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Having an alter ego can reduce anxiety, benefit confidence: research

bbc.com

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Re: Having an alter ego can reduce anxiety, benefit confidence: research

#141

Post by faceplanted »

hnarn wrote: post #95

It’s a variant of the suggestion often given in therapy and recently popularized by Jordan B Peterson I believe — and no matter what you may think of him as a person, it is a good strategy — “Treat yourself as someone worth taking care of”. Meaning: look at yourself as you would look at your own child, a pet, or anyone you would have the responsibility of looking after. It’s easy to miss meals, not dress yourself wel…

> no matter what you may think of him as a person, it is a good strategy

The thing about Jordan Peterson's book is that the chapter titles are usually _great advice_, but the content always tends to slide into his strange, mediocrely researched conservative ramblings and sometime worse, at one point he just about admitts that he blames one of his women patients for her own rape, at others he veers right into granddad style rants about young people and their "progressive politics" ruining the world.

Honestly it's a bad book and people would be better off literally just reading the Quora question and answer that inspired it.

Re: Having an alter ego can reduce anxiety, benefit confidence: research

#142

Post by 9214 »

tryauuum wrote: post #109
shoes_for_thee wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shifts to passive voice make me immediately wonder what the speaker is trying to hide. I notice it immediately and it grates.

Yeah, but I hope the parent comment's author doesn't refer to himself as "we" while speaking in public

What I described is more of an internal monologue thing, not even at linguistic level but as an attitude and stance towards stress with anxiety. Should have phrased it better.

Re: Having an alter ego can reduce anxiety, benefit confidence: research

#143

Post by infogulch »

GaryNumanVevo wrote: post #139
ipnon wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Jordan Peterson was given a medically induced coma for 8 days, not 8 months, in January of this year, according to his daughter.[1] [1] https://nationalpost.com/news/the-doctors-here-have-the-guts...

Thanks, I edited it. Really sad to see his addiction has really put him through the wringer. I haven't heard him speak since he came out of treatment, in due time I suppose.

Last month Jordan Peterson and his daughter Mikhaila appeared on her podcast to talk about how he got out of treatment. https://youtu.be/HLWgVpmo1e0

Re: Having an alter ego can reduce anxiety, benefit confidence: research

#144

Post by HugeAcumen »

amelius wrote: post #115
HugeAcumen wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's deception to an utter randomer, as well as to yourself. You really need to be careful with lying to yourself like that. Being a whole integrated person who doesn't have to remember who he is and what lies he's told comes in handy.

Yes, but aren't there notorious liars that are doing pretty well in life?

If you measure "doing well in life" by money and power, yes.

If you measure by being a decent and content person, I'd have to say no.

Re: Having an alter ego can reduce anxiety, benefit confidence: research

#145

Post by CarbyAu »

e40 wrote: post #102
lefstathiou wrote: post #14

True Story: the guy who leads our sales team is a super star named John (legal name). He’s fearless, organized, focused, determined “and Canadian” as he would say. Any way, while he was a rising junior his GF came to the office one day and I heard her call him Jake (nowhere in his name legal name). I asked “who the hell is Jake?” to which she replied “oh, that’s what we call John back home”. I looked at him and he sa…

It's a thing that some people like different names for work and personal life. I knew a guy like that and it was jarring being around him at home. My take: he had worked with such cretins before, I think he didn't really want to associate his favorite name with them.

I am similar. At Uni I had a gregarious circle of friends and got a nickname that "everyone" used including my now wife.

Out of Uni, in the workplace I am legal-name - no more, no less. I don't want work bullshit to taint what I associate with friends and good times.

In further adult life, you get my legal-name until I know you well enough that we're social and you overhear my nickname.

It also means legal-name is more disciplined, whereas nickname is not...

My wife knows when to use which one. :-P

Re: Having an alter ego can reduce anxiety, benefit confidence: research

#146

Post by [deleted] »

lefstathiou wrote: post #14

True Story: the guy who leads our sales team is a super star named John (legal name). He’s fearless, organized, focused, determined “and Canadian” as he would say. Any way, while he was a rising junior his GF came to the office one day and I heard her call him Jake (nowhere in his name legal name). I asked “who the hell is Jake?” to which she replied “oh, that’s what we call John back home”. I looked at him and he sa…

[deleted]

Re: Having an alter ego can reduce anxiety, benefit confidence: research

#147

Post by mleonhard »

shoes_for_thee wrote: post #83
johnchristopher wrote: post #34

> Adopting an alter ego is an extreme form of ‘self-distancing’, which involves taking a step back from our immediate feelings to allow us to view a situation more dispassionately. What's the difference between this and repressing feelings, emotions and basically not dealing with it ? Does it work only in short lived moment (a presentation, a concert, etc.) and can't be used 24/7 (or even less) ?

This would be dissociation. It would be different from repression, but not any less neurotic. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defence_mechanism

Dissociation is a defence action. I think it could be quite helpful if used intentionally. If it becomes a habit, it could cause problems. Unintentional and habitual use of defence mechanisms leads to negative consequences. This is what people think of when they use the term "neurotic."

Re: Having an alter ego can reduce anxiety, benefit confidence: research

#148

Post by strogonoff »

This reminds me of masks, but unexpectedly used in real world rather than in acting and/or improv.

For more on masks, if someone’s interested, read Impro by Keith Johnstone and (tangentially) Emissary’s Guide to Worlding by Iain Cheng.

Also, British comedy improv trio Pappy’s comes to my mind—in some podcast episodes there is a time where Tom spontaneously drops into another persona; Matthew immediately switches to addressing that mask instead of Tom, until Tom snaps out of it. It would’ve sounded incredibly bizarre to me had I not read Impro prior.

Re: Having an alter ego can reduce anxiety, benefit confidence: research

#150

Post by interestica »

tasogare wrote: post #74
50ckpuppet wrote: post #6

you mean like 4chan?

I’ve recently browsing 4chan again (only few specific boards) and I have the feeling it’s the reverse: people there can state their opinions, totally disregarding how socially unacceptable it would be. Which means their alter-ego is probably the IRL one, which has to shut up a lot of thoughts to blend in society.

Christopher Poole did a Ted Talk 10 years ago on the value of anonymity online. Hiding a real-world persona has the power to create new and different things.

https://www.ted.com/talks/christopher_moot_poole_the_case_fo...

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