belief Archives - David R Hamilton PHD

Montage - left to right - of a caterpillar morphing into a monarch butterfly through 6 stages. They're perched on a green rope and set against a deep blue sky. The image is to represent the Bannister Effect - breaking through barriers.

The Bannister Effect: How to Break Your Psychological Barriers

By Dr David R Hamilton | August 26, 2026

Discover how the Bannister Effect can help you shatter limiting beliefs and achieve much more. Learn to apply this psychological breakthrough today.

Cartoon of woman walking across a blue sky by stepping on three floating lightbulbs. Two bulbs are yellow and one is grey. Moving from the left, she's currently stepping from the grey one, which is smaller, onto a larger yellow one in the middle, and there's an even larger yellow one on the right, which would be her next step.

Why Expectations Change Experience… and How to Change Yours

By Dr David R Hamilton | June 3, 2026

Expectation shapes perception across many domains – from taste and pain to performance and wellbeing. Here’s the science and some ways to work with your own expectation.

Row of five tablets in a horizontal row on a bright yellow background. Four of the tablets are pale yellow. The second from the right is bright pink, has a smiley face, and sunshine emanations coming out of it.

How to harness the power of the placebo

By Dr David R Hamilton | January 14, 2026

The placebo effect was once dismissed as the ‘natural course of the condition’. It meant that if a person’s condition improved when they took a placebo, it was just coincidence. We now understand things much better.

Dandelion seeds blowing on blue background. Wishing.

Why Hope Matters

By Dr David R Hamilton | January 30, 2023

Sometimes, hope is all you have. That’s what I found myself contemplating. It was all I had left.