12 Psychological Facts about Your Life
Psychology is not just restricted to academics, students and therapists. It is a subject both applied and theoretical. Its applications are varied.
An average person might not enjoy reading research studies but they can definitely grasp the daily applications of psychology for an improvement in their overall life.
Some lesser known facts about our daily life are listed below that have been proven true by research.
An insight into the unconscious mind can help a person be more aware of what is going on around them that their real eye might have missed.
Your Key to Happiness Lies In Buying For Others
This one is pretty much a no-brainer.
You can’t be alien to the happiness that comes with spending on others and buying them gifts. Science has just taken up on it.
According to a research conducted by Elizabeth Dunn and Michael Norton on how to buy happiness with money, they concluded the five key beliefs they surmise are essential components for a happier life.
They believe a person can stay considerably happier if they start investing in these five things:
- Buying experiences
- Treating oneself to things they like
- Buying time for everything in life
- Delaying consumption
- Spending on others.
Meditation Can Rid You of Stress
Engaging in prayer and meditation can help a person lead a stress-free life.
The American Psychiatric Publishing Textbook of Mood Disorders has revealed that incorporating meditation and prayer in the daily routine of an individual reduces stress levels, often enabling a person get rid of stress for good.
The pattern observed between religiosity and prayer is complex but the religious involvement can affect the relationship both positively and negatively. Various studies have shown the more a person is religiously involved, the fewer are his/her symptoms of stress.
Tricking Yourself into Getting the Best Out Of You
Every time you wished you had slept enough and didn’t know what to do can now be replaced by ‘placebo sleeping’.
A published study in Journal of Experimental Psychology reveals you can convince your mind into having slept enough to be at your utmost efficiency and be optimally productive just be believing it.
‘Placebo sleep’ is what they have termed it. The idea behind the research is to tell how a positive outlook can improve your work quality and negative outlook can similarly detriment the work quality.
Your success depends on the frame of mind you are in at any given time.
If it’s positive and happy, it’s going to get passed on to your output.
If you are depressed and melancholic it too will show in your productivity levels and overall behavior.
So, the next time you complain about how tired you are to a fellow colleague, you might want to rethink that statement.
Competent People Will Underestimate Themselves, While Incompetent People Are Likely To Overestimate
You will come across countless people from both categories and you would instantly know it’s the Dunning-Kruger effect these people are under.
According to the theory postulated by Dunning and Kruger, the idea of overestimation in the incompetent arises from an internal illusion or an error of the self, whilst the idea of underestimation in the competent stems from an error about others.
One assumes every task is easy for them. The other believes every task is easy for everybody else.
You Are More Rational When You Think in a Foreign Language
In a study conducted on 54 students from the University of Chicago, researchers revealed a second language causes one to draw a useful cognitive distance from the automatic processing of the brain and leads them to analytical thinking instead of un-thoughtful emotional response.
The study suggests that if people opt for using a second language when taking financial decisions, it could help them make beneficial, long-term decisions.
Thinking in a foreign language can help people get rid of deep-rooted biases and misleading concepts.
Talking About Goals Deters You From Achieving Them
Up till now, you might have been thinking that instead of just going ahead with your plans you should tell your friends and family about it. That talking about your goals would improve your network but here is a surprising bit of news.
Research carried out since 1933 have revealed people who insist on talking about their goals stand a slight chance of actually achieving them.
What exactly happens is once a person has done his/her share of talking, the whole episode becomes a sort of ‘social reality’ in their mind which stands as a barrier to the achievement of their goals.
Four tests conducted on 63 people discovered people who don’t publicize their intentions go on to actually achieving their goals because they haven’t received the acknowledgement those who have talked about it have received.
Nothing Distorts Memories More Than Your Own Brain
Your brain is the most treasured part of your entire body.
It is responsible for all the numerous activities that go on in there and in your life. Your brain is home to all your memories.
What if I told you that it’s not exactly a home but a refinery which keeps redefining your memories the more you recall them?
Research has revealed every time you recall a memory from your mind, you put it back after making some alterations to it.
Excessive recalling of a memory might change the original memory entirely! This might be a bit depressing to digest but you cannot keep your memories forever.
Use Music to Lift You Out Of Your Bad Mood
If you are going through bouts of depression and can’t seem to focus and operate normally, you might want to plug in your earphones, close your eyes and listen to some happy music.
Research conducted by Jacob Jolij and his student Maaike Meurs from University of Groningen showed music impacts our mood and our perception.
The latter is more intensely impacted than the former.
Not only will you feel happy while listening to happy music but you are also likely to view things from a happy and positive perspective which will lead to better decisions and sound choices.
The research concluded the brain takes into consideration your mood as well as your experience when creating expectations.
Your Favorite Song Tells a Tale about You
Music has long been known to have a direct impact on the listener’s emotions as well as their perception.
A recent study conducted on nine undergrad students has shown people related to certain songs more than others because it reminded them of certain emotional experiences.
People have both short-term and long-term favorite songs which vastly differ.
When people were tuned in to happy songs, they could see happy faces and sad when they were listening to sad songs.
Just like certain smells transport people into past memories, music works the same way.
Now you can assess why someone’s favorite song is a sad one and why they listen to it on repeat even when they look happy.
Spend On Experiences Rather Than Products
All your life, you have been told to cut down on this save up on that, and let go off this, so you may be able to buy the house or car of your dreams.
What if you are unable to feel happy even after having given up on so much?
Did you ever consider the possibility a dream car or a dream house may not be your treasure of happiness but a trek up a mountain might?
An expanding research body has suggested while more people are caught up taking other people’s dreams as their own instead of exploring their source of happiness, they lose sight of it altogether.
They opt out of enjoying vacations and concerts just so they can buy their dream home.
High School Students Today Have the Same Anxiety Level as a 1950s Psychiatric Patient
Half of the global population today is prone to anxiety, depression and substance abuse.
In reality, the human race is spiraling into anxiety with every passing decade because of various reasons.
Some of the most common reasons for the splurge in depression is people are inclined towards relocating to newer areas and cities, interacting less with people around them, switching jobs quickly, delaying getting married and a general inclination of living alone.
Just like the reasons are varied, so is people’s response to getting over it.
Money Buys Happiness Up To $75,000 a Year
There are two tracks to happiness.
One of the sources of happiness is emotional well-being which leads to daily contentment and the other is an individual’s overall assessment of life.
We can assume that with more money comes a more satisfied assessment of life.
Interestingly, according to a study conducted on 450,000 participants in the US, if a person makes $75,000 a year, the additional money will be spent on stuff they won’t actually need.
It isn’t always the case that money can buy you happiness, regardless of how much you value and need it.
Originally published at Jose Casanova’s Thoughts.
