Affirmation

The affirmation ( Latin affirmatiō , insurance, affirmation ' ) is an evaluative property for procedural, cognitive or logical entities that can be described with affirmation , consent , positive evaluation or assignment . Put simply, affirmation means that a statement, situation or action is assessed positively.

Linguistics

In the linguistic sense, affirmation describes the assertion or affirmation of a statement. The affirmative form of a word or phrase is the opposite of negation .

logic

In logic, the term affirmation is a technical term ( terminus technicus ) that adopts the Latin word affirmatio as a loan word - it is a translation of the Greek term katáphasis . The opposite is the negation (Latin negatio , Greek apóphasis ).

In classical logic , affirmation means affirmation, the affirmative statement in the sense that a predicate (in the traditional sense) is assigned to a subject :

• Berlin is a capital.

In predicate logic , a statement is said to be affirmative if its predicate is assigned to an entire set or a subset of subjects. Two sentences are exemplary:

• All living things are mortal.
• Some cities have more than a million inhabitants.

The term affirmation denotes a mental event, the speech act of affirming or asserting or the content (the proposition) that (or which) is asserted or affirmed.

Spirituality, Religion and Esotericism

In relation to individual and collective thoughts, statements and actions (here in particular: prayers and mantras ) and with very different goals (e.g. self-healing , knowledge , enlightenment ...), affirmations are understood as a consciously expressed attitude (see also positive thinking ) that positively influences the system in and of itself.

Even if innumerable practices in this regard are known in numerous directions and schools of traditional and contemporary wisdom teachings from the areas of spirituality , religion and esotericism , questions arise regarding the causality of affirmations and their coincident consequences. From today's perspective, there are epistemological hurdles that a. are also justified in a lack of suitable methodological approaches. The systematic collection and evaluation of authentic reports and historical records on alleged affirmative effects can be a discussion of topics that are in the area of parapsychology worth discussing .

psychology

For the therapy of dysfunctional behavior or mental disorders, there are approaches in clinical psychology that use affirmations as a technique.

Communication and advertising

In modern mass communication in particular , affirmative key phrases serve to motivate and ultimately activate affine peer groups through infectious enthusiasm for the product , service or the like. An example of recent history is the English sentence " Yes, we can !" (In German, for example: "Yes, we can do it!"), Which the US presidential candidate Barack Obama used as the slogan of his party for the 2008 presidential election used.

See also

• incantation
• Biofeedback
• Self-fulfilling prophecy
• Behavior therapy

literature

• Helmut Benesch: dtv atlas on psychology. Vol. I and II, 2nd edition, Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-423-03224-3 .
• Heinz Göschel et al .: Meyer's Universal Lexicon. Vol. I, 2nd edition, VEB Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig 1979.
• Rosetta R. Hardine: Psychology of Self-Affirmation With Assertiveness Attitude. Index of New Information With Authors, Subjects and Reference Bibliography . Abbe Pub, Washington / USA 2002, ISBN 0-7883-2775-5 .
• Peter Kunzmann: dtv atlas on philosophy . 6th edition, Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, Munich 1996, ISBN 3-423-03229-4 .
• Vera Pfeiffer: Active Program Positive Thinking . Knaur, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-426-87223-4 .
• Dieter Pflaum et al .: Lexicon of Advertising . 7th edition, Verlag Moderne Industrie, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-478-21287-1 .
• Günther Schweiger: Advertising . 2nd edition, Gustav Fischer, Stuttgart 1989, ISBN 3-437-40205-6 .
• Helmut G. Sieczka: Thank you for this day: Affirmations - creative thoughts. Oesch, Zurich 1988, ISBN 3-85833-020-5 .
• Peter Stemmann: Motivation methods strictly confidential . MVG, Landsberg / Lech 1994, ISBN 3-478-81152-X .
• Amy Wallace: Guide to Spiritual Healing . Synthesis, Essen 1982, ISBN 3-922026-06-0 .
• Andrew Weil: Spontaneous healing . Bertelsmann, Munich 1995, ISBN 3-572-00921-9 .

Web links

Wiktionary: Affirmation  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

1. ^ Hermann Menge et al .: Langenscheidts Pocket Dictionary Latin . Langenscheidt, Berlin 2000.
2. ↑ Johannes Hoffmeister (ed.): Dictionary of philosophical terms. 2nd edition, Meiner, Hamburg 1955, Lemmata Affirmation a. Negation.
3. ^ Anton Hügli , Poul Lübcke (Ed.): Philosophielexikon. 5th edition, Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 2003, Lemma Affirmation.
4. ↑ affirmations . "Worksheet" on stangl-taller.at . Retrieved October 12, 2016