People who 'manifest' dreams are more likely to go bankrupt: Study

SAN FRANCISCO: Those people who believe in the practice of 'manifesting' are at higher risk of 'bankruptcy', a new study has suggested.

According to the study published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, those who believe in manifestation -- the idea that positive thoughts or visualisation can lead to desired outcomes -- were more likely to be drawn to risky investments and to believe they could achieve an improbable level of success more quickly.

The researchers asked 375 people to rate their agreement with statements about manifestation, and they discovered that for every point higher on the scale, people were 40 per cent more likely to have experienced bankruptcy and 30 per cent more likely to have invested in cryptocurrency.

However, they were less likely to have invested in stocks.

"Although manifesters may be more confident about themselves and their prospects for success, manifestation shows little objective evidence of aiding one’s success. Manifestation belief was related to risky financial investments and negative financial outcomes as well as overconfident estimates of the likelihood and timeframe for achieving unlikely levels of success," the researchers said.

Moreover, the researchers suggested that manifestation may lead to a focus on symbolic actions, such as visualising success, rather than instrumental actions, like managing personal finances.

This belief in manifesting may provide people with a sense of control over uncontrollable aspects of their lives, but it may also lead to a disregard for short-term goals.

The study also discovered that one in every three participants was skeptical of manifestation, but its popularity has been fueled by books like "The Secret" and "Think and Grow Rich," as well as social media influencers.

The researchers were surprised by the correlation between manifestation and bankruptcy, as well as how many people actually believe it.