Modern systems: close reading
The law of attraction:
where it came from, what works
The law of attraction says thoughts draw matching events. The phrase is in print by 1855 (A. J. Davis); Atkinson put it in a subtitle in 1906 and The Secret revived it in 2006. No study supports it, and enjoying images of the result predicts less effort; a goal with an obstacle and an if-then plan helps.
The law of attraction is the belief that your thoughts draw matching events to you. No study shows it works as stated, though attention paired with a concrete plan does help. Studies of the habits around it show what to keep and what to drop. The five-minute version is here.
What is the law of attraction, in plain words?
In plain words: like attracts like, so what you think about and feel strongly about comes to you, wanted or not. William Walker Atkinson (1862-1932) put it in his working creed, printed in Thought Vibration (Chicago, copyright 1906; 1908 printing): the law of attraction in the thought world “will draw to one just what he desires or fears”.
Today’s versions add a method: picture the result, feel it as already yours, remove doubt, and the universe delivers. That method, not the wish, is what research can test.
Who first used the phrase “law of attraction”?
The earliest use we could check of “law of attraction” for life and mind is the Spiritualist Andrew Jackson Davis (1826-1910), in The Great Harmonia, vol. IV (1855), p. 41. As physics vocabulary for gravitation the phrase is older, and Davis says so himself. Every row below is from a scan or catalogue we opened.
| When | Who, where | What the text says |
|---|---|---|
| 1855 | A. J. Davis, The Great Harmonia IV, p. 41 | “the universality of the Law of Attraction”: one force joining atoms, souls and spouses |
| 1887-1888 | Prentice Mulford, Your Forces II | Fearing ill luck draws harm “by the same law of attraction” |
| 1906 | W. W. Atkinson, Thought Vibration | In the subtitle: The Law of Attraction in the Thought World |
| 1908 | The Kybalion, Chicago, ch. I | An “aspect” of “The Hermetic Principle of Cause and Effect” |
| 1910 | Wallace Wattles, The Science of Getting Rich | The phrase never occurs; “thinking in a Certain Way” |
| 2006 | Esther and Jerry Hicks, The Law of Attraction | “The Teachings of Abraham”, a voice Esther Hicks says she channels |
| 2006 | The Secret, film and book | Film online 23 March; Rhonda Byrne credits Wattles |
Three things in that line are rarely said. Davis’s “attraction” echoes the French socialist Charles Fourier, whom he quotes (“Attractions proportional to destiny”); his law is about harmony and marriage, not wishes. Mulford, writing in a series issued from May 1886 to May 1888, made it a rule for thought (“The mind is a magnet”). And Wattles, the book behind The Secret, never uses the phrase. Esther Hicks appeared in the original film and was cut from the extended edition of October 2006. Napoleon Hill used the phrase in The Law of Success (1928), a “Law of Attraction through which ‘like attracts like’”, and likened thought to radio waves in the ether.
Is the law of attraction Hermetic?
No. The Hermetica, Greek texts from Roman Egypt (about 100-300 CE), teach correspondence between levels of reality and give no technique for getting things. What is documented is a borrowing of names: the Kybalion (1908) calls the law of attraction an aspect of a “Hermetic Principle” and quotes “as above, so below” as an old Hermetic axiom. The epigram is a later paraphrase of a simile in the Emerald Tablet, an Arabic text far younger than the Hermetica. The dated line is on the Modern systems hub; the claim’s weak point is on the provenance card.
Does the law of attraction work? What the research says
No study shows thoughts drawing events you have no contact with. Psychology has tested the method around it, picturing a wished-for future, and the results run against the popular version.
- Oettingen and Mayer, 2002. Four studies (job-seekers, a crush, an exam, hip surgery), followed for weeks to two years. Judging a good future likely predicted more effort and success; enjoying images of it predicted less. A link, not a cause.
- Kappes and Oettingen, 2011. In four experiments, induced positive fantasies left people with less energy, measured in the body and in behaviour, than questioning, negative or neutral ones.
- Pham and Taylor, 1999. First-year students who pictured, for 5 to 7 days, how they would study for a midterm studied more and got better grades, through better planning and less anxiety.
- Hróbjartsson and Gøtzsche, 2001. Placebo against no treatment, 114 usable trials: no significant effect on objective or yes-no outcomes, possibly small benefits on self-reported ones such as pain.
- Wood, Perunovic and Lee, 2009. Affirmations: in two experiments, people low in self-esteem who repeated “I’m a lovable person” felt worse than those who did not; those high in it felt better, but only a little. A vision board is a picture of the result; we found no trial of boards themselves.
- Dixon, Hornsey and Hartley, 2023. Three studies, 1,023 people. Believers in manifesting rated themselves more successful, but were more drawn to risky investments and more likely to have been bankrupt. Correlational.
Every effect here works through the person who thinks: effort, energy, anxiety, pain. That is the useful part. A goal steers attention, and a grounded expectation predicts effort; the image of arrival, enjoyed as done, predicts less.
If you attract everything, did you attract what went wrong?
By the doctrine’s own logic, yes, and its New Thought authors said so: Mulford wrote in 1887-1888 that “the law for success is also the law for misfortune”, and Atkinson that it draws what you fear. On that logic, an illness or a layoff becomes the person’s own thought error.
The cost has been measured, though not for the law itself. In a series of studies with a meta-analysis, people who read unfounded positive self-statements of this kind blamed people with depression more than those who read self-compassion material, a small effect (r = .17); one study alone was not significant (Yeung and Lun, 2021). Bad events have many causes you do not control. A plan that failed is information about the plan.
Law of attraction, law of assumption, Transurfing and WOOP compared
Three of these four ideas say a mental state moves events; only the fourth has been tested, and it claims less.
| Idea | Claim, since when | What research shows |
|---|---|---|
| Law of attraction | Like attracts like. Davis 1855; Atkinson 1906; The Secret 2006 | Untested as stated. Enjoying the end predicts less effort |
| Law of assumption | An assumed state hardens into fact. Neville Goddard, 1952 | Untested. Same fantasy findings |
| Reality Transurfing | Choose a version that exists; want less. Vadim Zeland, from 2003 | Untested |
| WOOP | Wish, Outcome, Obstacle, Plan. Gabriele Oettingen | 21 studies: small-to-medium effect (2021) |
More: Neville Goddard and Transurfing against the law of attraction.
How do you use the law of attraction in five minutes?
Keep what works in it, a direction for attention, a clear goal and a checked expectation, and add the two things it leaves out: the obstacle and an if-then plan.
Setting the wish against the main obstacle and adding “if [situation], then I [act]” is called mental contrasting with implementation intentions, or WOOP. If-then plans alone had a medium-to-large effect on reaching goals across 94 tests (d = 0.65; Gollwitzer and Sheeran, 2006); the combination, a small-to-medium one across 21 studies with 15,907 people, possibly smaller given publication bias (g = 0.34; Wang, Wang and Gai, 2021).
- Aim. One sentence, within your control, with a date. This is the direction of attention.
- Picture it, briefly. Up to a minute on the best outcome. Then stop: dwelling on it predicts less effort.
- Check the odds. Rate from 1 to 10 how likely it is. Below 5, shrink the aim until it is not.
- Obstacle. The one thing in you most likely to stop it: a habit, a fear, an avoidance.
- Plan and step. “If [obstacle], then I [small action].” Take the first step within 24 hours.
Example.
Aim: ask my manager to lead the next project, by Friday.
Picture: 40 seconds, the meeting where she says yes.
Odds: 6 of 10.
Obstacle: I wait for the “right moment”.
If-then: if I catch myself waiting, I send the meeting invite.
Why it should help. The order is ours; steps 1, 4 and 5 follow WOOP, which has trial evidence, and steps 2 and 3 apply the fantasy and expectation findings above. Without the vocabulary: how to manifest, technically.
What can this practice not promise?
Used this way, the law of attraction promises no money, cure, partner or “matching frequency”; at most a clearer aim and a next step you actually take.
- Not wealth. Belief in manifesting goes with riskier investments, not proven gains (2023, above). Never bet money on a feeling.
- Not health. Never hold a thought against medical advice. If low mood or anxiety runs your days, see a clinician.
- Not a verdict on you. “You did not believe enough” can never be proved wrong, so it ends in self-blame.
The old texts behind this site ask how much of a life is your own doing; our answer for today is human agency in the AI age.
| Phrase in print | A. J. Davis, The Great Harmonia IV, 1855, p. 41 |
|---|---|
| Rule for thought | Prentice Mulford, Your Forces, 1886-1888 |
| In a subtitle | W. W. Atkinson, Thought Vibration, 1906 |
| Revival | The Secret, film and book, 2006; Hicks, The Law of Attraction, 2006 |
| Hermetic? | No; name borrowed by the Kybalion, 1908 |
| Tested? | No study of the law; fantasy, placebo and WOOP research, 1999-2023 |
| Checked | 10 November 2026 |
Fair questions
Who invented the law of attraction?
No one person. The phrase is in A. J. Davis’s The Great Harmonia (1855), Prentice Mulford made it a rule for thought in 1886-1888, and William Walker Atkinson put it in a book subtitle in 1906. The Secret (2006) made it a mass idea.
Is the law of attraction scientifically proven?
No. No study shows thoughts drawing outside events. Studies of nearby habits found that enjoying images of a wished-for future predicted less effort, while if-then plans and mental contrasting helped people reach goals.
Is the law of attraction an ancient Hermetic law?
No. The Hermetica (about 100-300 CE) give no technique for getting things. The Kybalion (1908) borrowed the Hermetic name, calling the law of attraction an aspect of a “Hermetic Principle”.
What is the difference between the law of attraction and the law of assumption?
The law of attraction says like attracts like through thought and feeling. Neville Goddard’s law of assumption (1952) says the state you assume is itself the cause, with no universe answering. Neither has been tested.
Can the law of attraction make you rich?
There is no evidence that it can. In a 2023 study of 1,023 people, believers in manifesting saw themselves as more successful but were more drawn to risky investments and more likely to have been bankrupt.
Sources & further reading
- A. J. Davis, The Great Harmonia, vol. IV, The Reformer (Boston and New York, 1855), p. 41, Internet Archive; Fourier quoted in the same volume; 1866 reprint, same page.
- P. Mulford, Your Forces, and How to Use Them (New York: F. J. Needham; copyright 1887 and 1888, 1890 printings), vol. I (essays May 1886-May 1887, “The Law of Success”) and vol. II (May 1887-May 1888, “Some Laws of Health and Beauty”).
- W. W. Atkinson, Thought Vibration, or the Law of Attraction in the Thought World (Chicago: New Thought Publishing Co., copyright 1906), 1908 printing.
- Three Initiates, The Kybalion (Chicago: Yogi Publication Society, copyright 1908), ch. I, Internet Archive.
- W. D. Wattles, The Science of Getting Rich (Holyoke, Mass.: Elizabeth Towne, copyright 1 April 1910), Project Gutenberg.
- N. Hill, The Law of Success in Sixteen Lessons (Meriden, Conn.: Ralston University Press, copyright 1928), Internet Archive.
- E. and J. Hicks, The Law of Attraction: The Basics of the Teachings of Abraham (Carlsbad: Hay House, 2006), Library of Congress; R. Byrne, The Secret (New York: Atria; Hillsboro: Beyond Words, 2006), Library of Congress.
- G. Oettingen and D. Mayer, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 83 (2002), 1198-1212, doi; H. B. Kappes and G. Oettingen, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 47 (2011), 719-729, doi, accepted manuscript.
- L. B. Pham and S. E. Taylor, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 25 (1999), 250-260, doi. Abstract only.
- A. Hróbjartsson and P. C. Gøtzsche, New England Journal of Medicine 344 (2001), 1594-1602, doi.
- L. M. Dixon, M. J. Hornsey and N. Hartley, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 51 (2025; online 8 July 2023), 49-65, doi. Abstract only.
- J. V. Wood, W. Q. E. Perunovic and J. W. Lee, Psychological Science 20 (2009), 860-866, doi. Abstract only. J. C. Yeung and V. M.-C. Lun, The Journal of Positive Psychology 16 (2021; online 2020), 492-502, doi; summary: PsyPost, 4 February 2022.
- P. M. Gollwitzer and P. Sheeran, Advances in Experimental Social Psychology 38 (2006), 69-119, doi; G. Wang, Y. Wang and X. Gai, Frontiers in Psychology 12 (2021), 565202, doi; WOOP: woopmylife.org.
- Wikipedia, opened 10 November 2026: Law of attraction (New Thought) (overview; the 1855 attribution to Davis, after Mitch Horowitz) and The Secret (2006 film) (online premiere, extended edition, Hicks cut).