Humans are surprising beings, so it is common for us to show phenomena and it is common for us to show psychological phenomena and processes that are far from what is considered normal and it is curious to study them.. There are different phenomena such as cognitive dissonance, obedience to authority or choices influenced by our emotions that make us wonder how rational our behavior is and what influences they may have on our thinking or beliefs, sometimes leading us to act in a way that contradicts them.
We will see how these phenomena occur without, many times, a voluntary control by the person who presents them. We do not mean by this that they are negative or harmful to us, but having a greater knowledge of them can help us to be a little more aware of what is happening so that we can act in a more functional and adaptive way.
In this article we will cite and explain some of the psychological phenomena that generate more curiosity, trying to solve some of your questions..
Surprising psychological phenomena that will not leave you indifferent
The capacity and functions of the human mind never cease to surprise and generate questions about different phenomena that occur. We like to think that we can control everything we think, feel and do but in different occasions we see that it is difficult to perform or maintain this control and we end up acting in ways that we had never thought or conceived possible before.
It is for this reason that we will now mention some of the psychological phenomena that we have considered the most curious and that may be of interest to you. Surely you can think of more than one example that has happened to you.
1. Cognitive dissonance
The phenomenon of cognitive dissonance proposed by Leon Festinger has been of great interest in Social Psychology, it refers to the fact that when two dissonant, different or contrary elements appear between them, a psychological state of discomfort and discomfort is produced in the subject, which he/she will try to diminish or eliminate. which the subject will try to diminish or eliminate, as well as to avoid any type of information that causes the increase of this dissonance or discomfort. Thus, the author points out that this phenomenon is of motivational origin.
As we have said this phenomenon has been widely studied in the social field, conducting various investigations to better study this process. This phenomenon is typical that appears when we do a behavior contrary to our beliefs or thoughts, for example if we have to give our opinion on a subject but we are forced to lie is likely to appear a dissonance, although it will also influence if there is an external reason that justifies it or not, that is, if I express an opinion contrary to mine but I am paid for it surely feel less dissonance than if they do not give me any reward in return.
Hallucination is a term that usually causes great fear and we usually value it as something unusual that only “crazy” or “sick” people have, but this statement is not true since it has been proven that one third of the population has had a hallucination at some point in their lives.
Thus, hallucinations are classified as hallucinations are classified as a psychopathology of sensory perception, more specifically, they are considered a delusion.More specifically, they are considered a perceptual deception, which is defined as the erroneous perception of an external stimulus without there being any object. This means that through one of the 5 senses, sight, hearing, touch, smell or taste, the subject perceives a presence when there is really nothing.
Thus, this curious phenomenon is one of the typical symptoms in patients with schizophrenia, but it can also occur in other mental disorders and even in the population without disorder, for example in a situation of high stress, with a lot of stimulation or the opposite of stimulus deprivation are conditions where it is more likely that we can present hallucinations. To emphasize that the difference between the population without disorder with respect to those who do have it, is that in the latter the hallucinations are more frequent and are maintained over time, also showing other symptoms.
3. Obedience to authority
It is also known in Social Psychology the study conducted by Stanley Milgram where a group of experimental subjects were asked to give an electric shock to another individual, who was an accomplice, if he failed. In this way it was seen that 65% of the experimental subjects continued to apply shocks up to 450 volts sufficient to kill the subject.
It was found that even though the individuals showed discomfort, the majority continued with the experiment and only needed the presence of an authority figure to remind them to continue, and at no time were they prohibited from doing so.At no time were they forbidden to finish. This experiment was an attempt to explain inhumane behavior such as that of the Nazis during the Holocaust, how an authority figure can make you perform behaviors you never thought possible.
4. Choices influenced by emotions
The human being is a rational being but there is another variable that influences our thinking and when we make a choice, this is the emotion. People have these two parts, the rational and the emotional, which interact with each other and despite making us different from other living beings, sometimes the decisions or choices are not the most accurate.
At all times our emotions influence our day to day life.We are not able to avoid these states, which appear and influence us even if we do not want them to, making our reaction not as rational as it should be, even though we try to convince ourselves that it has been rational.
5. Placebo effect
The placebo effect is very surprising because it demonstrates how powerful our mind can be.. This effect consists in the appearance of a change in the subject when taking a drug that really has no effect. To make it clearer, let’s take the following example: a patient with a physiological affectation such as a headache is told that with this pill this pain will disappear, the curious thing will be to see how the subject actually improves although the pill did not really have any active ingredient and it was only sugar.
6. Social loafing
Social idleness is a term that has been used to refer to the decrease in motivation and work when it is done in a group. Thus, we observe a decrease in effort when we do work in a group compared to work done individually.
It may be because the subject thinks that his contribution will hardly be identified and valued or that it will be similar to others already made and therefore unnecessary. Thus, if the size of the group increases, inefficiency and laziness at work will also increase.
7. Thinking about our successes does not help our motivation.
It has been shown that fantasizing and thinking about the successes we have already had does not help us to stay motivated. Focusing on the past, even if it is on positive events, can distract us and not help us to focus on the current objectives, in the present, thus reducing the involvement and motivation directed to the present moment.
8. Wanting to suppress a thought increases its presence
It is usual and it will have happened to you that when you want to stop thinking about something and you force yourself to do it, the simple fact of denying the thought makes you continue thinking and keeps it in your mind, the simple fact of denying the thought makes you keep on thinking and it stays in your mind.. An example could be, if I tell you “don’t think about a bear” you have inevitably already thought about it.
This is the typical process that happens to people who suffer from obsessive compulsive disorder, in these subjects appear unpleasant ideas repeatedly that receive the name of obsessions, these generate a discomfort in the patient who will try to avoid them, but this purpose paradoxically makes them increase.
9. The capacity to divide our attention
Divided attention is a type of attention that allows us to be aware of and attend to different stimuli or tasks at the same time, that is, to be able to perform more than one action simultaneously.
It has been proven that for this to be possible, for divided attention to be effective and for us to be able to perform multiple tasks adequately, it is necessary that we have mastery of all or most of the tasks. That is, I will be able to type on the computer and talk on the phone with a client in an optimal way and without problems, if I have both tasks trained and I do them regularly.
10. Happiness is in the small details
It is normal and adaptive to have future goals that are usually complex and need effort and time to achieve them, but to stay motivated and achieve these long-term goals, it is necessary to have small rewards, small short-term goals that are easier to achieve and keep us strong to meet our ultimate goal. Every reward, effort or achievement is to be valued and we should feel happy about it, it is the sum of these that will make us happy, every little advance is an achievement.