Study Reveals People Who 'Manifest' Dreams Are More Likely To Go Bankrupt

Believing in manifesting, a popular trend where you think positive thoughts can attract success, might not always lead to good outcomes. A recent study in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin suggests that people who believe in manifesting are more likely to face bankruptcy.

Additionally, researchers at the University of Queensland in Australia found that people who believe in daydreaming are likelier to fall prey to risky investments and tend to overestimate their capacity for quick, unrealistic success.

"In our studies, we defined manifestation as the belief that if you send out your desires to the universe through positive thoughts, visualization, or acting as if goals have already come true¡ªlike writing a pretend check to yourself¡ªthe universe will deliver what you desire," lead study author Lucas Dixon told The Times UK.

Researchers studied the beliefs of 375 people about manifestation.

They asked participants to rate statements like "I attract success with the help of the universe," "My soul or higher self aids my success," and "The universe sends people and events to aid my success" on a seven-point scale.

For each higher point on the scale, individuals were 40% more likely to have faced bankruptcy and 30% more likely to have invested in cryptocurrencies. However, they were less likely to have invested in stocks.

Lucas Dixon, the study's author, explained that those who believe in manifestation may focus on getting rich quickly, especially in cryptocurrency and its potential for rapid gains.

This focus on symbolic actions, like visualizing success, can divert attention from managing finances effectively.

Dixon noted that manifestation believers tend to feel they have control over uncontrollable aspects of life, potentially leading to a misallocation of time on long-term, unmanageable goals rather than short-term, manageable ones.

Some findings, like the link between manifestation belief and bankruptcy or the desire for quick riches, surprised the researchers. Dixon suggested that people might develop more confidence in manifestation after experiencing get-rich-quick schemes or bankruptcy.

Notably, one in three participants expressed doubts about manifestation, possibly due to the influence of social media influencers or books like "The Secret" and "Think and Grow Rich." For example, the hashtag #manifestation on TikTok has 43 billion views.

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Dixon concluded that manifesters often display over-optimism and tend to believe in their future success, sometimes underestimating signs of business fragility like accumulating debt. While focusing on positivity can boost resilience, it may also lead to ignoring critical signs of financial instability.

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