Is the law of attraction real?
A common concern among my patients is that negative thoughts could attract unfortunate events. They fear that focusing on negative thoughts, such as their partner’s infidelity, will cause it to happen. This all adds to their anxiety. It's strange that some believe that positive emotions will always be followed by negative consequences. If the law of attraction is real, it should affect positive and negative events equally.
Is it within our capabilities to determine reality with godlike powers? Are the claims of the law of attraction—that thinking and visualizing create reality—supported by any empirical data?
What’s the impact of beliefs on our inner experiences?
Thoughts can affect how we feel inside, like pain, body sensations, and how we understand physical feelings - that’s the placebo effect. It’s true: Your thoughts can ease pain, lift your spirits, boost energy, and even speed up healing (Hashmi, 2018; Kirsh, 2019, Wager, 2015). So, when we are speaking about changing our inner world, the law of attraction is spot on. Okay, but what about changing things outside ourselves? Can our thoughts affect our relationships, careers, or even things like winning the lottery?
Is it possible for thoughts to influence events outside ourselves?
Long story short, visualisation, affirmations, self-hypnosis or other techniques can shift our emotions and thinking, but lasting changes in relationships and external events require actions, decisions, and a changed attitude; thoughts alone are insufficient. Believing in the law of attraction’s power over outside events presumes accepting a mediated relationship between our thoughts and those events. More exactly, it’s like this: thoughts guide decisions, motivation drives action, and action produces results, some of which will be the desired ones. It’s true that not all our actions are necessarily fully intentional or conscious. Imagining ourselves as confident during an upcoming event can improve our self-image and attitude, leading to the desired results. Yet, in this instance, the key to achieving results lies in changing our attitudes, not merely our thoughts.
While I acknowledge the value of belief and techniques like visualization, managing expectations realistically is vital. If we really want to maximize the positive effects of our thinking, let’s focus on influencing others by offering different viewpoints on current events. The evidence strongly suggests we have the power to significantly influence our social environment and relationships through the thoughtful suggestion of emotional self-regulation thoughts to those around us (Ruan et al., 2024; Sahi et al.,2025; Tran et al.,2024). Celebrate your ability to inspire yourself and others! I appreciate you taking the time to read this.
References:
Hashmi, J.A. (2018) Chapter Ten - Placebo Effect: Theory, Mechanisms and Teleological Roots, International Review of Neurobiology, 139, 233-253. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.irn.2018.07.017
Kirsch, I. (2019) Placebo Effect in the Treatment of Depression and Anxiety. Frontiers in Psychiatry 10:407. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00407
Ruan, Y., Le, J. D. V., & Reis, H. T. (2024). How can I help?: Specific strategies used in interpersonal emotion regulation in a relationship context. Emotion, 24(2), 329–344. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0001272
Sahi, R. S., Gaines, E. M., Nussbaum, S. G., Lee, D., Lieberman, M. D., Eisenberger, N. I., & Silvers, J. A. (2025). You changed my mind: Immediate and enduring impacts of social emotion regulation. Emotion, 25(2), 330–339. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0001284
Tran, A., Greenaway, K. H., Kostopoulos, J., Tamir, M., Gutentag, T., & Kalokerinos, E. K. (2024). Does interpersonal emotion regulation effort pay off? Emotion, 24(2), 345–356. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0001289
Wager TD, Atlas LY. (2015) The neuroscience of placebo effects: connecting context, learning and health. Nat Rev Neurosci. 16(7):403-18. doi: 10.1038/nrn3976. PMID: 26087681; PMCID: PMC6013051.
