The inner life
Mental Contrasting
Direct answer
Mental Contrasting: Mental contrasting is a method from Gabriele Oettingen's research in which a person pictures a wished-for outcome and then at once pictures the obstacle in themselves that stands in its way.
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At a glance
- Also called
- woop method, woop, wish outcome obstacle plan
- Found in
- Consciousness & Spiritual Psychology
- Related
- Implementation Intention, Visualisation, Manifestation
Mental contrasting is a method from Gabriele Oettingen's research in which a person pictures a wished-for outcome and then at once pictures the obstacle in themselves that stands in its way.
A plain educational schematic; it does not diagnose a condition or replace professional care.
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What is mental contrasting?
Mental contrasting sets two pictures side by side. First the person imagines the best result of a wish coming true. Then, while that picture is fresh, they imagine the main thing in themselves that holds them back. The contrast turns a daydream into a judgement: if the obstacle can be overcome, energy and commitment rise; if it cannot, the person lets the wish go and is free for another.
The order matters. Dwelling only on the pleasant future, which Oettingen calls indulging, leaves people calmer and less likely to act. Joined to an if-then plan the method is taught as WOOP: wish, outcome, obstacle, plan.
On the tree of the hidden arts: Imagination and intention.
What sets Mental Contrasting apart
The method's signature is its sequence. Future first, then present reality: reversing the order, or doing only one half, removes the effect in Oettingen's experiments. A second mark is that it sorts wishes instead of boosting them all. When a person judges the obstacle beatable, commitment rises; when they judge it not, commitment falls and they disengage, and the studies count both as success. That makes it a tool for choosing as much as for striving.
- Researcher: Gabriele Oettingen, New York University and University of Hamburg
- Order: the desired future first, then the obstacle in present reality
- Taught as: WOOP: wish, outcome, obstacle, plan
- Opposite habits: 'indulging' (future only) and 'dwelling' (obstacles only)
- Book: Rethinking Positive Thinking, 2014
Often mistaken for something else: Positive thinking pictures only the good result; mental contrasting adds the obstacle straight after it, and that second step is what the studies credit.
The story behind Mental Contrasting
Oettingen, a psychologist at New York University and the University of Hamburg, found from the late 1980s that positive fantasies about weight loss, job offers and recovery from surgery went with worse results. She developed mental contrasting in response and tested it over some twenty years of experiments. She combined it with Peter Gollwitzer's implementation intentions, and described the whole in Rethinking Positive Thinking (2014).
Why Mental Contrasting matters
Mental Contrasting is the best evidence that the wish alone is not enough, and it shows what to add: an honest look at the obstacle.
How to read Mental Contrasting
Readers write the wish, the outcome and the inner obstacle in a few words each, then finish with a plan for the moment the obstacle appears.
Mental Contrasting in practice: an example
Wish: write each morning. Outcome: a finished draft. Obstacle: reaching for the phone on waking. Plan: if I wake, then I open the notebook first.
Where readings of Mental Contrasting go wrong
Mental Contrasting works on what a person does; it makes no claim to change anything outside them, and it suits aims that are within reach.
Sources and editorial method
This entry summarizes the tradition in the Almanac's own words; where no source is listed, it is an editorial summary rather than a primary text, and symbolic readings are named as the tradition's, not as fact.
- Source
- The Great Almanac Dictionary
- Category
- Consciousness & Spiritual Psychology
- Aliases
- woop method, woop, mental contrasting meaning, wish outcome obstacle plan
- Last updated
- 2026-09-26
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More in Consciousness & Spiritual Psychology
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Common questions
What is mental contrasting?
It is picturing a wish fulfilled and then immediately picturing the obstacle within oneself that stands in the way. The contrast shows whether the wish is worth pursuing and stirs the energy to pursue it.
What does WOOP stand for?
Wish, outcome, obstacle, plan. It is Gabriele Oettingen's name for mental contrasting followed by an if-then plan, a four-step exercise that takes a few minutes with pen and paper.
Why is positive thinking alone not enough?
In Oettingen's studies, people who only daydreamed about success put in less effort and achieved less. Enjoying the result in fantasy seems to relax the drive needed to earn it.
