Preliminary Research Note: An Unpublished Study of the Act of Inward Looking
Background
I want to share a brief update about an unfinished but approved study of the Act of Inward Looking.
The study began as part of my master’s degree in psychology. Its design and data collection were approved, but I did not complete the thesis at the time. I now intend to finish the thesis and make the results publicly available as soon as possible.
Study design
The study was conducted online through Qualtrics. Students from two Swedish universities were invited by email to participate. Those who chose to take part were randomly assigned to either a treatment group or a control group.
Both groups first completed psychological self-report measures of life satisfaction, state anxiety, trait anxiety, and depressive symptoms. The treatment group then received the intervention: a written instruction in the Act of Inward Looking. Participants were advised to perform the act at least once a day for seven days. The control group received no intervention and was asked to wait for the retest. After seven days, both groups completed the same measures again.
Why the study design matters
Importantly, the invitation did not mention Just One Look, the Just One Look Method, John Sherman, or anything else that would connect the study with JOL. The intervention consisted only of written instructions. I was not identified or personally involved with participants at any point.
The study therefore did not test participants’ prior interest in JOL, their relationship with the researcher, or their belief in the method. It tested a brief written instruction in the Act of Inward Looking.
Preliminary observations
The available data must be interpreted cautiously. The study remains unfinished, the sample is small, and the results do not prove that the intervention had an effect. The clearest numerical signal appears in depressive symptoms: the treatment group showed a larger reduction than the control group. However, the difference between the groups was not statistically conclusive in the available data.
Even so, I believe the result deserves attention.
The intervention was extremely limited. It was not a course, therapeutic program, meditation practice, support group, personal guidance, or the complete Just One Look Method. It consisted solely of a written instruction in the Act of Inward Looking—a simple act of directing attention toward the felt sense of being oneself.
Because the intervention was so minimal, even a modest movement in psychological measures is interesting. It does not establish an effect, but it suggests that the question merits further study.
What can—and cannot—be concluded
The most careful conclusion is this:
The available data do not provide conclusive evidence that the Act of Inward Looking caused psychological improvement. They do, however, constitute preliminary pilot data from an approved randomized design. The numerical pattern—particularly in depressive symptoms—is interesting enough to justify completing the thesis and encouraging further research.
Connection with the earlier bachelor’s thesis
This study is also a natural continuation of my earlier bachelor’s thesis on the Just One Look Method. That qualitative, descriptive study explored how JOL users described the Act of Inward Looking, the Self-Directed Attention Exercise, and the possible consequences of the method. The master’s study takes the next step by testing the core act itself in a simple randomized design.
The main point is modest but important:
This study does not prove that the Act of Inward Looking works. It does show that the act can be studied, that it can be isolated from the wider JOL context, and that even a very small intervention may produce signals worth investigating further.