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A third group were given the option to change persona entirely by inhabiting the role of their favourite fictional hero, such as Batman or Dora the Explorer.

Self-distancing and alter egos even work with children. When kids inhabit a persona like Batman or Dora the Explorer during a task, studies show they work harder Credit: Alamy. The researchers had suspected that the alter ego would be a more extreme form of self-distancing, and the results showed exactly that.

White has also found that adopting an alter ego can also help children to concentrate on a complex card game, in which they had to follow complex rules that kept on changing.

While these were laboratory experiments, White hopes that this small exercise might ease many situations that require self-control.

The test of perseverance, after all, was already very close to the kind of decisions that children might face when doing their homework with the potential temptation of the TV or cell phone. She thinks it may also be useful to avoid feeling dispirited during new challenges.

After all, certain religious initiatives already encourage this kind of thinking, says White. If you want to try it yourself, White suggests picking a different person for different types of goals — maybe a wise member of your family for a personal dilemma, or a work mentor for a professional problem.

Whatever persona we choose, the practice should create some psychological space away from potentially distracting feelings, while also reminding us of the behaviours we want to emulate.

The Life Project. The Life Project How we think. Share using Email. I was this funny, sharp, cool kid, and if they believed that was me, then it was me. While Confair no longer channels Talia, she did tap into the power of another alter ego when deciding to become a full-time yoga teacher. But can an alter ego ever lead to trouble? Clinically speaking, in these cases, I would help my client to understand why and when this alter ego exists. And my mother said, 'What's wrong with you? You're absolutely ready.

I wanted to do my own interpretation," she says. I met a lot of people, and they answered a lot of questions because I wanted to understand the need for the addiction.

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