Psychological Effects That Are Very Interesting

We as humans can be exposed to certain psychological effects. Some effects can be harmful, while others are not. Some are typical of certain societies, while others are most common among teenagers. Whatever the case, these psychological effects can spare your brain some of the information you ingest every day.

It is important to divide everyday information. Although your brain may make mistakes, most psychological effects can improve your acquisition of things. Think of cavemen. They had to be fast and efficient, instead of analytical and slow.

In modern times, advertising, companies and society use these psychological traps to increase sales. 

In this article we will tell you about some psychological effects that are among the most common and most interesting.

Some interesting psychological effects

The Barnum effect

How often have you not read your horoscope and thought: “This is happening to me!” But it is only the skew of the brain. What you read does not happen to you in particular. When this happens, you are a victim of the Barnum effect.

The Barnum effect occurs when we are told or read descriptions that seem tailored to us. But these descriptions can be vague.

See for yourself:

As you can see, everyone will be able to fit into this description. Many may start new projects. Who does not have a close person who is going through a difficult time? Who doesn’t get colds or back pain sometimes? Everyone tends to be more active on Mondays and Tuesdays because they have just had the weekend off.

Anchoring or focalism

This effect is used by many advertising campaigns. Imagine that you are on a sale, and it is a coat you want. It has two labels: one with a very high price and another with a very low price.

You do not think twice, and buy the coat with the lowest price. What happened? The first prize was an anchor that you used as a reference. Since the coat was on sale, you could not miss the chance to buy it.

Psychological effects: Fundamental attribution errors

Sometimes we think that personalities are to blame for how people behave. We should instead think about the circumstances that may have influenced the person to act as they did. Thus , the attributes can affect how people are perceived.

Psychological effects: False consensus effect

This happens when we overestimate how many people agree with us. It is a way to exaggerate our self-confidence and faith, even if it is wrong. This can have many negative effects, including that it does not allow us to open up to the world, to other people’s ideas and how others think and feel. 

This may be why we miss important and useful information. Think, for example, that you are the owner of a company, and that you do not want to work with people who think differently and can give it a different view of life.

Illusory correlation

This can overestimate the connection between two variables where they are in fact completely independent of each other.

Think of gambling addicts. They may say to themselves that a slot machine is on fire because it is still full of coins. They relate time to chance, even though slot machines are known to follow a random system.

Psychological effects: Self-fulfilling prophecies

This is when we have a strong perception of something specific, and we thus act according to this perception. Thus, reality confirms these beliefs, as if they were prophecies.

For example, you can think of a pathological, unfounded jealous person. This can cause them to question their partner, spy on them and exhaust them to the point that they eventually end the relationship.

Partial blind spot

This effect is when we do not recognize our own bias and effects. This is when you think that “this is happening to other people”, even though it is something that can happen to anyone.