Psycho-Cybernetics: Summary Review
This is a summary review of Psycho-Cybernetics containing key details about the book.
What is Psycho-Cybernetics About?
"Psycho-Cybernetics" by Maxwell Maltz is a self-help book that explores the connection between the mind and the body, and how to use this connection to improve one's life.
Psycho-Cybernetics combines the cognitive behavioral technique of teaching an individual how to regulate self-concept, using theories developed by Prescott Lecky, with the cybernetics of Norbert Wiener and John von Neumann. The book defines the mind-body connection as the core in succeeding in attaining personal goals. The author found that his plastic surgery patients often had expectations that were not satisfied by the surgery, so he pursued a means of helping them set the goal of a positive outcome through visualization of that positive outcome.
Summary Points & Takeaways from Psycho-Cybernetics
Some key summary points and takeaways from the book include:
* The self-image: The author argues that the self-image, which is the mental picture that one has of themselves, plays a crucial role in shaping one's behavior and outcomes. He asserts that by improving one's self-image, one can improve their life.
* Positive self-talk: The author stresses the importance of positive self-talk, which involves speaking to oneself in a supportive and encouraging manner. By doing this, one can overcome negative thoughts and beliefs that may be holding them back.
* Visualization: The author encourages the use of visualization, which involves creating vivid mental images of one's desired outcomes. By doing this, one can harness the power of the subconscious mind to achieve their goals.
* The success mechanism: The author introduces the concept of the success mechanism, which is the process by which one's thoughts and actions work together to create success. He argues that by improving the self-image and practicing positive self-talk and visualization, one can activate the success mechanism and achieve their goals.
* Overcoming obstacles: The author emphasizes the importance of perseverance and determination in overcoming obstacles and achieving success. He encourages readers to view challenges and failures as opportunities for growth and learning, rather than as setbacks.
* Mind-body connection: The author argues that the mind and the body are interconnected, and that by improving one's mental state, one can improve their physical state. He suggests techniques such as exercise and relaxation to enhance the mind-body connection.
Who is the author of Psycho-Cybernetics?
Maxwell Maltz was an American cosmetic surgeon and author of Psycho-Cybernetics, which was a system of ideas that he claimed could improve one's self-image leading to a more successful and fulfilling life.
Psycho-Cybernetics Summary Notes
Summary Note: Creating a Positive Self-Image is Crucial for Success, According to Psycho-Cybernetics.
The main theme of The book is the importance of a positive self-image in achieving success. The author explains that each person has a self-image, which is a mental blueprint that describes the kind of person they are. This self-image is based on past experiences, successes, and failures. People tend to act like the person they believe themselves to be, so if they think of themselves as failures, they are more likely to fail. Conversely, if they consider themselves successful, they are more likely to find ways to succeed.
The author argues that the formation of a self-image is crucial to everything that follows in a person's life. For example, a person might consider themselves a failure because of a bad experience in school or a traumatic event. This negative self-image can hold them back and prevent them from achieving their full potential.
The author also highlights the importance of breaking negative self-image loops. For instance, the author knew a man who felt insecure and miserable because of his perceived physical appearance. However, in reality, it was his own negative self-image that was making him miserable, not other people's perceptions of him. By turning his negative self-image around, he could break the loop and start to feel more confident and positive.
Summary Note: Overcoming Negative Beliefs with Rational Thinking: Insights from Psycho-Cybernetics
Psycho-Cybernetics offers an insight into how our beliefs about ourselves shape our actions and outcomes. The book explains that each person has a self-image that contains their beliefs about themselves based on past experiences, successes, and failures. The book argues that these perceptions are crucial since people tend to act like the person they believe themselves to be. The first main idea in the book is that we act according to the image we create of ourselves.
The main idea here is that we are hypnotized by negative beliefs, and the power of rational thinking can lay them to rest. Our negative beliefs are often a result of false conclusions that we draw from our experiences, and they hypnotize us in a similar way to hypnosis induced by external agents. These beliefs can hold us back and create a sense of inferiority. However, we can overcome them by using the power of rational thinking, which is logical and conscious, to control our unconscious mind.
To overcome negative beliefs, we need to ask "why" and challenge our irrational and false assessments. We need to learn from our past experiences instead of letting them dictate our future. The book argues that by uprooting our negative beliefs, we can replace them with positive ones that will lead to success.
Summary Note: Unlocking the Power of the Human Success Mechanism with Psycho-Cybernetics
The human body has a built-in success mechanism that operates on the principles of cybernetics, according to the book "Psycho-Cybernetics" by Maxwell Maltz. This mechanism is a kind of servo-mechanism that processes negative feedback to guide its course, allowing us to refine our skills and abilities over time. The success mechanism is driven by imagination, and the human nervous system reacts according to what we believe or imagine to be true.
The power of the success mechanism can be harnessed by using our imagination to create mental images of our desired outcomes. The human nervous system can't tell the difference between experiences that we imagine and ones that actually occur, so by imagining our goals and success, we can activate the success mechanism and create the conditions necessary for achieving our goals. This has been demonstrated in research by Dr. Theodore Xenophon Barber, who found that hypnotized subjects could undergo surgery without anesthesia after being told they could not feel pain.
Furthermore, individuals like world-famous concert pianist Artur Schnabel have refined their skills through mental practice, without even practicing on an actual piano. By using our imagination to visualize and practice our goals, we can tap into the success mechanism and achieve success more easily. This means that we have the power to change our beliefs and behaviors to achieve our desired outcomes, and we can use psycho-cybernetics to unlock the full potential of our success mechanism.
Summary Note: Creativity and Happiness
Psycho-Cybernetics suggests that humans have a built-in mechanism for creativity and happiness. Creativity is not something we can turn on and off like a switch; rather, it activates when we become interested in solving a particular problem, consciously consider the dilemma, and gather every relevant piece of information. Once we've sufficiently struggled with the problem, our built-in creative instinct kicks in. The key to rebooting creativity is altering our actions and thoughts. When we hit a roadblock, we need to relax and wait for inspiration to return. It is during these moments when we are not actively working that our creative instinct is most likely to activate.
Similarly, happiness is an internal feeling, a product of our thoughts and attitudes. Happiness cannot be something we only experience in the future; it must be practiced in the present. If we become unhappy when someone honks at us, it's because we chose to respond with annoyance and frustration, which drains our happiness. Instead, we can develop a habit of happiness by focusing on the positive aspects of life and letting go of negative thoughts.
Thomas Edison, the famous inventor, provides an excellent example of how we can reboot our creativity and maintain a habit of happiness. Whenever Edison hit a roadblock, he would take a short nap. After these brief respites, he often found the solution he sought. When his laboratory burned down, he chose to avoid unhappiness and began rebuilding the next day. By altering his actions and thoughts, Edison was able to stimulate creativity and maintain a habit of happiness.
Summary Note: Unlocking the Elements of a Successful Personality
In the book, we learn that success and failure are not just outcomes of external circumstances, but rather they are rooted in the elements of our own personalities. The author explains the seven key elements of a successful personality through the acronym SUCCESS.
Firstly, a sense of Direction is important, as having a clear goal helps to keep us motivated and focused. Secondly, Understanding is crucial, as it helps us to accurately interpret our surroundings and avoid misunderstandings. The third element is Courage, which is essential to take the necessary risks and actions to achieve our goals.
Charity is the fourth characteristic, which reminds us to pay attention to the needs and dignity of others. Esteem, the fifth element, is important to cultivate a positive self-image, as low self-esteem can hold us back from achieving our goals. Self-Confidence is the sixth element, as past successes help to build our confidence, while Self-Acceptance is the final element, which helps us to accept ourselves as we are, including our weaknesses and flaws.
By cultivating these seven elements, we can build a successful personality, which will help us achieve our goals and overcome obstacles. The author concludes by mentioning that the next topic covered in the book is the seven traits that cause a person to fail, which highlights the importance of understanding the elements of success to avoid these pitfalls.
Summary Note: Understanding the Factors That Cause Failure to Achieve Success in Life
The book reveals that understanding the factors that lead to failure is essential to achieve success. Failure isn’t just an outcome, but rather a product of various forces present deep within your personality. The word FAILURE, when broken down into an acronym, explains the factors that cause people to fail in their lives.
The first factor is Frustration, which occurs when people believe that they can't achieve an essential goal. This leads to a self-fulfilling prophecy where they consider themselves incapable of success, making failure more likely. The second factor is Aggressiveness, where people use their energy destructively, leading to negative tendencies such as worry and rudeness.
The third factor is Insecurity, which arises from a distorted self-perception that results from comparing oneself to an unrealistic ideal. The fourth factor is Loneliness, which causes alienation from healthy social environments and results in a lack of action and achievement.
The fifth factor is Uncertainty, which stems from the false premise that one shouldn't act until they're sure of success. This leads to inaction and the inability to achieve goals. The sixth factor is Resentment, where people blame others for their failure. Finally, Emptiness is the last factor, resulting from the sense that life is meaningless and lacks purpose.
Being aware of these factors is the first step towards achieving success in life. Identifying these traits in yourself and making changes accordingly is essential for success. Instead of being discouraged by the presence of these negative traits, people should take action to replace them with positive ones. The next step involves learning precisely how to go about making these changes. By cultivating positive traits such as self-confidence, courage, charity, and self-acceptance, individuals can transform their personalities and attain success. It's never too late to change your personality and work towards achieving your goals.
Summary Note: Unleashing Your Real Personality through Emotional Healing and Disinhibition
In this main idea of Psycho-Cybernetics, the focus is on emotional scars that can prevent people from expressing their true selves. Just as scars form on the body to protect against further injury, emotional scars can create a barrier that separates people from others. To overcome this, genuine forgiveness is needed to cut away the old hurts and allow for healing. By forgiving and forgetting, people can remove their emotional scars and unleash their true personality. This process is necessary to get past inhibitions that prevent people from exercising their creative potential and expressing their true selves.
Stuttering is one example of an inhibition that can result from an excessive tendency to self-monitor. This fixation on what others think and want can generate too much negative feedback, leading to feelings of self-consciousness and inhibition. To overcome these feelings, it is necessary to practice disinhibition, which involves speaking before thinking and banishing self-conscious thoughts. By practicing disinhibition and expressing themselves freely, people can unlock their creative personality and achieve their full potential.
In summary, emotional healing and disinhibition are crucial steps to unlocking one's real personality. By forgiving and forgetting old hurts, people can remove emotional scars that prevent them from expressing themselves fully. Through disinhibition, people can banish self-conscious thoughts and express themselves freely, unlocking their creative potential and achieving their goals.
Summary Note: Achieving Peace of Mind in a World Full of Interruptions
In a world full of constant interruptions, it can be challenging to find peace of mind. We are bombarded with notifications, phone calls, and messages that demand our attention and disrupt our state of being. However, according to the author, there are two simple techniques that we can use to overcome the conditioned responses to these stimuli and find peace of mind.
The first technique involves avoiding the different bells that ring around us. Bells are the disruptive stimuli that populate our environment and to which we have been conditioned to respond by sheer force of habit. These stimuli can cause us to jump out of a peaceful state of mind into one of unrest. However, we can learn to let the bell ring and delay our response to it, gradually extending the time until we eventually ignore it altogether.
The second technique involves constructing a mental quiet room, which offers us a retreat from the world. This room can be furnished with whatever we find relaxing, such as a beautiful landscape or a favorite piece of art. Whenever we have a few moments to spare between appointments or while riding the bus, we can calm our minds in this quiet room.
By practicing these techniques, we can overcome our conditioned responses to the disruptive stimuli in our environment and find peace of mind. We can learn to let the bell ring and delay our response to it, and we can create a mental quiet room that offers us a retreat from the world. Ultimately, finding peace of mind requires us to be intentional about our environment and our responses to it, allowing us to live more fully and freely.
Book details
- Print length: 288 pages
- Genre: Psychology, Self Help, Nonfiction
What are the chapters in Psycho-Cybernetics?
Chapter 1 The Self Image: Your Key To A Better Life
Chapter 2 Discovering The Success Mechanism Within You
Chapter 3 Imagination - The First Key To Your Success Mechanism
Chapter 4 Dehypnotize Yourself From False Beliefs
Chapter 5 How To Utilize The Power Of Rational Thinking
Chapter 6 Relax and Let Your Success Mechanism Work For You
Chapter 7 You Can Acquire the Habit of Happiness
Chapter 8 Ingredients of the Success-Type Personality and How to Acquire Them
Chapter 9 The Failure Mechanism: How To Make It Work For You Instead Of Against You
Chapter 10 How To Remove Emotional Scars, Or How To Give Yourself an Emotional Face Lift
Chapter 11 How To Unlock Your Real Personality
Chapter 12 Do-It-Yourself Tranquilizers That Bring Peace of Mind
Chapter 13 How To Turn a Crisis Into a Creative Opportunity
Chapter 14 How To Get "That Winning Feeling"
Chapter 15 More Years of Life and More Life in Your Years
What is a good quote from Psycho-Cybernetics?
Top Quote: "A human being always acts and feels and performs in accordance with what he imagines to be true about himself and his environment...For imagination sets the goal ‘picture’ which our automatic mechanism works on. We act, or fail to act, not because of ‘will,’ as is so commonly believed, but because of imagination.” (Meaning) - Psycho-Cybernetics Quotes, Maxwell Maltz
What do critics say?
Here's what one of the prominent reviewers had to say about the book: “Maxwell Maltz, author of Psycho-Cybernetics, was an early exponent of the visualization principle. Almost half a century ago, he captures a truth that can literally transform the way we think, act, and communicate.” — Bert Decker, You’ve Got to Be Believed to Be Heard
* The editor of this summary review made every effort to maintain information accuracy, including any published quotes, chapters, or takeaways. If you're interested in furthering your personal development, I invite you to check out my list of favorite personal development books page. On this page, you'll find a curated list of books that have personally impacted my life, each with a summary and key lessons.
Chief Editor
Tal Gur is an author, founder, and impact-driven entrepreneur at heart. After trading his daily grind for a life of his own daring design, he spent a decade pursuing 100 major life goals around the globe. His journey and most recent book, The Art of Fully Living, has led him to found Elevate Society.
