40. 10 Very Human Things

I won’t bore you with a big pre-spiel (this blog is already long enough), but this post is basically something I was inspired by (slash stole from) 'Saboteur of narratives’ Gurwinder Bhogal and his excellent Twitter thread. In said thread, he explains 40 different psychological concepts, laws, and biases.

You may be happy to hear that we don’t have 40 in this post, and instead I’ve taken my top 9 from Gurwinder’s list. And to try and ensure that this isn't a total rip off, I've also added in a rogue 10th point.

Here we go.

1. Generation Effect: The best way to understand a topic isn’t to read about it, it’s to write about it.

Correct, exactly the reason I wrote this post.

If we write about something, we think about it more. We need to put a bit of structure behind it, and get our brains to try and formulate it some sort of cohesive way. As opposed to just passively reading about something, this active involvement means we’re more likely to remember it.

The whole “the best way to learn something is to teach it” idea is exactly this.

And reassuringly, possibly helps to explain that when I read a book, I only remember about 0.0001% of it. The Generation Effect.

2. Spotlight Effect: We anxiously think that everything we do is being scrutinised by others, but actually no one really cares.

Quite a liberating realisation. How often do we get het up or put off doing things purely due to the fear of what other people will think? If you’re anything like me, the answer is very. Naturally, there’s going to be the odd snidey comment, but for the most part, we tend to be so caught up in our own lives to give what anyone else is doing too much of a second thought.

To Derren Brown’s point “You start to care less about what others think of you, when you realise how rarely they do”. Nice. The Spotlight Effect.

3. Via Negativa: We have a better understanding of what is not, than what is.

Appreciate this one sounds a bit philosophical. But I suppose that’s because it is.

For a fun fact, this idea comes from a Latin phrase (meaning “The Negative Way”) initially used in Christian Theology to explain what God is by focusing on what he isn’t.

But anyway, enough from me trying to sound intelligent based on something I just Googled.

In short, we generally know more about what won’t work, as opposed to what will.

We might not know if the Keto or Paleo diet will help us achieve our fitness dreams, but we do know that eating donuts every day probably won’t.

Or, we don’t know if turning up an hour early to work every day will help us get promoted, but we do know that turning up an hour late probably won’t.

As such, when in doubt, we’re advised to base decisions on avoiding what we shouldn’t do as opposed to doing what we should. To James Clear’s point, “In many cases, improvement is not about doing more things right, but about doing less things wrong. Don’t look for things to add. Look for things to eliminate”. Via Negativa.

4. Trait Ascription Bias: We see ourselves as having an adaptable personality, and see others as having a fixed personality.

We see this all the time. “John (no offence to the Johns out there) did that thing because he’s a bad bloke, but I did that thing simply because I was in a bad mood”.

We have a tendency to think other people do things because that’s who they (permanently) are, but justify doing the same thing ourselves because of the (temporary) mood we were in. The hypocritical shitebags that we are.

Another useful realisation in terms of helping increase empathy, emotional intelligence, and generally getting on better with other people. Trait Ascription Bias.

5. Reactive Devaluation: We negatively judge information if we have a negative perception of the information giver.

We laugh at a joke that someone we like makes. Though we don’t laugh at the same joke if someone we don’t like makes it.

Or, we take what the CEO says as gospel, but dismiss the intern for having the same point of view.

Once again, us and our shitebag tendencies. Reactive Devaluation.

6. Hyperbolic Discounting: We’re more likely to choose immediate rewards over longer term rewards, even if those longer term rewards are better.

There’s that classic Stanford marshmallow study. Have one now, or have two later. And the majority of people chose having the one marshmallow now.

Just as objects in the distance seem smaller, so do things in the distant future.

We see this in all areas of life. We happily commit to a social event that’s 2 months away, and then it comes around and we think “Urgh, why on earth did I say I'd go to that!?”.

Or businesses using that pesky “Buy now, pay later” approach. Or the inclination to stay on the sofa, rather than go for a run.

It’s basically the whole 'immediate gratification vs long term reward' thing. Talk about life’s ongoing battle. Hyperbolic Discounting.

7. The Opinion Economy: Due to the rise of social media, we are now defined more by what we say than what we do. Which, unlike actions, can be cheap and easy to do.

As the saying goes, talk is cheap.

However, with social media, we’re now more exposed to what people say far more than what people actually do. As such, there’s a tendency to overvalue talk and undervalue action.

This can be highly convenient, as we can get the recognition for being a good/productive/virtuous person, without actually having to put in the effort to be one.

For example, unless we splash it all over social media, we can get less social acknowledgement for spending 5 days fundraising than spending 5 seconds adding a badge to our profile picture.

This misalignment of incentives can encourage the “why make the effort to do a good deed, when you can get more recognition for not” thought process. The Opinion Economy.

8. Idiocy Saturation: The average social media post or comment is more stupid than the average social media user

One of my many guilty pleasures is reading the Daily Mail Sports section. I have a mild addiction to reading the comments. Let’s just say that they’re rarely grounded in nuance, balance and understanding. No, often they’re absolutely mental.

So, this principle is one that provides me a little bit of reassurance in humanity.

This tendency comes from the fact that people who don’t think much about their comments are, by definition, more likely to post than those who do. As such, social media tends to over-index towards the less thinky types. Idiocy Saturation.

9. Belief Perseverance: Maintaining a belief despite new information that clearly contradicts it.

Our beliefs are often like a tower of Jenga. Each one supports and is supported by the others. As such, changing one belief can mean tearing down all beliefs atop it. Such destruction isn’t so easy, and can be the catalyst for a bit of an identity crisis. As such, people don’t often want to let that one metaphorical block of Jenga budge.

Nope, in contrast, in another concept known as ‘The Backfire Effect’, our beliefs can even be strengthened when others try to present evidence that debunk them. We double down.

Of course, if we hold on to an opinion regardless of the amount of evidence that confirms the opposite, it’s not an opinion, it's an ideological belief. Think Flat Earthers, or people who believe Messi is better than Ronaldo :) Belief Perseverance.

10. Zeigarnik Effect: We remember unfinished tasks better than we remember finished ones.

This wasn’t actually one of Gurwinder’s, but it’s a goody so we’re including it.

When we start something but don’t finish it, thoughts of this unfinished task continue to pop into our mind even when we’ve moved on to other things.

This can be a beneficial/life hacky concept to know.

For example, let's say we have a sink full of dishes. If we just washed one plate and called it a day, our brains would likely keep nagging us to finish the rest.

We see this across all areas of life. Just putting our running shorts on. Just doing one sentence of a report. Just putting the oven on (instead of opening Uber Eats). Once we start something, our brains have a tendency to badger us until we finish it. The Zeigarnik…. Effect.

So there we have it, 10 relatively common psychological principles, concepts and biases.

A big thank you for reading, an even bigger thank you to Gurwinder for the knowledge and inspo.

And to Hyperbolic Discount, catch you in a few weeks time.