“You are a psychology student, right? So, you can read my mind and know what I am thinking!”
“Oh, yes not only can I read minds but also fly with my angel wings and move objects with my mind!”
Here’s an eye opener: Psychology doesn’t teach how to read minds but what it does teach is all below.
The first question is whether it is ever attainable for any individual on this earth to simply look at some’s face and ascertain what is precisely cooking up in his head. The answer to this is a mere “No.” So, what is psychology? How psychology plays a significant role in the life of a layman? Let’s explore the answers to these questions. Psychology is relevant in almost all aspect of our life. From the interior designing of our house to buying products by glancing at their advertisements.
Let’s look at some example from our daily life where we unknowingly get confined in the inadvertent world of psychology.
Supermarkets
Have you ever noticed that the products are arranged in a specific way in a Supermarket? The daily usage products like wheat, rice, pulses kept at the end and all the attractive and expensive products in the middle row, But why?
Let’s explore the world of psychology inside a supermarket:
When the customers enter, most of the times eatables like chocolates, bakery products and all are kept close to the entry just because they are the most habitual and easily expandable products. The reason behind keeping daily use products, in the end, is to compel you to walk around the store and look at all the items and before reaching your need and you would probably have already bought extra items and the presence of music divert your mind and you ought to focus less on shopping the particular products of your need.
The products are also arranged in the ascending orders of their price.
Suppose you pick a product and find it expensive so you’ll probably compare it with the product next to it in the row which is expensive and suddenly the product in your hand will appear cheaper and you’ll buy it. All the expensive and expandable products are kept behind the cash counter. Standing in the queue for billing you can look at those products more consciously and add them in your shopping list. Surprised, aren’t you! So, the next time you visit a supermarket, don’t get distracted!
Cinema halls
You often complain about the cinema halls for overpriced popcorns and drinks. But the next time you enter the cinema hall you are again ready to spend the same amount, why so?
The answer lies in the lighting effect. Ever noticed there is dim lighting near the eatables section in the cinema halls. According to the researchers conducted dim light makes us dumber (Michigan State University research) and we tend to spend more.
Use of colour
Ever noticed most of your favourite food chains have Red Colour in their logo? Want to know why?
Psychology of colour says that every colour has an impact on us and the red colour can increase appetite.
Similarly, the hospitals are associated with green colour and the doctors use a green mask during operations because green reflects nature, natural calmness, security, recovery and growth, it gives us hope that we are in the hands of the good doctor.
Social networking
The last time you clicked on Facebook or Instagram and thought of using it for one or five minutes, you ended up using it for hours, Why? The answer lies in a clever psychology trick used by social networking sites.
All the social media pages have a feature of scrolling down the Feed section (A webpage on a social media site where you see what your friends have shared) without any indication of how much you’ve scrolled. So, in the process of scrolling down, you eventually cannot feel how much you have already scrolled down and you tend to spend more time using these platforms. They always have the record about your interest and show you the posts relevant for your interest, So, when you open your app or website all you see is the stuff of your interest and you keep scrolling!
Advertisements
Many jingles have a life-long impact on us. We always remember them. But why? Why companies focus more on advertisements. Why they approach celebrities for the promotion of their products? And why do they have a tag line attached to their products?
According to Harry Hollingworth, the advertisement is effective when the companies can draw our attention towards their memorandum and even make us remember their memorandum and persuade us to buy it.
Do you remember the advertisement that features your favourite actor? So, you should know how it affects your purchase of that product. When the brands use a celebrity or a controversy then it attaches a commercial value with it because we create a symbiotic relationship with them and remember the product more easily because we often associate the product with the celebrity or the controversy attached to it.
Communication
Have you ever noticed that why we get influenced by only a few spokespersons? Why it is that every word spoken by them appears to be real and motivating. The reason is the psychology that they use.
In order to influence other it is very important to use your hand gestures. So, when someone uses hand gestures during their speech we subconsciously feel more connected. The influence doubles when the speaker connects an emotional and logical aspect with it.
When an intelligent spokesperson address audience, he/she makes sure that his body movement and the facial expressions match his/her speech. His speech includes an emotional content like an example from his own life or someone else. They make sure that they do not directly criticize anyone in their speech and when they follow this pattern then sub-consciouslly we ought to like them more and pay more attention to the speech and follow it.
Psychology During Interview:
Psychologist plays an important role during interviews- they do not sit there to read our minds as people think but they scientifically evaluate our personalities by observing our body language and by conducting tests. E.g. During interviews thematic assessment test (TAT) is used in which you have to look at a picture and narrate a story. The scientific relevance of this test is that it helps the professional to get to know about your true personalities because the test allows you to reflect your own personalities trait in your story.
By now it must be clear how psychology plays an important role in each individuals life and how is it capable of forming and changing your opinions, and I hope now you understand that we study behavior, the reason for the behavior not the mind reading.
What is psychology?
Psychology is simply a scientific study of your mental processes and behavior. It simply studies your thought processes reason behind the formation of your thought processes how those thought processes affect your life that is your emotional and behavioral aspects.
Mental crisis in India
Psychology has a great role in everyone’s life but the question is are people aware of it?
Psychology is a vast field and contributes to all aspect of our lives. But in many areas of our country, people lack awareness not only about the subject but also about their mental activities and how these activities influence their physical health. It has been proved that mental health influences physical health.
And we have a great example of Stephen Hawkings who was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis at the age of 21 a condition in which the survival of any individual is arduous. Still, he survived for 76 years just because he was aware about his mental abilities.
We often say that people abroad have an eminent lifestyle. One of the reasons for that is they are mentally healthy individuals. They are aware of their thought processes and they often consult mental health professionals about their problems and life’s distressing.
Role of psychology professionals
One of the key roles of psychology professional is providing counselling to healthy individuals. It is one of the misconceptions that counselling is only for the individuals how suffers from any kind of pathology (mental illness). So, what is the fact?
Fact
The professionals try to help a mentally healthy individual to overcome his/her life problems. They act as a guiding force for their clients (one of receive counselling) and bring enlightenment in the life of their clients.
Counselling is a major field of psychology. Counselling by a professional helps you to identify your problems more rationally and reflect on them. Think if unknowingly psychology can make you spend more money in a theatre or a supermarket than how firmly your own thought process could affect your emotional wellbeing and your behavior. And how a repressed desire or a thought can affect your physical, mental, emotional and social life in later stages!
A psychologist helps you to understand the cause of your distress and helps you to understand it and change that distress into happiness. Your anxieties, phobias, stress, relationship difficulties, social disabilities etc. are because of your own thought processes, your learned behavior or conditioning or any repressed desire of our unconscious mind about which you remain unaware. But like a cardiologist is a person who can tell you about the reason for your heart problems in the same way the psychologist or a therapist is the best person who can tell you about your mental distress in your life, who can give you a complete personality assessment- the reason for your drug intake or the reason for your phobias, the reason for your insecurities or the reason for your high anxiety, stage fear or low self-esteem, introversion etc. and help you overcome these hustles and lead you towards self-actualization.
A therapist is a person who passes no judgment for your problems rather has unconditioned positive regards (support and acceptance regardless of what a person does or says).
A country like India where the work culture is hectic the pressure of the family and the society is always on an individual there is the need for the mental health professionals to guide the society towards the mentally stable society.
Because the emotional crisis is the reason behind the relationship, family and financial crisis. Only a mentally healthy person can take right decisions for the well-being of himself/herself and the family. A mentally distressed individual proves fatal for himself/herself and his/her family.
Now its time to break the stigma and ask ourselves
Am I really happy?
Are there any mind conflicts, stress or any other muddling thoughts inside me?
And what am I doing to sustain my mental health?
