First words

GENERAL PRINCIPLES

The "self-image" is the key to human personality and
human behavior. Change the self-image and you change
the personality and the behavior.
But mote than this. The "self-image" sets the boundaries
of individual accomplishment. It defines what you
can and cannot do. Expand the self-image and you expand
the "area of the possible." The development of an
adequate, realistic self-image will seem to imbue the individual
with new capabilities, new talents and literally
turn failure into success.
Self-image psychology has not only been proved on its
own merits, but it explains many phenomena which have
long been known but not properly understood in the past.
For example, there is today irrefutable clinical evidence
in the fields of individual psychology, psychosomatic
medicine and industrial psychology that there are "success-
type personalities" and "failure-type personalities,"
"happiness-prone personalities" and "unhappiness-prone
personalities," and "health-prone personalities" and "disease-
prone personalities." Self-image psychology throws
new light on these and many other observable facts of
life. It throws new light on "the power of positive thinking,"
and more importantly, explains why it "works" with
some individuals and not with others. ("Positive thinking"
does indeed "work" when it is consistent with the individual's
self-image. It literally cannot "work" when it is

inconsistent with the self-image—until the self-image itself
has been changed.)
In order to understand self-image psychology, and use
it in your own life, you need to know something of the
mechanism it employs to accomplish its goal. There is an
abundance of scientific evidence which shows that the
human brain and nervous system operate purposefully in
accordance with the known principles of Cybernetics to
accomplish goals of the individual. Insofar as function is
concerned, the brain and nervous system constitute a marvelous
and complex "goal-striving mechanism," a sort of
built-in automatic guidance system which works for you
as a "success mechanism," or against you as a "failure
mechanism," depending on how "YOU," the operator,
operate it and the goals you set for it.
It is also rather ironic that Cybernetics, which began as
a study of machines and mechanical principles, goes far
to restore the dignity of man as a unique, creative being.
Psychology, which began with the study of man's psyche,
or soul, almost ended by depriving man of his soul. The
behaviorist, who understood neither the "man" nor his
machine, and thereby confused the one with the other,
told us that thought is merely the movement of electrons
and consciousness merely a chemical action. "Will" and
"purpose" were myths. Cybernetics, which began with the
study of physical machines, makes no such mistake. The
science of Cybernetics does not tell us that "man" is a
machine but that man has and uses a machine. Moreover,
it tells us how that machine functions and how it can be
used.