Well, well, well... it's not me actually but these are two proven psychological facts that were aforementioned. A lot of things happen in our everyday lives and we hardly notice them. We're already so engrossed in our own lives and tasks that we aren't really able to make time for any of it.
But worry not! Here, I've compiled a list of some of the most unknown yet true psychological facts about the human brain.
Check them out and take my word for it, you'd be SHOCKED.
Pygmalion Effect
The greater the expectation placed upon people, the better they perform according to the Pygmalion effect.
To influence your own personal achievement with this effect, try this:
- Don't be hard on yourself.
- Challenge yourself with more difficult resources.
- Give yourself many opportunities to contribute in different ways.
- Off yourself to offensive feedback on your personal performance.
Pratfall Effect
Say you're viewed as competent or attractive by someone. Your attractiveness or likability will actually increase if you commit a blunder.
Known as the Pratfall effect, likable people who rarely, if at all make mistakes or blunders are perceived as less attractive or likable than those who are still seen as likable but nevertheless more frequently commit open mistakes or blunders. The pratfall effect basically means not to worry if you:
- Slip in front of your crush.
- Openly admit failures.
- Get stage fright in front of everyone at school.
However, in order for the effect to work, people must view you as an attractive, likable, or a good person prior to committing the blunder.
On the other hand, attractiveness decreases when someone regarded as unlikable, unattractive, or not good also pulls a blunder.
Priming Effect
The priming effect is an unconscious process and mostly goes undetected But its effects can be seen in experiments.
For example, if you have recently seen or heard the word EAT, you are temporarily more likely to complete the word fragment SO_P as SOUP than as SOAP. The opposite would happen, of course, if you had just seen WASH. EAT primes the idea of SOUP, and WASH primes SOAP.
Anchoring Effect
It occurs when people consider a particular value for an unknown quantity before estimating that quantity. Essentially what happens is that the original number is briefly anchored upon by the subconscious, and it distorts any thinking that comes in the aftermath.
For a real-world example of this, consider the following experiment: A few years ago, supermarket shoppers in Sioux City, Iowa, encountered a sales promotion for Campbell's soup at about 10% off the regular price. On some days, a sign on the shelf said 'LIMIT OF 12 PER PERSONS'. On other days the sign said 'NO LIMIT PER PERSON'. Shoppers purchased an average of 7 cans when the limit was in force, twice as many as they bought when the limit was removed.
Framing Effect
A phenomenon in many ways related to the anchoring effect is the framing effect. The framing effect refers to the fact that the way a problem or question is presented can influence our response.
"the five-year survival rates clearly favor surgery, but in the short term surgery is riskier than radiation". When it came to the short term risks of surgery, though, half of the doctors were shown stats that referred to the survival rate (which is 90% after one month), while the other half of the doctors were shown stats that referred to the mortality rate (which is 10% after one month)"
The results: Surgery was much more popular in the former frame (84% of physicians chose it) than in the latter (where 50% favored radiation). The logical equivalence of the two descriptions is transparent, and a reality-bound decision maker would make the same choice regardless of which version she/he saw. But System 1, as we have gotten to know it, is rarely indifferent to emotional words: mortality is bad, survival is good, and 90% survival sounds encouraging whereas 10% mortality is frightening.
The Marshmallow Test
It was a study on delayed gratification conducted in the early 1970s by a psychologist named Walter Mischel. Delayed gratification is the ability to resist the temptation for an immediate reward and wait for a later reward. In these studies, a child was offered a choice between one marshmallow provided immediately or two marshmallows if he or she waited until the experimenter returned (after an absence of approximately 15 minutes).
In the follow up studies, the researchers found that children who were able to wait longer to get that extra marshmallow tend to have better life outcomes, measured by SAT scores, educational attainment, Body Mass Index and other life measures.
Waiting in a queue
A study on the psychology of waiting in line found that when we don't know how long something is going to take, we experience that time differently. If a patient in a waiting room is told that the doctor is running 30 minutes late, he might be annoyed at first but he'll eventually relax into the wait. But if the patient is told the doctor will be free soon, he spends the whole time nervous and unable to settle down because his expectations are being managed poorly. When we're in this situation, time actually feels like it's going slower for us.
Numbers can help by providing that expectation management for us, so we know exactly what we're getting into. Those might be some of the reasons that a Conductor study found that audiences prefer number headlines to almost any other type.
Junk cravings
Junk food cravings last for not more than 10 minutes. It's a fact. If you can control for 10 minutes, you can easily avoid unhealthy junk and sweets. Also, if you don't like a certain food but want to eat it because it's healthy. Decorate it. You will feel happy looking at it and you are more likely to find it tasty.
Mere-Exposure Effect
Did you ever look at those ads that air repetitively on every possible channel on TV and wonder what good airing the ad so many times was going to do? The first few times is understandable as the company wants you to recognize their brand and be aware of their product, but anything beyond that will only irritate people and is hence a waste of money right? After all, people will ultimately buy a product for the value it provides for their money rather than how many times the ad for that product appeared on TV right?
Wrong, and wrong!
According to the mere-exposure effect:
Repeated exposure to a certain stimulus increases the ease with which the stimulus can be processed, which in turn increases the positive effect associated with that stimulus.
Ben Franklin Effect
Don't we all have that one friend whom we keep helping no matter how many times he/she screws up, and are rather quite happy doing so? This effect explains why:
A person who has done someone a favor is more likely to do that person another favor than they would be if they had received a favor from that person. Similarly, one who harms another is more willing to harm them again than the victim is to retaliate.
You can't multitask
Many people believe they can do more than one thing at a time, but studies show that the mind can only attend to one task at a time, with the exception of a few physical tasks such as walking.
You may be able to shift from one task to another very quickly, but it's impossible to focus on more than one task at a time.
Backfire Effect
Ever been in an argument where despite you presenting credible facts and perfectly rational arguments your opponent seems too stubborn (dumb?) to agree with you and sticks to his side of the argument no matter what? Well, it turns out the guy wasn't stubborn (or dumb). It's just how the human brain works. The backfire effect states that:
When your deepest convictions are challenged by contradictory evidence, your beliefs get stronger.
Once something is added to your collection of ideas, you protect it from harm. You do it instinctively and unconsciously when confronted with attitude-inconsistent information. When someone tries to correct you or tries to dilute your misconceptions, it backfires and strengthens them instead. Over time, the backfire effect helps make you less sceptical of those things which allow you to continue seeing your beliefs and attitudes as true and proper.
So when two people are arguing, they are only getting more convinced of their view? Looks like it. So stop wasting everyone's time and be happy with whatever you believe to be true.
You're more likely to blame other people rather than the situation.
Did you know that when undesirable events happen, humans are more likely to blame another person rather than the circumstances? If you're late for a meeting, you're more likely to blame the driver rather than the construction on the way. Because the mind works this way, it's important to remember it, and take into account when you encounter these situations.
You perform worse under too much pressure.
Did you know that when undesirable events happen, humans are more likely to blame another person rather than the circumstances? If you're late for a meeting, you're more likely to blame the driver rather than the construction on the way. Because the mind works this way, it's important to remember it, and take into account when you encounter these situations.
You perform worse under too much pressure.
The illusion of progress is extremely motivating! According to research, if you believe that you're progressing toward a goal, you move faster toward achieving that goal.
Example 1: You go to Mc Donalds and you're given a card with 10 empty boxes representing how many times you've visited. On the 10th visit you get a free meal.
Example 2: You're given a card with 12 boxes and 2 already marked.
Studies show that even though you need to visit 10 times with either card, people are more likely to complete the card with the 12 boxes faster, because of the illusion of progression.
You are a little bit blind.
When I say blind, I don't mean that you can't see, but, at the same #time, I do! We all suffer from something called "inattention blindness". This means that if you're focusing on one thing, you might not notice something else big! In one psychological experiment, subjects were asked to watch a basketball game and count how many passes the team in white jerseys made.
When focusing their attention on the number of passes, most subjects failed to notice a #man in a bear costume cross the court! If you can miss a moon walking bear, how many other little things have you been blind to?
Your eyes don't like red and blue colors.
Pairing colours like red and blue together cause a phenomenon called "chromostereopsis", in other words, one colour jumps out at you while the other doesn't. This effect is really hard on the eyes and can fatigue them. Take a look at the American or English flag-a long, hard look and see if you don't get a slight headache. If you're a designer of any sort, this psychological fact is one to keep in mind to please your clients!
You crave the familiar when you're emotionally unstable.
Pairing colours like red and blue together cause a phenomenon called "chromostereopsis", in other words, one colour jumps out at you while the other doesn't. This effect is really hard on the eyes and can fatigue them. Take a look at the American or English flag-a long, hard look and see if you don't get a slight headache. If you're a designer of any sort, this psychological fact is one to keep in mind to please your clients!
You crave the familiar when you're emotionally unstable.
Did you know that your brain can only handle a set number of relationships? This number is called Dunbar's Number, named after an anthropologist, Robin Dunbar, who concluded that 150 people are the maximum social group size for most people. Of course, you can pile on acquaintances, but you can only have around 150 stable relationships. So remember that the "social butterflies" out there with 1000 or 5000 Facebook friends really can only handle the same amount of relationships as you.
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