Presentation for the Seventh Annual Extensive Reading Seminar, Sunday September 28, 2014 Keisen University, Tokyo Japan.

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The Philosopher William James (1884) argued for what is today called the “As If principle,” (AIP) that if you behave as if you are a certain kind of person, you become that person. Decades of modern research show that the AIP is a dynamic theory of psychology.

In this short paper, the authors demonstrate seven  practical activities that apply the AIP to motivate students to do extensive reading: (1) A Picture of Reading; (2) Colored Wristbands; (3) Happy Mirror Reading; (4) Happy Talk; (5) Three Minute Drill; (6) Reading Posters; (7) The Confidence Trick.

Besides these activities, authors discuss ways to research the efficacy of the AIP (giving details of that research in a separate presentation).