Manifestation Promises Fame, Fortune, and Your Ideal Mate—But Does It Work?

My dental hygienist claims that manifestation helps her avoid speeding tickets, while my sister-in-law credits the power of positive thinking with finding her the beach house she enjoyed last Mother’s Day. But is there any science to back up the widely held belief that manifestation can change your life?

What is manifestation?

Manifestation is actually a new twist on a rather old concept. Manifestation is also known as the Law of Attraction, or, put quite simply, the idea that we can use our mind to influence physical changes in our environment.

This idea that we can both cure ourselves of what ails us and gain fame and fortune if we put our mind to it first gained popularity in the 1800s. And, since that time, this idea has continued to rise every 20 or 30 years, which should come as a surprise to no one. Who wouldn't like change to occur simply because we think about it hard enough?

There is no evidence that those who manifest are more successful than those who don’t at achieving their goals.

However, there is some evidence that some of the individual components of manifestation can lead to a greater likelihood of success.

Who is most likely to believe in manifestation?

An extensive study by Dixon, Hornsey, and Hartley (2023) demonstrated that those who believe in manifestation (nearly 30 percent of the participants) have increased belief in their present and future ability to succeed—perhaps as a partial result of cognitive reframing. However, these people were also more likely to have been victims of fraud and to have declared bankruptcy.

What does this mean?

Believing that you have the power to manifest a better future for yourself might actually end up leading you down a road that is less traveled for a very good reason. Perhaps attempting to manifest a lottery win or a similar sudden cash flow makes someone more likely to engage in a poor investment.

Manifestation and cognitive reframing

Those who believe in manifestation use cognitive reframing techniques to replace negative, limiting beliefs. These negative beliefs can be conscious or subconscious. Cognitive reframing changes the way someone thinks about something by identifying the misinformation, or error, in the thought process.

For example: I hate practicing the piano because I’m never going to be any good at it.

The flawed thought process is: No matter how much I practice, I will never get better at playing the piano.

If I can change my thinking error and see that practicing piano will improve my playing, I can change the way I view the drudgery of piano practice. Instead of practicing piano for no reason (since I am convinced my piano playing will never improve), I am now investing my time into practicing for the purpose of getting better at piano, a.k.a. for the purpose of achieving my goal of being a better piano player.

A great deal of research has found that cognitive reframing can help reduce symptoms of mood disorders such as depression and posttraumatic stress disorder.

Does a positive outlook contribute to success?

Individuals with low self-esteem tend to be more anxious than those with high self-esteem when something goes wrong and are more likely to focus on the negative aspects of success when success did occur.

In addition, research shows that when we are in a negative emotional state, we are more likely to interpret neutral events or feedback as negative events or feedback.

Perhaps there is something to the idea that people who pay more attention to the positives in their life are more likely to have greater self-esteem and, therefore, to give credit to their own thoughts and beliefs (a.k.a. manifestations) as being the reason behind life successes.

But, does this mean manifestation actually leads to success, or do we simply notice that success more?

A 2014 article by Catalino, Algoe, and Fredrickson says that people who organize their lives in a way that allows them to actively seek positivity (prioritizing positivity) in their day-to-day experiences may be happier than those who do not.

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These people have greater resources—possibly and most likely because they make more of an effort to find and secure these resources in people, places, and things (activities, hobbies, adventures).

Is manifestation a waste of time and energy?

Does that mean there is no point to focusing on what you want in life—to keeping your goals and the steps you have to keep in mind at all times in order for you to stay motivated, stay on task, and stay determined?

Not necessarily.

Motivation, determination, and breaking large goals into smaller, easier-to-manage tasks are crucial to achieving your goals, no matter what they are.

Also, many of the ideas behind manifestation overlap heavily with an older, scientifically proven concept called growth mindset, which has long determined that believing in your own ability to succeed can increase the chances of achieving your goals.

Is there any harm to manifestation?

Research says that, for some people, specifically pursuing happiness may backfire on them, some of the time.

In one study by Mauss, Tamir, Anderson, and Savino (2011), participants were shown one of two fictitious articles. One article spoke about the importance of making yourself feel the greatest amount of happiness at all times, while the second article did not mention happiness at all. After reading the article, participants were shown a video about happiness, with the underlying suggestion that they should be feeling quite happy while watching this video.

The resulting data showed that those who were told they should feel happy or, rather, that they were likely to feel the greatest happiness, felt worse than those who read an article that didn't mention happiness.

It appears that the expectation of happiness as well as attending to happiness as something measurable may have made people more unhappy. Is it possible that attending to happiness became a chore in itself?

And, if this is the case, might this also make people who try to manifest their own happiness more unhappy than they would have been had they not attempted to manifest their much sought-after life?

Can you wish your way to happiness?

Andrew Piacquadio/Pexels

So, what's the verdict?

Until more data replicate the finding that focusing on happiness might lead to unhappiness, there seems to be no reason not to focus on what you need to do to achieve the goals that will bring you happiness.

And, although no scientific research proves that manifestation can change the outcome, it certainly makes sense that staying focused on your goals and how you can best achieve them, as well as staying optimistic, are helpful steps on the road to success.