I found chapter four to be very lengthy and covering a large amount of information, however it was very interesting and relative to everyday life events. The three most interesting views that I found useful and could relate to was how "saying" becomes believing, internalizing behavior, and the theory of emotional contagion. I have always been familiar with the saying that words are very powerful and things can be spoken into existence. Whenever the subject arises, a situation that involved my best friend always comes to mind. One day, as I was speaking on the phone to my best friend Tanya, and I began to ask her how her day went. She went on to tell me how she cooked a big dinner for her family, which was very odd because she hardly ever cooked. As she started to go into detail about how she prepared her main dish, she stopped in the middle of a sentence a said "oh I forgot, I didn't really cook dinner, that was a lie that I told my mother-in-law so I wouldn't have to go and visit her". .
Apparently, Tanya had told her mother-in-law a fib, but sense it was so seldom that she cooked her mother-in-law insisted that Tonya tell her all about her cooking experience. Tanya had gone so far into detail, tangling herself deeper and deeper into her web, that she began to believe herself. Even though the story was harmless and a bit humorous, the situation always reminds me of a poem that I once read by an unknown author, in which I find explains why "saying" actually becomes believing. The poem reads:.
Be careful what you say, because your words become your thoughts.
Be careful what you think, because your thoughts become your actions.
Be careful of what your actions are, because your actions become your morals.
Be careful of what your morals are, because your morals become your destiny. .
The book also gives many details on how we don't internalize forced behavior and how behavior is more accepted if we feel like we decided on it.
