Stanford psychologist Gregory Walton remembers the first time he saw what he calls “ordinary magic” at work in the real world. 

Walton was 14 years old and he picked up a magazine lying on the coffee table in his family’s living room. While flipping through the pages, an article by the Stanford social psychologist Claude M. Steele caught his attention. In it, Steele discussed why Black Americans were failing to thrive in school and how social psychology might help. 

Walton was riveted by Steele’s description of a phenomenon he would later call “stereotype threat”: Simply the fear of confirming a negative stereotype about one's group could distract them on a challenging test. For some students, these distractions held them back. But a simple reframing – calling the test “a puzzle,” for example – took that pressure away and prevented those worries from materializing. 

“It was like magic,” Walton said. “I was mesmerized.”

Walton’s fascination sparked a lifelong quest to better understand how this kind of “ordinary magic” works in the real world and how people can apply it in their own lives and relationships.

Those insights – as well as some of his own research findings – are now the basis of Walton’s new book, Ordinary Magic: The Science of How We Can Achieve Big Change with Small Acts (Harmony, 2025). 

Experiencing ‘ordinary magic’ for himself

In Ordinary Magic, Walton shares how he experienced “ordinary magic” for himself when he came to Stanford as an undergraduate in the fall of 1996, where he studied with Steele and others, including Eleanor Maccoby, a pioneer in child and family psychology. Maccoby was finalizing a manuscript for a new book and asked her class – which included Walton – for feedback. A year later, she presented him with a copy of the published book. Inside, she had inscribed, “For Greg, who does think like a psychologist and may become one.” 

“To have someone you admire so deeply show a good and competent image of who you can become, an image that is just right for you, that can set aside your doubts and give you an image to work up to – that can change your life,” Walton said. 

As a scholar, Walton has looked for ways to scale up the same confidence Maccoby inspired in him to others in school settings and beyond. 

In Ordinary Magic, Walton shares some of those findings.

Harmony, 2025

The book describes an approach to promote flourishing that Walton calls “wise interventions.”

Walton borrows the term “wise” from that same Atlantic article Steele wrote over three decades ago. In it, Steele described “wise schooling” – schooling that is sensitive to the predicament of students who face negative stereotypes in school, referencing an earlier usage of the term by one of the most prominent sociologists of the 20th century, Erving Goffman. Goffman used the word to describe people who are not stigmatized themselves but who nevertheless understand and are accepted by those who are. That empathy is critical to the lives of people they serve.

“In this tradition, ‘wise’ doesn’t mean good or effective – it’s more like street smarts paired with science,” Walton said. “It’s understanding that, for all of us, there are times in life when you walk into a situation that poses an icky question – a question that seeks to define you.” 

These questions often arise during transitions: A child beginning a new school, a college grad starting their first job, or a new couple navigating their first squabble. Those moments can spark questions like: “Do I belong here?” “Can I do it?” “Am I enough?” 

How a person answers such questions can shape the trajectory of their life. 

“No one likes these doubts,” said Walton. “Often we ignore these thoughts or try to push them away. But the sad truth is, left unaddressed, doubts like these can make themselves true. That’s what Steele’s stereotype threat did. People worried ‘If I do badly, will people judge my whole group?’ That made it harder to do well on a tough test.”

As Walton describes, when people feel like they don’t belong, they are at risk of “spiraling down.” For example, a common experience all students face – a disagreement with a roommate or a bad grade on a paper – can seem like proof of that fear. The worry becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. For that pupil, it becomes harder to stay engaged in school.

“But we can get ‘wise’ to psychological questions,” Walton said. “We can develop ‘an ear’ for them and when we anticipate when they come up, we can learn to answer them well, both for others and for ourselves.” 

That effect can be profound. In one study, Walton found that a one-hour session addressing students’ worries about belonging during the transition to college improved their lives 10 years later.

“It needn’t be fancy. It might be as simple as an encouraging note from a teacher given at the right time,” Walton said.

For example, one study found that it can be especially beneficial if the note explains exactly why a teacher is giving the student critical feedback: “I’m giving you this feedback because I have very high standards and I know that you can meet them.” In that one sentence, trust is restored. The study found that note increased the rate at which seventh grade students went to college on time after high school seven years later. 

“This is ordinary magic,” said Walton. “It’s the ordinary things we do for ourselves and each other to set aside ordinary worries to help us flourish.” 

It applies in our personal relationships, too.

“Every one of us needs someone who is irrationally crazy about us, who sees in you who you can become even before you do,” Walton said. “Ordinary magic are visions that help us see the good and competent persons we can become, how we can get there. They show us that failures don’t define us, that setbacks are normal, that obstacles need not stop us.”