What do aphorisms, motivational and inspirational quotes do?

An unexpected rabbit hole from my PhD data analysis is how frequently participants focused on quotes from Brene Brown books. Several participants quoted sentences that meant something to them (like the one in the post banner). They also used words to describe the contents of book-under-study as "wisdom," "gem" and "gold" in reference to the one-liners they liked most.

Brown herself likes to use decorated quotes and frameworks from her books. She has them on her website for print out, and produces posters, quotes and tiles for fans to load to social media. Reflecting on my past work as a therapist, I am struck with how many past clients have printed an inspirational quote and positioned somewhere prominent to their gaze. Certainly, when I have worked in Indigenous Australian agencies, religious quotes (proverbs) have featured heavily around the cubicles of health staff.

In regard to my current PhD data, I began researching to understand what this was telling me in relation to the wellbeing recovery of my participants and came upon two papers that had me thoroughly trapped down the rabbit hole The first was a research report (McGlone & Tofighbakhsh 2000) that suggests perhaps alliteration and rhyme has reason in why we remember aphorisms (short sentence quotes seen as universal truths and common sense but that still require some thinking). The second, an Honors student Shannara Klassen (2020) suggested that future research could focus on how well being could be promoted with a focus of the long-term effects on inspirational quotes on positive psychology. Given that bibliotherapy is the use of the written word to help solve a problem, inspirational, motivational and aphoristic quotes fit into this. Bibliotherapy is a passive form of psychoeducation - thinking and action are required as part of the therapeutic intervention.

My research is consistently showing that book club attendees believe that if you are missing the self-awareness of how the words fit into your own schema, or, the action to align your emotional intelligence with the script then they are nothing more than trickery, weasel words and status quo truths (common sense) designed to keep you stuck. This suggests that reading inspirational and motivational quotes, maxims, adages, proverbs, aphorisms and sayings are only one part of change. They alone DO NOT create change. Certainly, aphorisms are requiring of interpretation and therefore loan themselves beautifully to personal change and growth because of the reflective process required to work through the quote.

In discussion, my critical friend, Dr. G. Galloway (Personal Communication April 2024) said of Jordan Peterson's 12 Rules for Life (2018) that they are basic: common sense really (example: Stand up straight with your shoulders back). This led to an examination of Gramsci's theory on the difference between common sense and good sense (and in true Dr Greta style she consumed Gramsci's Common Sense (Crehan 2016) overnight (I just happened to have it on my bookcase). 

Crehan (2016) warns that there is no direct translation of the Italian senso comune and therefore accepts an English-speaking definition of common sense: good sound practical sense that requires no truth checking. Similar to aphorisms, there are some things we just accept as culturally common and totally sensible when we hear them. Good sense on the other hand, are those elements of common sense that need truth; that need investigation, critical analysis and robust academic examination.

Good sense is why the general public may scoff at some Higher Degrees by Research topics: a topic like how much chocolate is required before it is no good for you. It is common sense that too much chocolate is bad for you, but intellectual examination goes deeper and quantifies where the line is. Similarly, I have said to supervisees for many years that part of the definition of being a professional is having the ability to clearly articulate what you do. It is insufficient to counsel off intuition and common sense. A counselling relationship requires an evidence base: good sense. Even my research project, Is Reading Brene Brown an act of resistance to the status quo, contains both common and good sense. It is the good sense I am digging for. Part of the good sense is whether people read to begin with and what is it that they read.  

So, what do aphorisms, motivational and inspirational quotes do? Nothing if you don't take action. Being conscious of something is one thing, taking action on that consciousness is another. And that, my friend is how my research will help mental health professionals make better use of both the active and passive (bibliotherapy) forms of psychoeducation for people in recovery from a mental wellbeing challenge.

 👵🏻 Megan Bayliss: Social Work supervisor.

👩🏻‍🎓 PhD candidate: cultural and social resistance to the status quo.

References 

Apax Aba Therapy (2024, May 27) 90+ Reading Statistics, Facts and Demographics. Apex ABA Therapy https://www.apexaba.com/blog/reading-statistics 

Brown, Brene Art | Brené Brown (brenebrown.com)

Crehan, K (2016). Gramsci’s Common Sense. Inequality and its narratives. Duke University Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv11318dq 

Klassen, Shannara L. (2020) Relationship between Happiness, Life Satisfaction, and Well-Being, and the Impact of Inspirational Quotes. Memorial University of Newfoundland. (Unpublished)