Chapter 11 - Unlocking Your Real Personality

Chapter 11 of Psycho-Cybernetics is about unlocking your real personality that is inhibited.

An inhibited personality (shyness, nervousness, awkwardness etc.) is a muffled expression of your true personality. The cause of an inhibited personality is caused by an overly sensitive mechanism to negative feedback, or by excessive negative feedback. The purpose of negative feedback is to tell the mechanism to correct the course and move towards the target in the right direction. If the reaction from negative feedback is too great, you are likely to concluded that not only you are off-course but also it is completely wrong to move forward.

Stuttering is an example of an inhibition caused by excessive negative feedback that inhibits speech. If one is overly critical of his own speech or is too careful in trying to avoid errors in speech, stuttering is likely to result.

In any social interaction, there is the sending and receive of feedback data. Facial expressions such as smiles or frowns and body language is a form of feedback that tells us how we are doing whether we are building a deeper rapport with the other party or we are moving apart. The more we are overly too careful in our social interaction, this will inhibit our communication with the other party.

PRACTICE EXERCISES

1) Don't worry in advance what you are going to say. Just open your mouth and improve.

2) Don't plan and think before you act. Act and correct your actions as you go along.

3 Stop criticizing yourself constantly. Useful negative feedback is automatic, spontaneous and subconscious.

4) Make a habit of speaking louder than usual. A powerful voice is a great disinhibitor.

5) Let people know when you like them. Compliment people. This will free you from inhibitions.