Ambivalence and Decision Making
PEOPLE WHO SEE THE WORLD AS BLACK AND WHITE TEND TO…
Speak their mind or make quick decisions.
Be more predictable in making decisions (e.g., who they vote for).
Be less anxious about making wrong choices.
Have relationship conflicts that are less drawn out.
Be less likely to consider others’ points of view.
PEOPLE WHO SEE THE WORLD IN SHADES OF GRAY TEND TO….
Procrastinate or avoid making decisions if possible.
Feel more regret after making decisions.
Be thoughtful about making the right choice.
Stay longer in unhappy relationships.
Appreciate multiple points of view.
If there isn’t an easy answer, ambivalent people, more than black-and-white thinkers, are likely to procrastinate and avoid making a choice, for instance about whether to take a new job, says Dr. Harreveld. But if after careful consideration an individual still can’t decide, one’s gut reaction may be the way to go.
Dr. van Harreveld says in these situations he flips a coin, and if his immediate reaction when the coin lands on heads is negative, then he knows what he should do.
Lack Of Awareness
Most People Are Not Observant – Watch more Funny Videos
I remember seeing a clip from a prank show of some sort where they did this same experiment. They went even further though. They had the second person pop up from behind the counter who was the opposite gender as the first person. Later they changed the race of the second person. Unfortunately I can’t find that video.
I wished this experiment had went a little further with that just so we could see how far removed we are from our daily experiences.
How Far Will You Go For Your Dream?
How important is your dream and what price would you pay to succeed?
Is It A Coffee Addiction Or A Ritual?
“We found a large a variance – larger than we anticipated – in the caffeine content in each of the espressos,” he said.
“The range was 25 milligrams to 214 milligrams, which was far greater than we’d anticipated.
That is an amazing variance. Other searches online found smaller variances but the point is maybe you don’t need coffee. Maybe it is more of a ritual than an addiction which creates a placebo effect.
“But it is a proven drug. It has to work,” you think. Not so fast. There are over 1 million Google search results for “caffeine contradictory results“. Here is one:
http://www.pe2000.com/caffeine.htm
New research into the effects of caffeine continues appear every few months and these reports frequently contradict one another – depending on who did the research, how many people were evaluated and, of course, who funded the research… So the definitive word on caffeine has not yet been agreed upon.
Caffeine affects each of us differently – a hit of caffeine that will cause insomnia in one person but can be a great nightcap for someone else.
So if there isn’t a taste issue and drinkers get different levels of caffeine with each cup, it isn’t about the jolt to the system. It is about a ritual. The ritual most likely started while watching parents and adults drink coffee – another one of the many things we do to feel like an adult as soon as we can.
Still unsure if it is a ritual? Tell a coffee drinker, or more suiting, yourself, to take a tablet form of caffeine like No-Doz or Vivarin instead of your hit that you need so bad. And few will do it, otherwise there would be Vivarin shops on every corner instead of Starbucks.
Instead of labeling it as a need, be honest and label it as it is, a want. The more things that you can pull out of the need category the more control you have in your life and with your mind.
Getting A Shape
No plan? No goal? No direction? Below is the difference between life by design and just being.
Choose what you want to be and start today.
The Placebo Effect Improved. Whut?!
The Placebo Effect is a well known phenomenon to anyone who has studied a little science or psychology. But just in case here it is; the Placebo Effect is where someone is given a pill or treatment, and told that it is supposed to do something when it is actually an inert pill or treatment.
My earliest memory of the concept was watching MASH as a kid and Colonel Potter suggested giving sugar pills and telling the wounded that is was the medicine they had run out of recently. It worked on the show and in real life.
In medical trials they will give test subject an inert pill and they pill they have developed to cure something. They compare the results to see if their new medicine works. Well apparently the drug companies constant commercials about this and that drug that we need has increased the populations belief that pills cure because the Placebo Effect has improved.
Wired magazine gives the story how the Placebo Effect is undoing the effectiveness of new drugs,
It’s not that the old meds are getting weaker, drug developers say. It’s as if the placebo effect is somehow getting stronger.
I started studying psychology when I was a teenager and there is a love/hate relationship with it. This is one of the phenomenons I really wished I didn’t know. I think everything is a placebo effect and believe few things have an effect on me. This may be why I can fall asleep after drinking a Mountain Dew but I will question any medicine solely based on this concept.
But once you go down the rabbit hole you can’t stop and now I question everything that goes on with our minds and behavior which makes this site heavenly for me.
How Superstition Is Created
It is interesting how easily superstition can be created and reinforced.
Derren Brown Trick or Treat Season 2 Episode 6 from Wouterk on Vimeo.
Are We In Control Of Our Own Decisions?
As most of you know that have studied psychology much, humans are poor reporters of our own lives. We miss details, our memories fill in holes with logic, and come up with incorrect conclusions very often.
This video shows that our decisions can be compromised by other factors. The mantra, “Everything is relative,” is proven by the examples given by behavioral economist Dan Ariely. The plan of car salesman, Realtors, etc. to show you the inferior products before showing you the best stands up according to professor Ariely.
I think this also plays a part when someone asks us our favorite thing one day and then asks again some days later only to hear a different answer. We weren’t lying this was the information most readily available to us at the moment.
My top five of anything can easily change on numbers 3, 4. and 5. One and two may change as well. This also comes up in beliefs. The more you study psychology the more you realize that your perceptions, the way you process information, and take action, the more you learn that the processes are very fluid and reactive, much to the dismay of many who think they are in control, like me.
Why I Get Good Parking Spaces
I usually get really good spots. Some might say that it is wish fulfillment, others might say it is Quantum Physics. I think more often than not it is expectations. I read someone’s book, maybe Napoleon Hill or Zig Ziglar, who said that they imagined an open space waiting for them before they arrived somewhere and it was always waiting for them.
I think many people don’t expect the best. We are comfortable and don’t want to be let down. ”This parking spot is close enough and I will never find one up front,” they say. One time I almost took the easy far out spot but decided not to give in easily. I wheeled around to the very front and best spots and three were open. And one person in front of me took an earlier “easy” spot many cars back. They made that same assumption.
Expect more out of life.
Adventures in parking below.