ereko.am : 10 Psychological Effects That Affect Our Behavior

Sometimes we do something and then think What was the logic of my behavior? Was it there? In fact, there’s always some logic, but most often it hides in certain peculiarities of our mind. Bright Side decided to describe 10 such effects affecting us almost every day. Now you’ll understand why you act one way or another.

10. The Anchoring Effect

People feel it much easier to evaluate something if they have the original price (even if it’s wrong) as a kind of anchor. It’s often used by stores. For example, you wouldn’t buy a blouse for $300 in your right mind. But if you see it originally cost $1,000, you’ll think it’s a sin to miss such a great deal, although the initial price might be invented.

9. Deflection to the Result

We often judge the correctness of a decision by the final result, not by the actions taken to achieve it. This effect is often used by those ads which concentrate us only on the final result (for example, on buying). So if now you’re using a brand-new iPhone, you cannot claim that the decision to spend all your money on it was right.

8. The Paradox of Choice

The paradox of choice says that the more choices there are, the less the possibility we’ll be happy with our final choice. Remember: sometimes you buy something and then regret it because you could have bought it on sale, or another model, or... Even if the final decision is the best, we can stay unhappy because the choice was too big.

7. Clustering Illusion

This illusion is characterized by the tendency to see a certain system in random coincidences. This especially applies to gamblers and lovers of fate signs. Both of them can wrongly interpret events. Don’t wind yourself up, people.

6. Pratfall Effect

Imagine a couple walking down the street, and one of them suddenly hits a pole. It’s unlikely the other one will think "What an idiot!" On the contrary, the first one will seem even more sweet. It’s because perfection is repulsive, and mistakes are attractive — they make us more human. This is why you shouldn’t get too upset having stumbled in front of a person you like.

5. The Kuleshov Effect

The effect when a viewer, after seeing two unrelated frames, unconsciously makes up a logical connection for them is called the Kuleshov effect (here you can read more about it). This effect is successfully used not only among cinematographers but also among marketers, instilling in you certain associations with a certain product or character.

4. "Body Negative"

"Body negative" is a condition where a person thinks they’re ugly, and this is why their personal life is a fail. And their whole life is a fail. Most often such people are attractive, and the problem is more about self-esteem than real flaws.

3. Survivorship Bias

Most often we judge a situation only by successful people ("survivors"), and this is why we know just one side of it. For example, we envy a businessman who got rich selling Bengal lights, though we simply don’t know how many businessmen failed with them. Look at things from different angles.

2. Hard-to-Reach Effect

Roughly speaking, this is the phenomenon telling that the hard-to-reach is always more desirable. Even if we look at it from a human level: closed, high-status, "no-one-knows-what’s-on-their-mind" people always seem a more interesting object to get acquainted with.

1. The Fear of Beauty

Did you notice that ordinary people are less likely to sit down next to beautiful people (for example, on public transport)? They do it only if there are no other seats left. The fact is that some people feel excessive tension next to beautiful people: excitement, double control of one’s own actions, the desire to save face, fear of comparison, fear of being caught in frequent glances. Such stress doesn’t arise next to an average person.

Preview photo credit Depositphotos

Source: https://www.brightside.me/inspiration-psychology/10-psychological-effects-that-affect-our-behavior-352710/