Confidence: The on and off switch

Women score much lower on math tests if they are first asked unrelated questions about gender issues. ... black students at Stanford University did significantly worse on intelligence tests if they were first asked to identify their race on the test form. ...dozens of other experiments have confirmed that subtly cuing women or minorities to think ... about their sex or race causes them do poorly in areas where the stereotype suggests they are weak.

University of Texas psychologist Matthew S. McGlone wondered if there wasn't another side of the story. What if you prompted people to think about their strengths rather than their stereotypical weaknesses -- would that be enough to improve performance in areas where they weren't supposed to do well?

In a novel set of experiments, McGlone, working with Joshua Aronson of New York University, found that the answer is yes. "

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/30/AR2006083002858.html?sub=AR

What a novelty! Psychological research turning from what is wrong with the world and finding ways to fix it. Actually, we have known for a long time that what people tell themselves has an important influence on what they do. Especiallly if they don't notice what they are tellling themselves. One way people can deal with that situation is to pay more attention to what they are telling themselves. And whether it is worth believing. And what effect it is having on them.

That is the recommendation I gve in:

How to build self-confidence by doing really easy things.