Now, research has found that focusing on values that are personally important — such as helping a family member — can help people act on advice they might otherwise find too threatening.
The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, scanned people’s brains as they were given typical advice about exercise you might get from any doctor (Falk et al., 2015).
Before receiving the advice, though, some were led through a self-affirmation exercise, which simply involves thinking about what’s important to you — it could be family, work, religion or anything that has particular meaning.
