10 Tricky Psychological Effects We Go Through Every Day

All of us have been reading up facts since we can remember. A lot of them are processed and some of them just go on and on our mind. We have our own set of characteristics or behaviour towards particular things on everything that goes around us. And all of that is psychology! Yes, you read that right. Look no further and read on to find some quirky yet mind blogging facts that we encounter each day…

1. The Decoy Effect

You go out for a movie and you’re offered popcorn in three sizes- small, medium, large and you end up buying the large size because you think that large one is reasonable and it is only fifty rupees more than the medium. Bam! That’s exactly what they really wanted you to take.This effect explains that when you’re offered three options instead of two, and the middle option is priced closer to the most expensive one, it makes you more likely to buy the most expensive option(in this case, the large size popcorn). You feel like you are getting better value for your money because, you are only paying a little more for the most expensive option, in comparison to the middle (decoy) alternative.

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2. The Mere Exposure Effect

Irritated because of the repetitive advertisements being aired on every possible channel? Things grow on us and we acquire tastes for things over time and repeated exposure. These things can be people, commercial products, places. We can get to like most things, given time. It may happen that prisoners may miss prison-even the unpleasant experiences may grow on us to this extent..Because, you see, when we make choices, the familiar is often chosen over unfamiliar.Because of this effect, the next thing you know, you actually ended up buying that product while visiting the supermarket, that irritated you in the first place!

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 3.The Backfire Effect

Let’s say you’re having an argument with a friend about something. You present your friend with a set of facts that you would think would clinch your argument. And yet, while the facts you present clearly contradict your friend’s position, you discover that presenting your friend with these facts does nothing to correct his or her false or unsubstantiated belief. In fact, your friend is even more emboldened in his or her belief after being exposed to corrective information.This effect depicts just that. This happens, not because of the fact that your friend is stubborn or dumb, but that’s exactly how the human brain works. He/She may stick to his point despite you providing credible facts. Time to stop right there and be happy in what you believe in. In short, facts don’t win arguments.

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4. The Ben Franklin Effect

You do nice things for the people you like and bad things to the people you hate.Wrong! You grow to like people for whom you do nice things and hate people you harm. He/She that has once done you a kindness will be more ready to do you another, than he/she whom you yourself have obliged.The self-delusion in question is that we do nice things to people we like and bad things to those we dislike. But what the psychology behind the effect reveals is quite the opposite as we grow to like people for whom we do nice things and dislike those to whom we are unkind.Because all of us have that one friend, whom we love helping even if he screws up multiple times.

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5. The Bystander Effect

Been part of group projects in school or college? And there is almost always that one guy or girl who doesn’t contribute at all and walks away all just fine. Well, well. This is due to a phenomenon called the ‘Diffusion of responsibility’ whereby a person is less likely to take responsibility for action or inaction if others are present.

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6.The Anchor Effect

You walk into a clothing store and see what is probably the most badass leather jacket you’ve ever seen.You try it on, look in the mirror and decide you must have it. While wearing this item, you imagine onlookers will clutch their chests and gasp every time you walk into a room or cross a street. You lift the sleeve to check the price – Rs. 3000/-. Well, that’s that, you think. You start to head back to the hanger when a salesperson stops you and exclaims that there is a discount on that jacket.It’s expensive, and you don’t need it really, but Rs 800/- off the price seems like a great deal for a coat which will increase your cool by a factor of 100. You put it inside the shopping bag, unaware that you’ve been tricked by the oldest retail con in the business!!

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7.The Spotlight Effect

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Have you ever experienced walking into a room wearing that embarrassing T-shirt and thought what will other people perceive you as or how many of them will laugh behind your backs? Or, have you fallen flat on your face and stood up thinking which one of them criticised you? Well, never happens. Turns out, people don’t notice you as much as you think. Take a deep breath and look around. You are surrounded by hundreds and thousands of people who are more or less just like you. Nobody is paying specific attention to you, waiting for you to slip up so that they can make fun of you.Get over it. Ah, it’s all in your head.

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8. The Contrast Effect

Ever noticed when you’re at the gym picking up a 20-pound weight and find it heavy? Next, you try picking up a 35-pound weight and drop it instantly thinking it’s heaviest! Try picking up the 20-pound weight again. Does the second 20-pound weight feel LIGHTER after holding the 35 pound one? And that is what is this effect. In other words, when you are exposed to an object A(here: 35- pound weight) of a particular value, after being exposed to an object of considerably lower value(Here: 20- pound weight), you perceive A’s value higher than its actual value.

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9. The Dunning-Kruger Effect

Have you witnessed talented people being humble and incompetent people are so confident of what they say and do? Ever wondered why talented people are doubtful about themselves and keep re-checking their tasks or statements and incompetent people over-estimate themselves? It’s because of this effect wherein unskilled individuals suffer from illusory superiority, mistakenly assessing their ability to be much higher than is accurate. On the other hand,  highly skilled individuals tend to underestimate themselves, erroneously assuming that tasks which are easy for them are  also easy for others.

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10.The Bandwagon Effect

Smoking pot or cigarettes? Why did you start that in the first place? Can you think of a reason which is good enough? Probably, the best reason you could come up with is that you had been trying to prove yourself to a group of peers that you’re ‘cool’ enough to pull that shit and that you were willing to break some rules to be with them? Ever wondered, it really puts shit in perspective to know that you’ve been letting yourself waste away for what amounts to a complete bullshit reason? Well, the bandwagon effect depicts just that.

This effect refers to people doing certain things because other people are doing them, regardless of their own beliefs, which they may ignore or override. The perceived “popularity” of an object or person may have an effect on how it is viewed on a whole.

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So, how was it? “The pendulum of the mind oscillates between sense and nonsense, not between right and wrong” sounds just right, ain’t it?

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