Psychological Tricks that are very useful.

1. Too much Motivation Drops You Down!

Aside from other factors, our motivation really influences whether we achieve our goals or not. Of course, if we are not motivated enough, we are not likely to achieve good results. But, according to the Yerkes—Dodson law, if you are too motivated, your productivity drops too.

An athlete that is too motivated by the prize may do a bad job during the competition, and a girl that wants to lose weight so that a guy will like her, may start eating again after she stops dieting. The stress and the high tension make it really hard to achieve the results you want.

2. Expectations Always Hurt You!

We think that something good is more likely to happen to us rather than something bad. In 1998, American psychologist, Scott Plous, did an experiment: students were given a list of 42 positive and negative events (illness, buying a house, getting a raise, and so on). Every single one of them was asked to estimate the chances that these things would happen in their lives and not happen to others. People thought that the likelihood of the good events was 15% higher for them that the bad events — and 20% lower than for others.

3. Less-is-better

If we are offered 2 things, without a direct comparison between each of them, we are more likely to choose the less valuable one. So, if a guy gives a girl a basket of cheap beauty products, she will think that he is less generous than someone who gives her a Chanel lipstick, even though in the first case, the guy spent more money.

4. Denomination

We are more likely to pay with small bills and save the big ones. In 2009, this effect was described by Priya Raghubir and Joydeep Srivastava. Students were each given a dollar: half of the group got one dollar bills, and others got 4 quarters. Then, they were offered to either save the dollar or spend it on candy. Students were more likely to spend the coins.

5. Contrast effect

The contrast effect is how we see and sense things when they are isolated and when they are being compared to other things. In the 17th century, teacher and philosopher John Locke noticed that if you put your hand in warm water, it may seem to be hot or cold depending on the water your hand was in before.

6. Overconfidence effect

The overconfidence effect is about our tendency to overestimate our abilities and put ourselves into the “above average” category. We are also likely to believe in flattery.

So, a girl who is discussing the fact that she broke up with her boyfriend with her friends may use their words (like “You are perfect” or “You did the right thing”) as an argument to not admit her own mistakes. And a teacher, who is sure that they are right, may not take a student’s words seriously because they are younger and less educated.

7. Low-ball

The low-ball effect is the phenomenon that happens when we agree to something, and later the conditions change, but we still most likely want whatever we agreed to. This effect is often used in sales. In 1978, psychologists Robert Cialdini, John T. Cacioppo, and their colleagues did an experiment. One group of students was offered to take part in an experiment that was scheduled for 7 AM. Only 24% agreed. The other group was not told when they were supposed to come and when 56 % of students agreed, they were told about the early time for the experiment. None of them refused to come1