Chapter 1 - The Self-Image

Chapter 1 of Psycho-Cybernetics focuses on the idea of the self-image. Dr. Maltz describes the self image using the analogy of a blueprint. When looking at a blueprint of a house, we know how big a house will be and how many levels and all the precise measurements before actually building it.

Dr. Maltz writes about his two important discoveries concerning the self image:

1) Everything that you do, feel or how you behave is always consistent with your self-image.
2) The self-image can be changed.

To explain Dr. Maltz's first point, people who hold certain beliefs about themselves such as "I'm ugly" would act in alignment with that thought. They would wear clothes and style their hair in away that make them feel even more unattractive. Because they hold a self-image that they are ugly, they act as if they are ugly. The second point Dr. Maltz makes is that the self-image can be changed. This is what he is basing book, Psycho-Cybernetics on. If you can change your self-image, everything about you, inside and out will change in alignment with the self-image. He makes the important distinction that changing the self-image is very different from just positive-thinking. Positive-thinking, according to Dr. Maltz is just throwing new garments on old material. You must change the self-image first and then you will act consistently with that new self-image.

As for the subconscious-mind according to Dr. Maltz, is a "servo-mechanism". A servo-mechanism is a device used to control an operation through feedback. It is a mechanism that serves for a purpose. For instance, the thermostat is the servo-mechanism of the home furnace. So the human servo-mechanism is made up of the brain and nervous system (what the psychologist's call the sub-conscious) and it is used and directed by the will of the mind. Human beings only have one mind (or consciousness) and an automatic goal-striving machine. This goal-striving machine needs clear goals and objectives. Dr. Maltz calls this the CREATIVE MECHANISM. This Creative Mechanism's goal is seeking to create mental images. We can create mental images using our imagination. The ultimate goal of the Creative Mechanism is creating our self-image. Just like other servo-mechanisms, the Creative Mechanism makes use of stored information or "memory" to auto-correct problems and resolve situation so things run more smoothly.

Thus, to allow the Creative Mechanism to be a success-orientated mechanism one must learn to develop a realistic self-image and use the Creative Mechanism achieve one's goals. This is all achieved through "creative mental picturing, creatively experiencing through your imagination, and the formation of new automatic reaction patterns". This is no different according to Dr. Maltz, than recalling past memories, worrying or tying shoe laces. If you can remember and do something as simple as tying shoe laces, you can act out new action patterns till it becomes second-nature.