Does a Positive Mindset Affect One's Mental Speed or Accuracy Better Than a Negative Mindset?

Overview

Objectives/Goals With the creation of this project, I worked to find how the differences between a positive mindset and a negative mindset, using the variable of speed and accuracy. I wanted to explore a topic that not only affected me, but also could help or contribute to people and society. Methods/Materials To complete this experiment, I enlisted the helped of five subjects for each of the three groups, with prior permission. I also used a series of math tests, which were used to measure the accuracy of the subject, a stopwatch for timing each subject, a room where the subjects could be isolated, and a few pencils to complete the tests. I tested three groups, a positive mindset group, a negative mindset group, and a control group. Each subject from each group completed a math test, under corresponding environments, whether it be a soothing or hostile surroundings. Each subject was timed and answers were reviewed to form results. Results In conclusion, I found that the positive mindset group had both a faster time and a greater amount of correct answers, individually and in average, when compared to the negative mindset group and the control group. Conclusions/Discussion In the end, I found the results to agree with my hypothesis that a positive mindset does in fact help one not only complete mental work faster, but also in a more accurate sense. If I were to complete this experiment again, I would try to again to control each human variable better, as each person is different, and use a larger sample size for more accurate results.

Competition history

• CSEF 2013 Cognitive Science (Junior Division Only) · Entry J0799

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

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