Dr. Shadé Zahrai

And it would sound different and it would look different.

But then we wanted to know, okay, specifically, what is driving this?

And we need to bring it back to something called your self-image.

Let me tell you about a study that was conducted in the 70s.

And it opens your mind as to the power of the self-image that we have about ourselves.

and how that keeps repeating throughout our lives.

So in the 1970s, a psychology professor by the name of Robert Kleck from Dartmouth, he conducted this fascinating experiment where he brought people together, he split them into groups, and with one group, he drew a scar on their face from their right ear to the side of their mouth.

Big, ugly scar, and he let them see themselves in a hand mirror.

Then he sends the groups out to have conversation with strangers, right?

So you have one group that has this scar, another group has no scar.

After the conversations, they come back and they report on how they felt the conversation went.

The group with the scar overwhelmingly reported that they felt judged, it was tense, the other person was distant because of the scar.

But here is where it gets really interesting.

If we rewind just a little bit, right before the researchers sent them out into these conversations, he applied moisturizing cream to the scar.

So they'd just seen themselves in the mirror.

He then applies his cream, but he doesn't tell them that he's removing.

The scar.

So now they have no scar on their face, but they believe that they do.

They go into these conversations believing, expecting they will be treated badly, poorly, judged.

And that's what they experienced.