THE SECRET'S SEDUCTIVE SOPHISTRY
(Intuitive Thinking, Irrational Thinking, Egocentric Thinking, Wishful Thinking, Adolescent Thinking)
"Tantalizingly titled The Secret, it’s probably the most slickly marketed idea to draw on quantum
physics in all of history. Alas, though, it won’t be appearing in Science or Nature. “The Secret,”
it turns out, is a lie."
"Secrets and Lies" Special Report
by Mary Carmichael and Ben Radford, March 29, 2007
http://www.csicop.org/specialarticles/show/secrets_and_lie
"We live in a country where The Secret, a self-help phenomenon,
was on the Publisher's Weekly best-seller list for one hundred
weeks." Andrea Batista Schlesinger, The Death of Why?, (SF: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2009) 2.
The Secret's main subject - the law of attraction - is a New Age, superstitious belief that claims that a person's mental
disposition attracts similar external circumstances and events.
The MissLed women who embrace The Secret expect that merely visualizing their mental intentions and attitudes will attract people and things of like intention and attitude to themselves:
"Behind many of the most popular approaches to happiness is the simple philosophy of
focusing on things going right. In the world of self-help, The fashionable New Age concept of the
"law of attraction' takes things a step further,
suggesting that visualization may be the only thing you need in order to attain riches,
great relationships, and good health." Oliver Burkeman, The Antidote: Happiness for People Who
Can't, (NY: Faber & Faber Inc, 2012) 24.
Despite its popularity and impressive financial success, The Secret's claims are, in fact,
complete, pseudoscientific nonsense.
It is the worst kind of cynical, emotional manipulation. Such
wishful thinking conveniently promises MissLed women that their thoughts can control their lives. The Secret seduces via its clever, slick manipulation of MissLed
women's (and quite a number of men's) vanity and fears. Its marketing
exploits MissLed women's fear of their increasing lack of control in an rapidly changing,
often incomprehensible world. They understand that many anxiety-ridden MissLed women are
looking for simple answers to quell their fears.
The Secret claims to provide a quick and dramatically effective solution. It dresses up its
solution in bogus, pseudoscientific language, but essentially
it's claiming that positive thinking is magic in the form of
the tone and direction of their thoughts. This belief is not trivial nonsense - forms of this type of wishful thinking are widespread among MissLed women (and some misguided men).
Alarmingly - as many medical warning labels say - The Secret can be harmful if
swallowed. Indeed, regardless its fervent followers will to believe,
positive thoughts will NOT send out magic brainwave frequencies that change reality
around them. The most likely outcome from reading The Secret is their disillusionment
when they discover that it is a fraud.
The Secret offers no evidence of any kind: no scientific discussion, no experimental results,
no citations from research papers. Yet, it has the audacity to make shamelessly grandiose claims.
Its whopper promise is that the Universe will grant all of its readers desires if
they simply wish hard enough.
The Secret does, however, have plentiful stories - cherry-picked anecdotes touting emotionally
appealing stories of the incredible effects of the so-called "Law of Attraction."
The Secret and its proponents are also guilty of multiple logical fallacies within their marketing and content. These various "Appeals" include, but are not limited to:
1. Appeal to Emotion: The author manipulates the readers' emotions in order to get them to accept her claims as being true. This sort of "reasoning" involves the substitution of
various means of producing strong emotions in place of evidence for a claim.
2. Appeal to Authority: The Secret attempts to justify its claims by
citing highly admired or well-known (but not necessarily qualified)
figures. Unsurprisingly, these confidently and passionately support the claims being made. However, the fact that a person is in a
position of authority (scholarly, politically or otherwise) does not automatically make their
claims valid. This appeal seeks to exploit MissLed women's respect for the authority's supposedly impressive
credentials and apparent prestige:
"If you feel more inclined to believe something is true because it comes from a person with prestige
you are letting the argument from authority spin your head." David McRaney, You are Not So Smart, (NY: Gotham Books, 2012) 96. (Especially TV personalities)
The Secret's spurious claim that Einstein, Newton, and Plato were associated with
"The Law of Attraction" is an example of this fallacy.
3. Appeal to Fear: The Secret's cynical marketing ploy that seeks to instill fear and prejudice in its critics. This fallacy suggests social exclusion to anyone who misses out on learning The Secret.
This is a .
4. Appeal to Ignorance: The Secret's fallacious claim that since The Law of Attraction
has yet to be proven false, it is therefore true.
5. Appeal to Tradition: According to this fallacy, The Secret's principles shouldn't be
challenged because it accords with time-honored customs or traditions:
"The unstated assumption is that an idea has survived for hundreds or thousands of years it must
be legitimate. This is demonstrably false." "Pseudoscience in Our Universities," by Steven Novella,
Skeptical Inquirer, Volume 36 Issue 324, p.25
6. The Appeal to Individualism: This fallacy appeals to The Secret's readers' strong self-images,
wherein they perceive themselves as independent and unique. What better way to bolster their self-image, then, than by getting their hands on The Secret?
Specifically, The Secret employs pseudo "experts" - including a metaphysician, moneymaking
expert, healer, life coach, law of attraction specialist, and feng shui consultant.
These are cited in order to market their "secret" and manipulate the target audience - MissLed women.
Author Rhonda Byrne's marketing techniques incorporate tried and true
persuasive techniques of reciprocation (thought-karma), scarcity (it's a secret), authority
(Einstein, Da Vinci, and others supposedly used it), consensus, consistency (claims that it
works every time) and "like attracts like."
This publishing and media phenomenon cleverly uses the six
basic rules employed by politicians, advertisers and scam
artists alike to persuade others to buy (or buy into) their ideas. Each of these are employed
quite adeptly by Rhonda Byrne in her book.
The first principle is SCARCITY. Potential customers tend to want more of what is scarce.
Scarcity implies rarity, high quality, and high demand, all influences that increase demand for the resource. The Secret counts on people's tendency to become irrational when a resource is scarce - indeed, it can be difficult to think clearly when the scarcity tactic is skillfully deployed. The pleasure isn’t gained from using the scare resource - rather, it comes from merely having the resource. The knowledge of knowing The Secret promises its readers a sense of pride and security.
The Secret spotlights its supposed unique benefits and the critical importance of its
"secret." Using the human weakness of envy, it preys upon MissLed women's desire for its
exclusive and supposedly life-changing information.
The persuaders' second principle is LIKING. Within this concept, customers "like" those
who like them, so, in turn, they do business with them. Simply put, people prefer to support
those they like. Rhonda Byrne counts on this principle to persuade potential readers that like her to say "yes" to her (in
this case, they say "yes" by buying her book). Thus, The Secret is misperceived by
the readers as a source of profound wisdom that can be shared with someone they like and want to help.
The principle of AUTHORITY is the third principle utilized subtlety and slickly in "The Secret." It claims a veneer of authority -
predominantly from its heavy (mis)use of quasi-scientific
language. This gives the reader the impression that the "law of attraction" is (or will become)
an accepted scientific principle. (Given the paucity of scientific literacy in today's society,
especially among MissLed women, this is a very clever tactic).
The last two persuasive principles are CONSISTENCY and SOCIAL PROOF. Given the runaway success of this book, it is of little surprise that it was followed by more, new and improved,
and more expensive forms of media peddling more information about "The Secret."
These media consistently drum in the various points of the law of attraction. The
very volume of sales "prove" their validity. The consistency principle dictates
that it will be less painful to buy more books and immerse one's self further into
"The Secret" than to accept the whole premise as quite ridiculous. Finally, Social
Proof is provided in the reader's assumption that the surrounding people that possess
The Secret have more profound, invaluable knowledge. The Secret's marketers attempt to
influence potential readers that they too should seek to acquire this invaluable information.
"Secrets and Lies"
Special Report
by Mary Carmichael and Ben Radford
March 29, 2007
http://www.csicop.org/specialarticles/show/secrets_and_lie
"It’s a time-worn trick of mixing banal truisms with magical thinking and presenting it as some sort
of hidden knowledge: basically, it’s the new New Thought. New Age bookshelves are overflowing with
authors who claim to know and reveal the secrets of the universe. If any of these self-help
books—written in the 1800s or written today—really contained the secrets to success and happiness,
the self-help industry would of course be out of business."
"The Secret will indeed bring happiness, success, and prosperity—for Rhonda Byrne, her publisher,
and bookstores. If the past is any indication, those who buy her book will be the losers; after the
fad and hype die away and the disillusionment sets in, most will be returning to the self-help sections
for yet more easy answers."
Notwithstanding it's claims common use in marketing, social proof is not reflection of reality:
"Social Proof, sometimes roughly termed the "herd instinct," dictates that individuals feel that they are behaving correctly when they act the same as other people. In other words, the more people who follow a certain idea, the better (truer) we deem the idea to be. And the more people who display a certain behavior, the more is judged by others. This is, of course, absurd." Rolf Dobelli, The Art of Thinking Clearly, (London: Spectre Books, 2013) 10.
On it's face, The Secret must be seen for what it is - a clever, manipulative marketing
tool that uses flattery, confusion and deception. It cynically manipulates MissLed women's scientific ignorance and fear of
an increasingly complex world. The creators of this marketing phenomenon take advantage
of the fact that few MissLed women possess the healthy skepticism and critical thinking skills
needed to dismiss this rubbish. Perhaps most damagingly, it encourages them to think magically -
to equate a positive outlook on life with a childish narcissism:
"...where magical thinking becomes most obvious in modern society
is in the plethora of self-help books that habitually clutter the
bestseller lists.
Most of us know that "Use the Force, Luke," is
just a fantasy. Alas, even the small minority who don't still translates
into a heck of a lot of people, and it's at this vulnerability the
self-help gurus strike. Unfortunately, MissLed women tend to be members of this small
minority - who are vulnerable to the seductive message of this gospel of greed:
"The Secret (2006) by Rhonda Byrne an expanded, illustrated and highly
designed catalogue of New Age gurus to whom the gullible might wish to send
money, is only the latest and most egregious of these books...Its overall
thesis is an old, old one: If you wish something hard enough the universe
will "hear," and will respond by giving you the thing you desire. If, perversely,
the universe doesn't deliver, then obviously this must be because you got the spell
wrong." John Grant, Denying Science: Conspiracy
Theories, Media Distortion, and the War Against Reality, (Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2011) 142.
"Interpreting reality through feeling is wishful thinking. If it truly worked,
we'd all be wealthy." Madeleine Landau Tobias, Janja Lalich, Captive Hearts, Captive Minds,
(Berkeley: Bay Tree Publishing, 1994) 114-115.
In sum, MissLed women are unwise to trust Rhonda Byrne and the supposedly wise
and learned contributors to The Secret. In truth, they are far from pillars of virtue and wisdom:
"She (Byrne) is not modest in her claims about some of her contributors: "John
{Hagelin} is regarded by many as one of the great scientists on the planet
today." In fact Hagelin is known not as a scientist at all but primarily as the
three-times Natural Law Party candidate for the US Presidency. Another of
Byrne's expert contributors, investment guru David Schirmer may have
found that practicing the Secret brought wealth to him rather too efficiently.
In June 2010 the Australian Securities Investment Commission announced
on its website that "Mr. David Gary Schirmer...has been permanently banned from
providing financial services following and ASIC investigation." John Grant, Denying Science: Conspiracy Theories, Media Distortion, and the War Against Reality, (Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2011) 144.
WHY DOES SECRET SOLIPISM MATTER?
"The Secret" is an astoundingly transparent form of egocentrism: infantile magical thinking. It can
be best characterized by the phrase, "I'm So Important, I Only Have To Think of Something To
Make It So."
Of course, such a mindset is irrational and astonishingly immature. Magical, all-powerful thinking is, in fact, the hallmark of the "Terrible Twos." This is the age at which children expect
the universe to serve and please them. MissLed women can ill-afford the luxury of thinking like a two-year old . Such a mindset demonstrates MissLed women's inability to show patience or tolerate frustration:
"The Law of Attraction seems particularly suited to the modern temperament though,
given that with Karma, you might have to wait a thousand lifetimes to get the good
things you deserve, whereas with The Law of Attraction everything is possible in
this lifetime. No waiting! Better service! The Law of Attraction might be said to
be the lazy person’s Karma, since Karma is based on doing, whereas the Law of
Attraction is based on feeling. This is also handy for the modern American, who
is quite busy enough as it is. In addition, Karma is concerned exclusively with
morality (specifically good and evil deeds), but The Law of Attraction is concerned
only with positive feeling vibrations, which needn’t necessarily be connected to
pesky morality at all...
"The Law of Attraction requires uncritical acceptance of, and
unwavering belief in, a doctrine that has been revealed by alleged
authorities, which is interpreted literally, not metaphorically,
and is at the extreme end of credulity. It is just another kind of
magical thinking and, worse, another brand of fundamentalism."
"The Secret Behind The Secret:
What is Attracting Millions
to the Law of Attraction?" by Ingrid Hansen Smythe
http://www.skeptic.com/eskeptic/07-03-07/
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"The liking bias is startlingly simple to understand and yet we continually fall prey to it. It means this: The more we like someone, the more inclined we are to buy from or help that person."
AUTHORITY:
The three typical symbols of authority are title, clothing, and perceivable wealth.
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