Joe has a big Spanish exam coming up next week. Will it help him if he visualizes himself acing the exam? What about if he visualizes himself studying really hard for the exam?
a. Neither of these things will help him.
b. Both of these things will help him about equally.
c. Both of these things will help him—but visualizing himself acing the exam (the true end goal) will help more than visualizing himself studying really hard.
d. Both of these things will help him—but visualizing himself studying really hard (which will likely lead to him actually studying harder) will help more than visualizing himself acing the exam.
Answer: D