Feeling Insecure? 5 Science-Backed Strategies Could Help Break the Cycle

A self-schema is the information and beliefs you hold about yourself. This cognitive framework influences how you feel, how you react, your actual behavior, and your perception of your place in the world.

How your self-schema influences your actions can be nuanced: For example, you may have internalized that you’re not athletic during childhood — and then, later in life, limit yourself when you want to try a sport. Not being a great athlete isn’t a negative attribute, but the idea can have negative consequences if it keeps you from doing what you actually want.

As you might have already guessed, research suggests our self-schemas develop during early childhood and can remain stable over time. But do not despair: Negative self-schemas can be changed with evidence, explains David Dozois, a psychology professor at the University of Western Ontario.

“It is not really the power of positive thinking but the power of non-negative thinking that is helpful,” Dozois says.

[…]

One negative core belief can spiral into many negative core beliefs.

To try and untangle this relationship, a team of researchers examined what can activate and amplify negative self-schema. They found that people who view themselves in a negative light are more likely to remember and incorporate negative feedback into their thought processes. This was especially true if they displayed cognitive reactivity while they felt sad — during cognitive reactivity, negative patterns of thinking can be reactivated through smaller triggers, feeding the vicious cycle of thoughts.

[…]

Once you identify negative self-schema, monitoring negative thinking and changing it with evidence can help, Dozois says. When you catch yourself thinking harshly about yourself, you can ask: What is the evidence for thinking this? If a friend knew I thought this about myself, what would they say?

5 strategies to challenge negative thinking: