.

00:04:40.011 --> 00:04:43.613
Was I getting fitter and stronger

00:04:43.613 --> 00:04:47.863
because of the time and the energy
that I was putting into my training?

00:04:47.863 --> 00:04:52.254
Or was I getting fitter and stronger
because I believed that I would?

00:04:53.293 --> 00:04:54.744
What about the other extreme?

00:04:54.744 --> 00:04:57.734
What if people were getting
an extraordinary amount of exercise

00:04:57.734 --> 00:04:59.484
but weren't aware of it,

00:04:59.484 --> 00:05:02.184
would they not receive the same benefit?

00:05:03.384 --> 00:05:04.895
We decided to test this,

00:05:04.895 --> 00:05:08.585
and to test this we found a really
unique group of women -

00:05:08.585 --> 00:05:11.235
a group of 84 hotel housekeepers

00:05:11.235 --> 00:05:14.496
working in seven
different hotels across the US.

00:05:15.676 --> 00:05:19.416
These women
are on their feet all day long.

00:05:19.416 --> 00:05:21.365
They're using a variety of muscles,

00:05:21.365 --> 00:05:24.326
and they're burning
an extraordinary amount of calories,

00:05:24.326 --> 00:05:25.777
just doing their job.

00:05:26.697 --> 00:05:27.997
But what's interesting

00:05:27.997 --> 00:05:31.567
is that these women don't seem
to view their work in this light.

00:05:31.567 --> 00:05:35.388
We asked them; we said,
"Do you exercise regularly?"

00:05:35.388 --> 00:05:37.658
And two-thirds said "No."

00:05:37.658 --> 00:05:38.808
(Laughter)

00:05:38.808 --> 00:05:43.009
So we said, "Okay. Well,
so, on a scale of zero to ten,

00:05:43.009 --> 00:05:45.059
how much exercise you get?"

00:05:45.059 --> 00:05:49.579
And a third of them said,
"Zero. I get no exercise at all."

00:05:50.409 --> 00:05:55.490
So we wondered what would happen
if we could change their mindset.

00:05:56.660 --> 00:05:59.600
So we took these women,
we split them into two groups.

00:06:00.460 --> 00:06:02.410
We measured them on a variety of things,

00:06:02.410 --> 00:06:06.311
including their weight,
their blood pressure, their body fat,

00:06:06.311 --> 00:06:08.521
their satisfaction with their job.

00:06:09.381 --> 00:06:10.761
And then we took half of them

00:06:10.761 --> 00:06:13.872
and we gave them
a simple 15-minute presentation.

00:06:13.872 --> 00:06:15.642
We gave them this poster and we said,

00:06:15.642 --> 00:06:18.452
"Your work is good exercise.

00:06:18.452 --> 00:06:21.572
It satisfies the Surgeon
General's requirements,

00:06:21.572 --> 00:06:24.342
which are quite simply
to accumulate about 30 minutes

00:06:24.342 --> 00:06:26.242
of moderate physical activity.

00:06:27.443 --> 00:06:29.642
You should expect
to receive those benefits.

00:06:30.721 --> 00:06:32.424
15 minutes.

00:06:32.424 --> 00:06:35.634
We came back four weeks later
and we measured them again.

00:06:35.634 --> 00:06:36.983
Not surprisingly,

00:06:36.983 --> 00:06:40.984
the groups that didn't receive
this information didn't change,

00:06:42.144 --> 00:06:44.915
but those that did looked different.

00:06:44.915 --> 00:06:46.675
They dropped weight,

00:06:46.675 --> 00:06:50.245
they had a significant reduction
in systolic blood pressure,

00:06:51.155 --> 00:06:53.434
they dropped body fat,

00:06:53.434 --> 00:06:56.686
and they were reported
liking their job more.

00:06:56.686 --> 00:06:58.966
(Laughter)

00:06:58.966 --> 00:07:01.285
So what does this tell us?

00:07:01.285 --> 00:07:03.856
To me, it was fascinating

00:07:04.687 --> 00:07:09.076
that just as a result
of a simple 15-minute presentation,

00:07:09.076 --> 00:07:10.886
the whole game changed,

00:07:11.657 --> 00:07:17.258
producing a cascade of effects
on both their health and their well-being.

00:07:18.308 --> 00:07:21.508
Presumably without even changing behavior.

00:07:24.148 --> 00:07:26.308
Now some of you might be thinking,

00:07:26.308 --> 00:07:28.789
"How do you know they didn't
change their behavior,

00:07:28.789 --> 00:07:31.379
because that must have been
what produced the effects?

00:07:31.379 --> 00:07:33.829
We know they didn't work any more,

00:07:33.829 --> 00:07:36.100
and the room attendants
themselves assured us

00:07:36.100 --> 00:07:38.630
that they didn't join
the sports club down the street.

00:07:39.650 --> 00:07:41.440
But of course, we can't know for sure

00:07:41.440 --> 00:07:43.670
if they weren't putting
a little more oomph

00:07:43.670 --> 00:07:46.080
into making their beds.

00:07:46.080 --> 00:07:49.041
So this question really plagued me.

00:07:49.041 --> 00:07:54.871
Is there a direct, immediate connection
between our mindsets and our bodies?

00:07:56.452 --> 00:07:57.482
So to test this,

00:07:57.482 --> 00:07:59.542
I worked with my colleagues at Yale,

00:07:59.542 --> 00:08:02.432
Kelly Brownell, Will Corbin
and Peter Salovey,

00:08:02.432 --> 00:08:05.652
and we did so by making
a big batch of milkshakes.

00:08:06.773 --> 00:08:08.753
So we made this big batch of milkshakes,

00:08:08.753 --> 00:08:12.607
and then we invited people
to come to our lab to try the milkshakes,

00:08:12.607 --> 00:08:15.513
and in exchange
we would give them 75 dollars.

00:08:16.593 --> 00:08:18.503
Sounds great, right?

00:08:18.503 --> 00:08:21.674
The less appealing aspect of the agreement

00:08:21.674 --> 00:08:25.874
was that while they
were drinking the shakes,

00:08:25.874 --> 00:08:27.644
we had them hooked up to an IV

00:08:27.644 --> 00:08:30.035
so we could get their blood samples.

00:08:31.135 --> 00:08:33.315
We are out to measure ghrelin.

00:08:33.315 --> 00:08:35.835
Ghrelin is a peptide secreted in the gut,

00:08:36.765 --> 00:08:40.126
the medical experts
call this the hunger hormone.

00:08:40.135 --> 00:08:42.286
So when we haven't eaten in a while,

00:08:42.286 --> 00:08:44.636
our ghrelin levels start to rise,

00:08:44.636 --> 00:08:47.556
signaling to the brain,
"It's time to seek out food,"

00:08:48.597 --> 00:08:54.346
and slowing our metabolism,
just in case we don't find that food.

00:08:54.346 --> 00:08:55.487
Now say we go out,

00:08:55.487 --> 00:09:00.458
we find and we devour a milkshake,
a hamburger, some french fries,

00:09:00.458 --> 00:09:04.108
our ghrelin levels drop,
signaling to our brain,

00:09:05.208 --> 00:09:09.158
"Time to stop eating,"
and revving up the metabolism

00:09:09.158 --> 00:09:12.189
so we can burn the food
that was just consumed.

00:09:13.639 --> 00:09:18.029
So the participants came in,
we hooked them up to an IV,

00:09:18.029 --> 00:09:22.880
and then we gave them
a milkshake, Sensi-Shake.

00:09:22.880 --> 00:09:28.240
This is zero percent fat,
140 calories, zero added sugar,

00:09:29.170 --> 00:09:31.831
this is guilt free satisfaction.

00:09:32.811 --> 00:09:34.151
So they drank their shake,

00:09:34.151 --> 00:09:37.051
and in response
their ghrelin levels dropped

00:09:37.831 --> 00:09:39.777
but only very slightly,

00:09:39.777 --> 00:09:43.382
signaling to the brain
that some food had been consumed

00:09:43.382 --> 00:09:44.982
but not a whole lot.

00:09:45.892 --> 00:09:48.262
So a week later,
they came back to our lab,

00:09:48.262 --> 00:09:52.213
we hooked them up to an IV again,
and we gave them this shake.

00:09:53.703 --> 00:09:55.833
(Laughter)

00:09:56.822 --> 00:10:03.494
620 calories, 30 grams of fat,
56 grams of sugar:

00:10:03.494 --> 00:10:06.784
now this, this is decadence you deserve.

00:10:06.784 --> 00:10:08.274
(Laughter)

00:10:08.274 --> 00:10:11.964
And in response to this shake,
their ghrelin levels dropped again,

00:10:11.964 --> 00:10:14.785
but this time
at a significantly steeper rate,

00:10:14.785 --> 00:10:18.815
about three times more
than the shake they had before.

00:10:18.815 --> 00:10:22.045
Now, this would make good sense
to any metabolic nutritionist

00:10:22.045 --> 00:10:25.356
who understands
that the drop in ghrelin is proportional

00:10:25.356 --> 00:10:27.326
to the amounts of calories consumed.

00:10:28.406 --> 00:10:29.866
But there was a catch:

00:10:31.146 --> 00:10:32.256
in this study,

00:10:32.256 --> 00:10:37.227
even though the participants thought
they had consumed the sensible shake,

00:10:37.227 --> 00:10:39.517
and the indulgent shake,

00:10:39.517 --> 00:10:44.677
in reality, we gave them
the exact same shake at both time points.

00:10:47.477 --> 00:10:49.608
So what does this tell us?

00:10:49.878 --> 00:10:53.938
Just as in the case
when the same amount of morphine

00:10:54.258 --> 00:10:59.196
produced more or less of an effect
depending on our awareness,

00:10:59.886 --> 00:11:03.376
and just as in the case
when the same amount of exercise

00:11:03.376 --> 00:11:08.237
produced more or less of a benefit
depending on how it was construed,

00:11:09.077 --> 00:11:12.737
here again our mindsets proved to matter.

00:11:12.737 --> 00:11:17.637
In this case suggesting it might not be
just calories in and calories out,

00:11:17.637 --> 00:11:23.347
or the precise makeup of fats,
nutrients, but what we believe,

00:11:24.807 --> 00:11:29.370
what we expect, what we think
about the foods we eat

00:11:29.370 --> 00:11:32.220
that determines our body's response.

00:11:34.199 --> 00:11:35.559
So in light of this,

00:11:35.559 --> 00:11:39.129
it behooves us to consider our own lives:

00:11:39.129 --> 00:11:41.260
what are our mindsets?


00:11:42.480 --> 00:11:45.740
And how might we begin
to shift them, to alter them,

00:11:45.740 --> 00:11:48.480
to have them be more beneficial?

00:11:49.810 --> 00:11:52.581
So take the stress, for example.

00:11:52.581 --> 00:11:55.441
What's your mindset about stress?

00:11:56.761 --> 00:11:58.342
If you're like most people,

00:11:58.342 --> 00:12:03.822
you have the mindset
that stress is bad: bad stress.

00:12:03.822 --> 00:12:07.502
Now, this is not surprising
considering that everywhere we look

00:12:07.502 --> 00:12:12.253
there's warnings, labels
yelling at us, reminding us

00:12:12.253 --> 00:12:15.233
about the negative effects of stress.

00:12:16.743 --> 00:12:19.004
But the truth of stress
is not so clear-cut,

00:12:19.004 --> 00:12:22.164
and in fact, there's a robust
and growing body of research

00:12:22.164 --> 00:12:25.104
showing that stress
can have positive effects,

00:12:25.104 --> 00:12:29.875
enhancing effects on our health,
our well-being and our performance.

00:12:29.875 --> 00:12:35.474
Now I'm not here to try to persuade you
that the effects of stress are enhancing,

00:12:35.474 --> 00:12:39.165
but rather to point
out that the truth of stress

00:12:39.165 --> 00:12:41.436
is like most things in life,

00:12:41.436 --> 00:12:44.136
and that is, it is uncertain.

00:12:44.136 --> 00:12:46.656
And therefore to raise the question:

00:12:46.656 --> 00:12:51.936
do our mindsets about stress
determine our response?

00:12:53.747 --> 00:12:54.967
So to test this question,

00:12:54.967 --> 00:12:57.527
I worked with Shawn Achor
and Peter Salovey,

00:12:58.497 --> 00:13:02.788
and we worked
with a group of 300 employees.

00:13:02.788 --> 00:13:06.158
This was after 2008 financial collapse,

00:13:07.268 --> 00:13:10.678
and we decided - they were stressed,

00:13:10.678 --> 00:13:13.259
they had just heard
that ten percent of their workforce

00:13:13.259 --> 00:13:14.879
was going to be laid off,

00:13:14.879 --> 00:13:16.938
and they were overworked.

00:13:16.938 --> 00:13:19.549
We decided to see
if we could change their mindset.

00:13:19.549 --> 00:13:24.110
And we did so by having them
watch simple video clips.

00:13:24.110 --> 00:13:28.450
So I'm going to show them
to you here simultaneously,

00:13:28.450 --> 00:13:31.520
but half of the participants
saw the one on the left,

00:13:31.520 --> 00:13:33.680
half saw the one on the right.

00:13:33.680 --> 00:13:35.641
(Video starts)

00:13:35.641 --> 00:13:38.321
["Stress is debilitating"]
vs ["Stress is enhancing"]

00:14:54.689 --> 00:14:56.199
(Video ends)

00:14:56.199 --> 00:14:58.467
So you get the point, yes?

00:15:00.439 --> 00:15:01.710
So here we are ...

00:15:03.930 --> 00:15:05.110
in the dark.

00:15:05.110 --> 00:15:07.238
(Laughter)

00:15:09.049 --> 00:15:10.249
So here we are -

00:15:10.249 --> 00:15:14.710
they're watching facts,
research, anecdotes,

00:15:15.250 --> 00:15:21.009
all true, but oriented
towards one view or the other.

00:15:22.270 --> 00:15:24.221
What we found was interesting:

00:15:24.221 --> 00:15:28.452
those who watched
these simple three-minute video clips

00:15:28.452 --> 00:15:31.111
before the bell rang,
before their job began,

00:15:32.211 --> 00:15:36.401
over the course of the next few weeks
reported fewer negative health symptoms,

00:15:36.401 --> 00:15:41.172
fewer backaches,
less muscle tension, less insomnia.

00:15:41.172 --> 00:15:47.533
And they also reported a higher level
of engagement and performance at work.

00:15:50.263 --> 00:15:53.333
So at this point
I've presented four studies -

00:15:53.333 --> 00:15:59.313
four studies that demonstrate
the power of mindsets in medicine,

00:15:59.313 --> 00:16:04.314
in exercise, in diet, and in stress.

00:16:05.304 --> 00:16:08.386
There are many other
very talented scholars

00:16:08.386 --> 00:16:11.466
tackling this phenomenon as we speak.

00:16:12.166 --> 00:16:14.526
Carol Dweck's research demonstrates us

00:16:14.526 --> 00:16:18.526
that if we can shift our mindset
about intelligence and talent

00:16:18.526 --> 00:16:20.246
as something that's fixed


00:16:21.246 --> 00:16:24.126
to something that's changeable over time,

00:16:24.126 --> 00:16:28.277
it can dramatically alter our academic
and professional success.

00:16:29.487 --> 00:16:32.767
Yale epidemiologist
Becca Levy's research shows us

00:16:32.767 --> 00:16:35.089
that if we can change
our mindsets about aging,

00:16:36.409 --> 00:16:40.358
from viewing aging as an inevitable
process of deterioration

00:16:41.568 --> 00:16:45.578
to a process of gaining wisdom,
gaining growth,

00:16:45.578 --> 00:16:49.328
not only shapes the course
of how we grow old

00:16:49.328 --> 00:16:51.549
but even extends longevity.

00:16:53.109 --> 00:16:55.549
Ted Kaptchuk and his group
at Harvard's program

00:16:55.549 --> 00:16:59.480
for placebo studies
is doing cutting-edge work

00:16:59.480 --> 00:17:02.680
understanding
how we can begin to harness

00:17:02.680 --> 00:17:06.760
and ethically utilize the placebo effect
in clinical practice.

00:17:08.271 --> 00:17:13.472
So though the context is different,
the message is the same.

00:17:14.191 --> 00:17:15.721
Our mindsets matter.

00:17:19.672 --> 00:17:20.981
Don't get me wrong,

00:17:21.761 --> 00:17:25.792
I'm not saying
that medicine doesn't work,

00:17:25.792 --> 00:17:28.232
or that there are no benefits of exercise,

00:17:28.232 --> 00:17:31.543
and that what we eat
doesn't matter; it does.

00:17:32.334 --> 00:17:35.863
But the psychological
and physiological effect

00:17:35.863 --> 00:17:39.024
of anything in our lives

00:17:39.024 --> 00:17:42.584
can and is influenced by our mindset.

00:17:43.943 --> 00:17:46.234
So is the power of mindset limitless?

00:17:46.865 --> 00:17:47.944
Probably not,

00:17:48.593 --> 00:17:50.595
but what I hope I've done for you today

00:17:50.595 --> 00:17:55.175
is inspire you to reconsider
where those limits really are.

00:17:56.144 --> 00:17:57.925
Because the true task ahead

00:17:57.925 --> 00:18:00.746
is to begin reclaiming
this power for ourselves,

00:18:02.316 --> 00:18:05.416
to acknowledge the power of mindset

00:18:05.416 --> 00:18:07.376
and know that just like this,

00:18:07.376 --> 00:18:09.016
(Snaps her fingers)

00:18:09.016 --> 00:18:10.646
in just the blink of an eye,

00:18:10.646 --> 00:18:14.688
we can change the game
of any facet of our life

00:18:14.688 --> 00:18:18.187
quite simply by changing our mindset.

00:18:18.187 --> 00:18:19.198
Thank you.

00:18:19.198 --> 00:18:20.819
(Applause)