The human brain really is a mysterious thing that can easily be affected by things in unexpected ways. We are unconsciously influenced by the things that we are not even familiar with. The fact that humans are weird and complicated cannot be denied. This is why managing our social life is really tricky especially when you have no idea about the quirks of human psychology. Check out below psychology hacks to control situation!
Knowing some psychological truths and having the knowledge about how our minds work will certainly give us benefits in achieving what you want in life. Additionally, mastering basic psychological hacks will help you win over most people who deal with things by relying just on their instinct and emotion.
Therefore, here are some essential psychology hacks that you can use to help you control any situation you are in:
1. Chew Gum For Tests
You need to make sure that your loud chewing noises don’t cause your classmates to physically attack you. Scientists have discovered that chewing gum right before an exam could improve your score. The chewing motion improves the flow of blood to the head which can help you with your memory.
While the effects last only a few minutes, researchers still do believe that chewing gum is really useful. According to a study, students who chewed gum immediately before an exam recalled about 25-50% more than the students who didn’t chew gum.
2. Smiling
Surprisingly, smiling turns out to be one of the most powerful psychology hacks to control any situation. Everyone knows that people smile when they are happy, but only a few people know that smiling also causes you to feel happy. In a study regarding this topic, subjects were told to either raise their cheeks, meaning smile, or contract their eyebrows, meaning frown, when they were
presented with several images.
Subjects found the images that they viewed while smiling appear to be more pleasant compared to the ones they viewed while they were frowning. So, if you are trying to cheer yourself up, just smile and you’ll be more likely to smile without having to force it anytime soon. Interestingly, people are also less likely to get mad or upset if they can see their own frowning face in the mirror.
3. Throwing Your Opponent Off Their Game
If you are playing a sport or a game, and your opponent is doing extremely well, there is a way to throw them off without them even realizing it. Firstly, you need to ask them about their technique. By asking them about how exactly they are doing, it will take them out of the zone and back to their own head.
Anyone who has ever been in this zone can tell you that your head is not the place where you want to be. Truthfully, hitting your stride in a game is all about concisely not considering all the things you theoretically know and practiced. Afterwards, just effortlessly putting them into action.
FYI: Humans have two kinds of memory called implicit memory and explicit memory. Implicit memory is long term and it does not require your conscious thought. This is where you want to be when you are in games. On the other hand, explicit memory is what you are causing them to fall back into. This causes conscious recall.
4. Eye Contact
Figuring out just how much eye contact you are supposed to make in a conversation can be really awkward sometimes. Especially for the people who might be huge fans when it comes to having conversations with people that they don’t know in the first place.
Dale Carnegie, the author of the famous book entitled “How to Win Friends and Influence People”, offered this solution. Look into someone’s eyes long enough to tell what color they are before you look away. This feels like a natural and conversational amount of eye contact that you should be making.
A similar trick to this is to imagine a triangle that connects the other person’s eyes and mouth. Next, shift your gaze between the three points every five to ten seconds. This will show that you are interested in the conversation, even if you’d rather be playing video games or eating a sandwich.
5. Remember Names
Whenever you meet someone that you’ll meet again or even there’s just a chance that you might meet them again, it is important to remember their name. People are more likely and willing to help you if they feel valued by you. Therefore, the start of making someone feel valued is actually by remembering their name.
This is because by not remembering someone’s name, whether you intend to or not, you are telling them that to you they are just one of many. For example, every student in the class knows the name of their teacher, but the teacher may not remember the name of every student. The reason behind this is because each student has only one teacher but the teacher has many students.
In conclusion, by remembering someone’s name you are actually showing them that they are the only person that fills that role for you.
Read Also: Here Are 7 Ways To Tell If Someone Is Lying To You!
6. Foot in the Door
The foot in the door technique is an infamous psychology hacks to control situation. The technique operates on the principle that people are more likely to agree to something big if you are capable of getting them to agree to something small. Social scientists normally call it successive approximations. Technically, if you can land a small yes, you are going to have a higher chance of getting a big yes. Therefore, the next time you need a favor it is important to consider this technique which is to start small and accelerate.
7. Asking Questions
Talking to other human beings could be a real struggle for some people. It may even look like a daunting task, and it can be almost physically painful to sit through an awkward silence. Therefore, the best way to casually start conversations and maintain them is actually just by asking questions.
Most people love talking about themselves when they are in a conversation, and questions actually allow them to bring conversation in that direction. This explains why interviews could last for hours and hours, since nobody knows anything better than themselves.
8. Don’t Over Negotiate
Negotiating deals is a mixture of art and science that some people seem to be really good at and others just stumble through. One way to help your situation is to stop talking after you stated your position. Unnecessary words will make your position seem weaker as it makes you look like you don’t even understand it yourself.
Over-explaining can also make you appear less confident and is just as common for people to talk too much. Basically after you have given them what they need to know about your offer, everything you say after that is going to be useless.
9. First Dates
Well, people usually think that the ideal place for their first date is either a movie theater or a coffee shop. But actually, some signs show that it is better off to take your date on a roller coaster. This is known as “Misattribution of Arousal”. This psychological idea describes the process where people unconsciously mistake what is actually causing them to feel excited. The roller coaster is what’s actually making your dates flooded with endorphins and their blood stream with adrenaline. This might make them think that it’s actually you.
An interesting test has been done on this idea, they had men cross either a suspension bridge or a normal sturdy bridge. This to get to a woman on the other side who gave them her personal phone number. They could call if they had questions about the study. The result shows that a greater percentage of the men who had gone across the suspension bridge called the women. This compliments the psychological idea called “Misattribution of Arousal”.
10. The Word “Because”
The word “because” has a very unique effect on the human mind and definitely should be considered the next time you’re asking someone for something. Likewise, people are more likely to help you if you phrase your request as an offer. For example, instead of saying “Would you help me?”, use “Please help me.”
Try applying this the next time you are asking someone for a favor. You are going to notice that this hack works perfectly.
Read Also: Being Lazy Too Much? Here Are 7 Steps To Stop It!
Bottom Line
These ten seemingly simple things were actually lurking under your nose and infiltrating your brain your whole life without you even realizing it. You can simply ignore most amateur psychology tricks that can be found all around the Internet. Well, since it might not be as efficient and will just be a waste of your time. However, there are still many hidden gems that could be found in a sea of mediocrity. Hopefully, the following psychology hacks will help you in any social situations and just generally in life.
