Ways of experiencing emotions. The underlying causes of their occurrence.

Emotions are an integral part of human nature, allowing you to feel the rhythm of life.

It is determined by nature that women are prone to their manifestation more and more often than men.

We saw something interesting or someone we know, a new movie or a cartoon, we heard about something, just while talking or alone with ourselves - emotions are everywhere.

How do we tend to express negative emotions?

• suppress in ourselves
• openly demonstrate to live
• consciously control and live

From birth, the free expression of emotions outside is natural. Mom understands them correctly and satisfies the needs of the crumbs.

Growing up, we keep at the subconscious level the desire to be

• understood and accepted with all your emotions
• loved and significant in the lives of loved ones

Coloring emotions into positive and negative is conditional and is most likely associated with the consequences of their external manifestation. It is unlikely that for joy a person will say nasty things or break dishes, right?

How do girls in love behave? How do you know if a girl is in love with you?

That's just to live negative, namely anger, anger, sadness, we were not taught at school, college, at home.

On the contrary, we often see the same women and men, choking on their negative emotions and sowing seeds of quarrels, disputes, and insults. How to be?

How to experience emotions in an environmentally friendly way?

• First, we note that emotions are born in the body, which means that they must exit through it.
• Only their living without analyzing the causes of occurrence is ineffective. They will appear again and again, you demonstrate them. Do those around you suffer?
• Crushing and refusing to live is akin to going to the toilet and forcibly retaining the waste products of the body. This is fraught with disease and self-destruction.
• Soberly assess the presence of emotion - is it momentary or is it part of your character? In the first case, it is possible and necessary to live it, in the second, it is better to go to a psychologist.

Destructive and constructive emotions

We divide the ways of living emotions into two groups and consider each:

• destructive
• constructive

We know about the first not by hearsay, and yet we will list them.

Destructive ways of expressing emotions

Constructive Ways of Expressing Emotions

14. We write letters of resentment

Anger and anger leave a trace in the soul of a person in the form of resentment. It, accumulating in the body, corrodes us in the literal and figurative sense. Release it properly. For example, writing out all your feelings and sensations to a specific person or situation. But at the end, be sure to thank them for the lesson, the opportunity to feel the emotion, and let go. Reread and burn the letter. Wash your face, wash your hands or take a bath with fragrant foam. A shower is also suitable, especially a contrast one. And fix the result by pampering yourself with herbal tea.

15. Fill out the Radical Forgiveness Questionnaire

You can take it from the book of the same name or download it from the Internet. There are a lot of questions in the questionnaire and the author recommends filling it out every time you are covered with emotions. Yes, you will need time to write your answers. But a chain of questions will allow you to gradually unwind the tangle of emotions, acknowledge, live them and let go.

16. We do all kinds of crafts

The therapeutic effect is invaluable and has been known since ancient times. Women mastered the art of transforming negative emotions into creative ones while working at a spinning wheel, embroidery, knitting and any other types of manual creativity.
If you sat down to work, seething with anger and / or anger, after the passions subside, burn the result. He absorbed your emotions and brings no joy. On the contrary, it will remind you of the situation or human act / word that caused your explosion.

17. We beat the pillow

Choose any in your household for the role of "victim". Just do not sleep on it and do not offer guests to sleep, nightmares can torment.
While hitting the pillow, scream if you want to scream something, or cry. Emotion can come out in different ways.

18. Knocking emotions out of the couch with a towel

Every hostess in the house has such a piece of furniture. Usually no one sleeps on it, it serves as a place for conversations and meetings with family or guests.
Take a large bath towel, roll it into a tube, take one end, and beat the sofa with the other. Especially do not choose a place for blows, the main thing is to beat out the emotion, feel the devastation and physical fatigue.

19. We knock with a fist on the wall, a punching bag

A traumatic way, because you can get hurt, earn bruises and abrasions. But anger can also be of such strength that it burns from within and without everything that it comes into contact with.
If the husband has a punching bag and gloves, then you can use them. And you will beat the emotion out of yourself, and pump up your hands.

20. We hit the water

Water is a feminine element. It reflects our essence and helps us understand ourselves. For example, regular walks near a natural reservoir have a positive effect on our hormonal levels and psychological state.
For living emotions, a lake, a river, a pond, an ocean, a sea, and even water in a bathroom are suitable for you. Only without harm to the neighbors!
Strike the water with your hands or a stick. Let go of the negativity that overwhelms you.

21. stomp our feet

You paid attention to the movements in folk dances, especially oriental ones. There is a lot of foot stomping in them, and in India it is still customary to dance with bare feet. This is no coincidence.
Contacting the earth, we give it the accumulated emotions, clamps, negative mood, static electricity. In return, she generously endows us with ease and health.
Of course, it is better to stomp not on the 10th floor on the concrete floor. Try to touch the ground in the park, forest, your yard, if possible without shoes. If this is difficult, stomp on the floor or go for a walk.

22. Let's dance

Developing the previous method, go to the dance. If you're into any kind of activity, put on a familiar tune and don't hold back.
If you don't attend any classes, you still know how to dance. Though with musical accompaniment, even impromptu.

23. We beat the cymbals

A harmless option if they are yours and you beat them at home without the presence of your family. So as not to scare them with the sound of flying fragments and their cry. And, of course, you have a lot of dishes, and the flying saucer is not the last one in the household.

24. We wash the dishes, the floor or hand wash

If an emotional wave has rolled strongly, we reset it through actions with our hands. Creative options are putting things in order and cleanliness in the house in contact with water. The latter captures emotions well, especially women's ones. So you have time to think, live, you can even talk to yourself and let them go. At home - cleanliness, in the head and body - order and peace.

25. Throw away trash

It cleanses the head and the space of the apartment well, makes it possible to breathe with a full chest free from negativity. During the collection of trash, you get rid of emotions through your hands and transfer them to things to be thrown away or burned. The second option would be just perfect.

26. Weave a mandala

One of the types of needlework that any woman can easily master. In addition, the mandala weaves quickly. You can even make it from improvised materials, just find two sticks for the frame. The finished product must be burned. You can say words of gratitude over the fire and let go of emotion.

27. We talk with a soft toy, a tree

A good way to merge the negative without prejudice to further communication.
Choose any soft toy and regularly express everything that has accumulated in your soul to it. Just do not sleep with her and do not let children play.
You are on the street and there are no toys at hand, but you need to speak out urgently? Find a tree you like for this role. But this is an extreme case. Trees are alive and hear and feel us well.
For example, one of the modern island tribes regularly clears the territory for their village from trees, scolding them for several days in a row. Trees wither and die.

28. Transform into laughter

A cool way not to get rid of negative energy, but to turn it into a positive one. Only it does not work with all emotions and not always. More suitable for small household annoyances.
Smiling and laughing use over 100 muscles in the human body to manifest. Find a funny situation or moment in your memory and burst into uncontrollable laughter. The effect is amazing!

29. Let the feelings be

This can be difficult at first. Especially when there is no experience and knowledge, because most of us had no one to teach to identify emotions.
Our parents grew up with a mindset against their manifestations.
Make a list of emotions for yourself, what they are. Try to remember them from your experience, to taste them.
When it hits, call the emotion by its name. Confess it and allow time for manifestation.
Thank her and let her go. Work out the prerequisites and reasons for its occurrence, how it was useful for you in a particular situation. You will soon see that all emotions are your friends.

30. Sport

A great way to live and let go of negative emotions. You will feel that they come out with sweat, the tension of your muscles during the session.
And the coach will celebrate your new results and achievements.

31. speak out

Absolutely female way. My friends and I mostly talk about our experiences, anxieties, emotions and their provocateurs.
Well, if you do not have the habit of complaining and pouring negativity all the time. No one likes to feel like a "toilet" and a wet "vest".

32. Scream

Suitable for those who live in a house or near deserted forests. You will be psychologically more comfortable.
You need to shout a word very loudly. More often it is “yes” or “no”, but there are others who will “rush” out.
Scream until you feel empty inside. You will know when to stop. Then give yourself time to restore the ligaments and voice, be silent for half an hour or an hour.

33. Massage

You have been dreaming about the strong hands of a massage therapist for a long time, and your body requires a serious warm-up, so it's time to sign up for therapeutic massage sessions.
An experienced massage therapist will easily identify your “problem” areas and work them out well. Just be sure to find an incentive for yourself to come to the second session and reach the end of the course. Because it will hurt a lot.

34. Breathe or do breathing exercises

By an effort of will, slow down and breathe deeply, measuredly. Pranayama or any other breathing exercises will also have the desired effect and bring relief.

35. Go to an amusement park

Attractions were invented to relax people. Here they scream, squeal, hold on tightly with their hands and feet. That is, the body is actively involved. And we remember that emotions should be released through it.

36. Sing

Singing relaxes the muscles of the face, neck, shoulders, and back. In addition, it has a positive effect on the functioning of the heart and blood vessels.
Do not believe that an elephant stepped on your ear. Everyone can sing. For confidence, turn on your favorite melody and sing along to the performer.

37. Cry at home, in the temple

Have you kept track of your condition after your outbursts of anger? And if you managed to throw out a part of it on someone before the moment of realizing the emotion, then disappointment, remorse, resentment can easily replace anger in your soul and body.
When you allow yourself to show feelings, tears will flow like a river in moments of remorse.
When you are more familiar with the image of the iron lady, go to the temple. Look at the icons, stand in the service. Something stirs in you, the memory will bring you back to moments when you wanted to cry. Or you will feel the urge to do so. Cry in the temple, there is not a curiosity. You will leave with a completely different feeling.

38. Confession

It helps to look very deep into your soul and get something that you have long forgotten about. The kind eyes of the priest will accept everything without judgment. And you will want to sincerely get rid of the baggage of negativity accumulated over the years of your life.
A method for those who are ready to trust God or have swallowed grief up to their throats.

39. meditation

An eco-friendly way to hold an emotion in yourself for a while, and then give it to the earth during meditation. An ideal option for carrying it out in nature, in contact with the ground, and not the floor.
Mentally feel where the emotion is stuck, gather it up and send it down into the ground. And from space, fill yourself with the golden energy of health and vitality.
There are many options with meditations, practice and find your own.

40. Prayer

A serious method, because you know how to control yourself in a state of anger. An appeal to the Higher Forces will always be heard when we ask and wish good not for ourselves, but for our neighbor.

What causes negative emotions?

Think about what is the benefit of a particular emotion for you? Maybe you want:

• recognition and love
• feel fragile and helpless
• to be “picked up”, hugged, seated in a chair, brought a cup of tea and favorite pink slippers
• speak out and complain just so someone will listen
• run away from the feeling of loneliness in the soul

Or it is beneficial for you to manipulate your emotions, to make others feel guilty. But with this you will achieve rejection and coldness in relations with them.

Learn to live emotions without harm to yourself and the people around you. Remember that feeling life is as natural as seeing the whole spectrum of colors in the world and feeling any emotions.

Video: How to manage negative emotions? Behavior algorithm

Video games are an integral part of entertainment for people of all ages. There are both positive and negative effects of computer games. Here are some of the negative or harmful effects.

Did you know?

That playing violent video games makes an individual's brain less responsive to violence. This unconsciously leads to an increase in aggressive behavior, and over time, the brain does not perceive aggression as something abnormal.

Video games are really addictive. A person can go on and on playing for hours on end without even realizing how much time he is spending on it. A person tends to lose interest in the things he was busy with because the interactive video game interface tends to take control of his thought processes. A study by Dr. C. Sean Green concluded that "video games can change your brain." They have both positive and negative consequences. In other words, computer games can have a good as well as a bad effect on the psyche of people who are addicted to them. The positive effects of video games include the development of qualities such as multitasking, faster decision-making, teamwork, and a better response to challenges and risks. Games can also help people develop better math and analytical skills. But as the saying goes, "there are two sides to every coin", despite the many positive effects that video games can have on humans, some of the negatives of this technological innovation can prove to be extremely dangerous in the long run. Following are some of the negative and harmful effects on humans, that can be affected by video games:

physical health

Addiction to video games greatly impairs human health.

• One of the most common health problems faced by most people, both adults and children, who are addicted to video games is obesity. Gamers often face this problem because they tend to sit in one place for a long time and therefore their body does little to no physical activity. Being overweight in the long run can increase your risk of developing other diseases such as high cholesterol, diabetes, hypertension, and so on.
• Playing a video game for long hours without interruption can also make it difficult for an individual to sleep, thus leading to the development of insomnia. It can also lead to drowsiness and an underactive immune system.
• Back pain is also common among gambling addicts, as they sit in one place and in one position for long hours. Although they may seem like a minor affliction in the beginning, they can have much deeper consequences in the future.

Constantly playing computer games can put people at risk for seizures and epilepsy caused by constantly flashing screens and fast-moving objects, according to a study from the Council for Science and Health. Thus, addiction to video games can lead to numerous health hazards.

mental health

Playing video games for long hours tends to negatively impact a person's social behavior. Excessive abuse of games can develop certain traits that can have a negative impact on the overall development of the individual.

• Social isolation can be a direct consequence of incessant gaming. People, especially children, tend to spend less time with their friends and loved ones. This alienates them from other people and therefore, in the long run, in the absence of social communication abilities, a kind of anthropophobia (fear of people) develops.
• Children and teenagers may not be able to distinguish between reality and fiction. Due to the fact that addiction to video games can interfere with their social life, the opportunities to connect with other people and the realities of the world become very limited. The consequence is that they will eventually come to believe that the real world is similar to the virtual world of the game they are playing in and therefore behave and interact the same as they do while playing.
• Numerous video games have violent content, with aspects such as aggression and revenge. These things have a profound effect on children's minds and they tend to judge people and society in general in a similar light. In the long run, this can turn them into aggressive and dangerous individuals who are often very reluctant to be accepted by society.

A study by the National Institute concluded that gambling addiction in children can lead to increased levels of anxiety and depression. Video game abuse can thus have a lasting psychological impact on the individual.

Overall Performance

Uncontrolled addiction to video games makes it difficult for a child to study. He is always thinking about the game he is playing and thus tends to lack interest in studies and other related activities.

• Achievement is inversely related to gambling. This means that the more time a person spends in the game, the less he takes himself to study.
• This also applies in cases with adults. Excessive game abuse hinders their overall productivity and productivity in the workplace, predominantly because they may not have had enough sleep due to constant nightly gaming.

Research has shown that children who are addicted to video games often fight with their classmates, argue a lot with their teachers, and often don't do their homework. Due to their habit of constantly playing games, game addicts are unable to set aside the required amount of time needed for study and thus get poor grades.

Adult video game addicts also suffer from bad relationships. This is because game addicts cannot balance the time it takes to invest in raising their families and social relationships. In other words, they are unable to devote their time to relationships with other people, they usually do not have a family and social life. In addition to this, the amount of money that is spent on buying new games cannot be overlooked. This can economically affect that person.

Topic 11. THEORY OF EXTERNAL EFFECTS

external effects. Public and private costs and benefits. Positive and negative externalities and the problem of efficient allocation of resources in a market economy.

Reasons for the existence of external effects. Internalization of externalities: the role of specification of property rights and transaction costs. Coase theorem.

Controlling externalities: corrective taxes and subsidies.

Using the theory of externalities in economic practice. Administrative methods of environmental regulation. The Market for Pollution Rights. Kyoto protocol. Features of state regulation of externalities in the Republic of Belarus.

TOPIC 11. THE THEORY OF EXTERNAL EFFECTS

Lecture questions:

Positive and negative externalities. The problem of efficient allocation of resources in a market economy.

Reasons for the existence of external effects. Transaction costs and property rights. Coase theorem.

Regulation of external effects.

Administrative methods of environmental regulation. The Market for Pollution Rights.

Peculiarities of regulation of externalities in the Republic of Belarus.

Positive and negative externalities

external effects(English, externalities) are called direct, not mediated by the market, the impact of one economic agent on the performance of another. These impacts can be favorable, in which case they are called positive externalities, or external benefits, and adverse, in which case they are called negative externalities, or external costs.

In a market economy, an externality usually occurs when the actions of an individual or firm affect the welfare of another individual or firm in a way that is not reflected in the market price system. This externality can be associated with the impact either of an individual's consumption of a good on the well-being of other individuals (externalities in consumption), or of the production of a certain product on the production capabilities of other firms (externalities in production).

In neoclassical theory, externalities are one of the causes of market failures, i.e. failure of the market mechanism to provide a Pareto-efficient allocation of public resources (allocative efficiency). In the presence of externalities, the fulfillment of conditions that usually lead to the achievement of socially optimal outcomes may, on the contrary, lead to over- or underproduction of goods, because in this situation the market price may not reflect the true social costs or benefits.

According to the direction of action, external effects can be divided into the following four groups.

1) "Production - production". Negative externality: The chemical plant releases its waste into the river, which interferes with the production of the downstream brewery.

Positive external effect: the beekeeper's apiary and the fruit grower's apple orchard located next to each other have a beneficial effect on each other (honey collection depends on the number of apple trees, and vice versa).

2) "Production - consumption". Negative impact: residents of adjacent areas suffer from harmful emissions into the atmosphere of industrial enterprises.

Positive impact: a factory in a small village is repairing a road that local residents drive along as well.

decoration of a building that favorably affects the utility extracted from the environment by the surrounding residents and passers-by.

3) "Consumption - production Negative effect: Family picnics start forest fires that harm forestry.

Positive effect: the fence of the enterprise does not need to be guarded if there is a crowded street nearby and not a single thief can climb over unnoticed.

4) "Consumption - consumption". Negative effect: the utility of an individual is reduced if his neighbor plays music at full volume at night.

Positive effect: if you set up a flower garden in front of the house, then the usefulness of your neighbors from contemplating beautiful flowers will increase

Negative externalities associated with costs to third parties. They arise if the activity of one economic agent causes costs for others.

Allocate:

Marginal private cost (MPC) is the cost of services of those resources that firms buy or own.

Marginal External Cost (MES) - these are the additional costs associated with the production of each additional unit of output, which are not paid by the manufacturer, but are passed on to third parties.

Marginal Social Cost (MSC) is the sum of MES and MRS:

MSC = MRS + MONTH

Total External Costs (TEC) is the cumulative damage caused to third parties. They vary depending on the volume of output in the industry. With an increase in production, TEC increases.

Rice. 11.1. Negative externality.

In the presence of a negative externality, the general condition for achieving efficiency can be expressed as follows:

MPC+MEC=MSC=MSB

If the enterprise, releasing products, initiates a negative externality, but does not include MEC in its marginal costs, then it will sell products in the quantity Q1 at the price P1. however, such production generates a marginal external cost MEC, which leads to an increase in MSC. Those. society pays indirectly for the harm caused by the enterprise. If the company increased its costs to reduce the negative externality, then it would sell fewer products (in the amount of Q2) at a higher price P2. Equilibrium would be established at point B. At the same time, the negative impact on third parties would decrease. Otherwise, the total damage is estimated as the area of ​​the shaded triangle.

It is generally undesirable for society to have zero pollution levels. After all, the latter accompanies zero output, since any production activity is usually associated with some kind of environmental pollution. Determining a "proper" level of pollution involves equalizing the associated gains and losses, which usually takes place at some positive level of pollution.

positive externality arises when the activity of one economic agent brings benefits to others.

Marginal private benefits (individual utility of the good) MRI is the marginal utility received by a person who buys an additional unit of a good.

Marginal external benefits (external utility of the good) MEV - this is the marginal gain extracted by third parties who are neither the seller nor the buyer of the good.

Marginal Social Benefits (Social Utility) MSB is the sum of MRV and MEV:

MSB = MRV + MEB

Total External Utility (TEB) is the product of the utility of a unit of goods and the number of units consumed.

With a positive externality, marginal social utility exceeds marginal private utility.

Rice. 11. 2. Positive externality.

The equilibrium is at point A, since the participants in the transaction do not take into account that third parties receive a positive externality and do not pay for it. Therefore, the good is sold in a smaller quantity of Q1 at a lower price of P1, while taking into account the externality, the good could be sold in a larger quantity of Q2 and at a higher price of P2. This is akin to unpunished travel in public transport without a ticket.

Due to the fact that third parties deriving external benefits do not take part in the conclusion and execution of transactions with this product, their benefits are not taken into account when concluding such transactions, and the equilibrium prices and quantities established on the market differ from those values ​​that would be received in such a way. Hence, the result of positive externalities is insufficient output and underestimation of the price of this product, which leads to a decrease in the efficiency of the economy. Therefore, in order to ensure an efficient volume of output, such a mechanism is needed, thanks to which third parties using the externality would contribute to its receipt and consumption. In this case, one part of the contribution of third parties would be used to reduce the price paid by consumers in order to stimulate the growth of their consumption, and the other part would be used to offset any increase in marginal costs in order to encourage producers to increase output.

Thus, the following conclusion can be drawn:

· in the presence of negative externality in more overproduction goods and services with a negative externality;

· in the presence of positive externality economic good is bought and sold in a smaller compared to the effective volume, i.e. occurs underproduction goods and services with a positive externality.

Modern scientific and technological progress has led to the wide distribution of markets for network products, a distinctive feature of which is that their value, or utility, for each consumer increases as the circle of people consuming this product expands. This dependence of the utility of a commodity on the number of its consumers is of a special kind. external effect called network. For example, the telephone network, when the connection of new subscribers increases the number of people who can be called by subscribers who have connected to the network earlier, and thereby increases the value of the system for both current and future users.

We are accustomed to consider ourselves open-minded and think that we are ready to accept new information, regardless of whether it contradicts our worldview. But the paradox is that when new facts refute our dearest beliefs, faith in them only strengthens. In psychology, this phenomenon is called the backlash effect. Journalist David McRain breaks down the phenomenon through scientific research and explains why we are selective in accepting the truth and persisting in our delusions.

Wired, The New York Times, Backyard Poultry Magazine - it happens to everyone. Sometimes they make mistakes and distort the facts. And then, whether it is a well-known print newspaper or an online news resource, the editors admit their guilt. If a news publication needs to maintain a good reputation, the editors publish corrections. Most of the time this technique works, but what the news outlets don't take into account is that the correction could further alienate readers from the truth if the false report is in line with their beliefs. In fact, these laconic notes on the back page of every newspaper draw our attention to one of the most powerful forces influencing the way we think, feel and make decisions - the mechanism that prevents us from believing in the truth.

In 2006, Brendan Nyhan and Jason Reifler of the University of Michigan and Georgia State University wrote several articles on key political events. The content of these articles confirmed widespread misconceptions about some controversial issues in American politics. To begin with, the subject was offered a fake article, and then another, which refuted the previous message. For example, one of the articles said that the United States found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The next one said that the US never found it, which was true. Pacifists or adherents of liberalism basically rejected the first article and agreed with the second. The militarists and conservatives agreed with the first article and categorically rejected the second. This reaction is not surprising. What is really unexpected is the reaction of the conservatives when they found out the truth. They admitted that after reading the material that no weapons were actually found, they were even more convinced that there were indeed weapons in Iraq and that their original beliefs were correct.

“In confusion, you further strengthen your beliefs, instead of subjecting them to criticism. When someone tries to correct you, dispel your delusions, it backfires and builds your confidence."

The experiment was repeated, this time stem cell research and tax reform, and again it was found that corrections, on the contrary, reinforce the delusions of research participants if these corrections contradict their beliefs. People on different sides of the political barricades read the same articles and the same corrections, and if the new information was contrary to their convictions, they began to defend their point of view with redoubled persistence. Corrections unexpectedly led to the opposite results.

When a thought becomes part of your worldview, you try to protect it from external influences. This happens instinctively and unconsciously as soon as the brain encounters information that is incompatible with its settings. Just as the mechanisms of justification protect you when you are actively seeking information, the backfire effect protects you when the facts come to you, attacking your most vulnerable places. Confused, you strengthen your beliefs even more instead of criticizing them. When someone tries to correct you, dispel your delusions, it backfires and builds your confidence. Over time, due to the backlash effect, you begin to look less critically at the facts, which allow you to still consider your beliefs to be true and legitimate.

In 1976, when Ronald Reagan was running for president, he often told voters about a Chicago swindler who made her living scamming insurance companies. Reagan said the woman had 80 names, 30 addresses, and 12 Social Security cards, which she used to collect food stamps and benefits from health insurance companies. The future president said that the woman drove around in a Cadillac, did not work and did not pay taxes. He talked about this woman, whose name he never named, in every small town, and this story infuriated his listeners. Thanks to her, the concept of "Social Security Queen" entered the American political lexicon and influenced not only the political discourse of America for the next 30 years, but also the social policy of the government. But this story was just a duck.

Of course, there have always been people who stole from the state, but there was no one who fit the description of Ronald Reagan in reality. The woman many historians suspect may have served as the inspiration for the presidential heroine was a swindling actress who used four assumed names and moved from place to place, changing her appearance each time, not some housewife mother surrounded by a bunch of howlers. children.

Despite the fact that the story was publicly refuted and a lot of time has passed, it is still alive. A fictional lady who basks in luxury and languishes over mountains of lunch coupons while hard-working Americans go on strike, and these days she constantly flickers on the pages of online newspapers. The mimetic stability of the word is impressive. This or that version of the story appears weekly in blogs and magazine articles about legal violations, although it takes a couple of clicks of the mouse to find out that this is a lie.

“When facts support beliefs, people tend to see what they expect to see and draw conclusions that match their expectations.”

Psychologists call such stories narrative scenarios - these are stories about exactly what we want to hear, confirming our beliefs and giving us the right to adhere to the opinions we have already formed. If believing in social security queens protects your worldview, you accept this myth and move on with your life. You might have found the Reagan story disgusting or ridiculous, but you didn't have to ask questions like stories like these about medical companies that interfere with research, or about unauthorized searches, or about the benefits of chocolate. You've seen a documentary about the dangers of... something you don't like, and you probably liked it about your soul. For every "absolutely true" documentary by Michael Moore, there is exactly the same documentary of exactly the opposite content, in which the champions of the idea prove that their version of the truth is better.

A great example of selective distrust is Literallyunbelievable.org. Its creators publish comments from Facebook users who believe in articles from the satirical magazine The Onion. Articles about Oprah Winfrey offering a select few to be buried with her in a luxurious grave, news about the construction of an abortion center for hundreds of millions of dollars, or NASCAR's announcement of bounties for drivers for homophobic remarks - to such news, users leave outraged comments on the full seriously. Psychologist Thomas Gilovich wrote: “When facts support beliefs, people tend to see what they expect to see and draw conclusions that match their expectations. If the conclusion is consistent with our attitudes, we ask ourselves: “Can I believe it?”, If the conclusion disappoints us, then we ask ourselves: “Should I believe this?”,

That's why especially ardent critics who believe that Barack Obama was not born in the US will never believe hundreds of facts that clearly prove the opposite. When the presidential administration released the full text of his birth certificate to the public in April 2011, the reaction of Obama's opponents was exactly what the backlash effect suggests. They carefully studied the release date of the document, its appearance, form - and eventually gathered on the forum and ridiculed it. Their confidence has grown even more. So it was and always will be when it comes to conspiracy theories or any other incredible facts. A refutation will always only strengthen a person's belief in the contrary. It is always considered part of the conspiracy, and the lack of facts is attributed to the concealment of the truth.

This explains how strange, outdated, and completely insane beliefs survive in the fight against science, common sense, and facts. However, the truth of the phenomenon lies deeper, because none of us considers ourselves crazy. We do not believe that lightning is sent by a deity who wanted to launch a couple of charges into the ground. You don't wear special underwear to protect your libido from the light of the moon. Your beliefs are rational, logical, and factual, right?

Good. Let's talk about corporal punishment, for example. Is it good or bad? Harmless or harmful? Can corporal punishment be considered a lack of love or, conversely, a manifestation of parental care? Science has its own answer, but we will deal with it later. And now try to realize how you feel about this, and you will understand that you yourself want to fall under someone else's influence, passionately want to be enlightened about a great many issues, but you bypass some topics.

The last time you got involved in or witnessed an internet argument with someone who was convinced they knew absolutely everything about health care reform, gun control, same-sex marriage, sex education, the drug wars, Joss Whedon, or whether the number 0.9999 repeated to infinity is zero - remember how it was? Did you teach the enemy a valuable lesson? Have you been thanked for helping to understand all the intricacies of a controversial issue after cursing your opponent for his former ignorance? Have you taken off your virtual hat for making a person better?

“It is impossible to win an argument on the Internet. When you start throwing facts and names, hyperlinks and quotes, your opponent actually becomes even more confident that he is right than before you started the argument.

Probably not. Most of the online battles unfold according to the same scenario: each side rushes to the attack and fishes out new evidence from the depths of the Internet to strengthen their positions until one of the parties, disappointed, decides to go for broke and goes personal . If you are lucky, the comments will be deleted, and you will have time to save your honor and dignity, or some third-party commentator will help set a pack of indignant on your opponent.

A study of the backfire effect shows that it is impossible to win an argument on the Internet. When you start throwing facts and names, hyperlinks and quotes, your opponent actually becomes even more confident that he is right than before you started the argument. When he starts to contradict you, the same thing happens in your mind. The backlash effect makes both of you even more closed in the certainty that you are right.

Have you ever noticed a strange feature: we practically do not pay attention to praise addressed to us, but any criticism strikes us on the spot? Thousands of positive reviews may go unnoticed by us, but a single remark like "sucks" can sit in our head for several days. One of the hypotheses that explain why this happens and why the effect of the opposite result is triggered is that we actually spend much more time thinking about information with which we disagree than about information that is close to us. Information that confirms our beliefs fades from our consciousness, however, when we encounter something that calls into question the truth of our beliefs, something that contradicts previously acquired knowledge about how the world works, we stop and take note of this. Some psychologists argue that there is an explanation for this in the theory of evolution. Our ancestors paid more attention to negative incentives than positive ones, because negative events need to be responded to in some way. Those who could not adequately respond to a negative stimulus could not survive.

In 1992, Peter Ditto and David Lopez conducted an experiment in which subjects had to dip a small strip of paper into a cup of saliva. The paper was perfectly ordinary, but the psychologists told one half of the participants that it would turn green if the person had serious problems with the pancreas, and the other half that this would happen if they were completely healthy. Both groups were told that the reaction would take about 20 seconds. As a rule, people who were told that the paper would turn green if they were healthy waited much longer than the 20 seconds they were warned about for the result. If the color didn't change, 52 percent tried again. In the other group, where green was supposed to mean bad news, people were mostly content with 20 seconds, with only 18 percent trying to dip the paper into the bowl again.

When you read a negative comment, when someone blows away what you love and your beliefs are questioned, you are meticulously and carefully scrutinizing the information in search of weaknesses. Cognitive dissonance blocks your thinking mechanisms until you deal with the situation. In the process, you form more neutral connections, construct a new memory, and make a certain amount of effort - and when you finish thinking about a subject, your original beliefs become stronger than ever.

Psychologist, New York Times columnist Dan Gilbert observes the effect of the opposite result in the fight against excess weight: “It happens that the number on the bathroom scale goes off scale. Then we get off and stand back again to make sure that we saw the result correctly and did not lean too much on one leg. If the result suits us, we go to the shower with a smile. We take on trust the number we like without question, and try again and again if we don’t like the result, thus gently tipping the scales in our favor.”

The backlash effect is constantly tidying up your beliefs and memory, swaying you to one side or the other through a process psychologists call biased assimilation. Decades of research on various types of cognitive distortions have shown that people usually perceive the world through a thick prism of faith, clouded by attitudes and worldviews. In 1996, scientists showed a group of subjects a debate between Bob Dole and Bill Clinton and found that before the debate, everyone believed that their candidate had won. In 2000, when scholars began to study Clinton supporters and opponents through their reactions to the Monica Lewinsky scandal, they found that Clinton supporters tended to view Lewinsky as an unreliable home destroyer and found it hard to believe that Clinton was lying under oath. Of course, the opponents of the president experienced the exact opposite feelings. Fast forward to 2011, when Fox News and MSNBC were vying with each other for cable territory, each promising a delivery that would in no way question the beliefs of any part of the population. Here's biased assimilation in action.

Biased assimilation works not only in relation to the events of our time. A 2004 study by a group of scholars asked liberals and conservatives to comment on the 1970 University of Kent shooting when National Guard soldiers opened fire on anti-Vietnam demonstrators, killing four and injuring nine .

As usually happens with any historical event, the details of what happened at the University of Kent began to distort within a few hours. Years later, books, articles, broadcasts and songs weaved an impenetrable web of reasons and motivations, conclusions and assumptions, in which every opinion was justified in one way or another. In the weeks following the shooting, psychologists interviewed University of Kent students who witnessed the events and found that 6% of liberals and 45% of conservatives thought the National Guard had been provoked. Twenty-five years later, they interviewed the then students again. In 1995, 62% of liberals said that the soldiers committed the murder, and only 37% of conservatives agreed with this statement. Five years later, students were asked the questionnaire again, and the researchers found that conservatives were still more likely to say that the protesters had overstepped the boundaries of the National Guard, while liberals saw the soldiers as more of an aggressor. Strikingly, the more the respondents said they were aware of the events, the stronger was the strength of their convictions. That is, a person supported the National Guard or protesters the more fiercely, the more he knew about what had happened. People who had only a general knowledge of what had happened were less affected by the backfire effect when evaluating events. The same effect caused the more knowledgeable to deliberately ignore controversial details.

“The mind of a person does everything to support and agree with what he once accepted, whether because it is an object of faith, or because he likes it. Whatever the strength and number of facts to the contrary, the mind either does not notice them, or neglects them, or rejects them by means of distinctions with great prejudice, so that the reliability of those former conclusions remains intact ”- Francis Bacon

In 1997, Geoffrey Munroe and Peter Ditto released a series of fake articles. One study said that homosexuality is most likely a mental disorder. Another argued that any sexual orientation is natural and normal. Then the subjects were divided into two groups: some considered homosexuality a disease, while others did not. Each group was presented with false articles with fictitious facts and testimonies claiming that their point of view was wrong. After both groups read material that disproved their beliefs, no one claimed to suddenly have an epiphany, realizing that they had been wrong all these years. On the contrary, everyone began to assert that the solution of such problems is inaccessible to science. When the subjects were later given other topics to discuss, such as spanking and astrology, the same people stated that they no longer trusted science and did not believe in its ability to establish the truth. Rather than reconsider their beliefs and face the facts, people have chosen to throw all of science at once.

Science and literature once painted the future in which we now live. Books, movies, and comics of yesteryear depicted cyberpunks plowing through the vast expanse of information, and personal communications, enveloping a person in a cloud of beeps and calls. The stories and the midnight chatter on the radio predicted a time when the sum total of human knowledge and artistic production would be continuously available on demand and millions of human lives would be interconnected and visible to all who wanted to see it. And now the very future has come in which we are surrounded by computers that can tell us everything that humanity knows, explain how to perform any task, teach us anything and reveal the essence of any phenomenon on earth. So one day a fictional life became everyday for us.

And if this promised future has already arrived, why don't we live in the realm of science and reason? Where is the most socio-political and technical utopia, empirical nirvana, the abode of the gods of analytical thought (only without overalls and neon headbands), where everyone knows the truth?

Among the many prejudices and delusions that block our way into the realm of microprocessors and tight jeans, lives a huge monster of our psyche - the effect of the opposite result. He was always there, always influenced how we and our ancestors saw the world, but the Internet released the beast into the wild, increased its persuasiveness at times, and over the years we have not become wiser.

As social media and advertising evolve, it will become increasingly difficult for us to overcome the human drive to confirm information that matches their beliefs and the backfire effect. A person will have more opportunities to choose from the general flow exactly the information that fits into his vision of the world, and reliable, in his opinion, sources that will supply him with such information. To top it off, advertisers will continue to adapt, not only creating ads based on what they know about the person, but generating advertising strategies based on what has or hasn't worked for the person. The advertising of the future will be distributed not only based on your preferences, but also on who you voted for, where you spent your childhood, what mood you are in, what day or year it is - on any information about you that can be measured. In a world where everything you want is there, your beliefs will never be questioned.

Three thousand spoilers were tweeted hours before Barack Obama stepped into his presidential pulpit and told the world that Osama bin Laden was dead. A Facebook page, get-rich-quick sites, and millions of emails, texts, and instant messages about the terrorist's death preceded the official announcement on May 1, 2011. Stories and comments poured in one after another, search engines went white hot. Between 7:30 and 8:30 am on the first day, searches for bin Laden on Google increased by 1 million percent from the previous day. Videos with performances by Toby Keith and Lee Greenwood on Youtube took the lead in the ranking. Unprepared news sites scribbled news at full speed in order to supply the insatiable public with more and more informational food.

“In a world where all new knowledge flourishes, where scientific discoveries are made every day, illuminating, it would seem, all aspects of human life, we, like most people, still perceive information very selectively”

It was a stunning testament to how the world of information exchange had changed since September 2001, only one thing was predictable and apparently inevitable. Within minutes of the publication of the first stories about Seal Team Six, the tweets about the shooting of bin Laden and the hasty burial of his body at sea, conspiracy theories flourished in the fertile soil of our prejudices. A few years later, when it became clear that no photographic evidence of the incident would be provided, the conspiracy theories took shape in complete and irrefutable facts.

And although information technology does not stand still, the behavioral patterns that a person uses when it comes to faith, indisputable facts, politics and ideology, seem to remain the same. In a world where all new knowledge flourishes, where every day scientific discoveries are made that illuminate, it would seem, all aspects of human life, we, like most people, still perceive information very selectively, even if the fact is supported by scientific data and based on centuries of research.

Well, what about corporal punishment? After you've read all of this, do you think you're ready to find out what science has to say on this subject? A secret source reports that psychologists are still studying this phenomenon, but it is now known that regular spanking makes children under seven years of age more docile if not done in public and only by hand. And now attention - a small correction: other ways of influencing behavior - positive reinforcement, symbolic savings, free time, and so on - can also be effective and do not require manifestations of cruelty.

So, you have read these lines and they most likely evoked a strong emotional response in you. Has your opinion changed now that you know the truth?

In this article, you will learn whether the course of evolution can change direction, people perform worse or better when they are looked at, why some pregnant mice deliberately kill their unborn children, and much more.

Ollie effect Ollie effect

This is a biological phenomenon showing that the growth of a population in relation to its size (or the whole species in a certain area) falls if the population decreases. In other words, each female produces more offspring if the population is higher. The Ollie effect, named after the American zoologist Walter Clyde Ollie, has completely changed the idea of ​​population growth. At the time of his research, it was believed that a population with a smaller number of individuals should flourish, because. each of them will have more resources available.

In other words, a population should grow more slowly when the number of individuals in it is larger and faster when the number of individuals is smaller. However, Ollie's research proves that when the population decreases, the same happens with the number of possible pairs - therefore, the increase is slower. Conclusion: the more individuals in the population, the faster it grows.

The audience effect and crowding out theory

This is the influence that an audience has on a person or group of people performing a specific task in front of everyone. This effect was discovered in the 1930s. It consists of two opposite phenomena: many performers (athletes in particular) usually perform better when a large number of people are looking at them, while for others the presence of spectators makes them feel uncomfortable, so they end their performances with worse results than they can. in reality.

In 1965 Social psychologist Robert Zajonc discovered the connection between the audience effect and the so-called repression theory. Zajonc proved that whether the impact of the audience will be positive or negative depends on the relative "ease" of the task being performed. If, for example, the speaker believes he will win, the audience effect will push him to perform at the highest level. If he is not confident in himself, then having an audience can lead to an even greater decrease in his self-esteem.

Pygmalion effect

The Pygmalion effect is related to the audience effect and repression theory, it combines the positive expectations of the speaker and the highest result. The effect is named after Bernard Shaw's play "Pygmalion" (based on the film "My Fair Lady"), sometimes it is also called the "Rosenthal effect". In addition, there is an effect opposite to the Pygmalion effect, its essence lies in the fact that low expectations lead to a low level of performance, and this effect is called the "golem effect".

The Pygmalion effect has been studied extensively in the world of athletics, business, and especially education. In business, the effect is very pronounced in the results of managers, who directly depend on what they expect from their own employees. As Professor J. Livingston noted in his research: “The way managers treat their subordinates largely depends on what they expect from them.” Similarly, the Pygmalion effect study conducted by Robert Rosenthal and Leonora Jacobson in the classroom proved that those students from whom the teacher expects more are more likely to excel.

Bruce effect

When pregnant female rodents smell an unfamiliar male, they can sometimes terminate their own pregnancy. This effect, first studied by the British zoologist Hilda Bruce, has been observed in some mice, voles, lemmings, gelada monkeys, and even lions. For some time, the effect was studied only on animals in captivity, for the first time the effect in the wild began to be studied by a researcher from the University of Michigan, Eila Roberts. The main question in both cases is why the mother kills her own child? Roberts spent 5 years studying gelada in Ethiopia and collected data on 110 females from 21 different groups.

After analyzing fecal samples for hormones that strongly confirm pregnancy, Roberts discovered that where the male asserted his dominance by taking over the group, a significant number of females aborted their pregnancy. In groups without a dominant male, the birth rate was much higher. The answer lies in the tendency of dominant males to kill small geladas, they do this because the females will only be able to copulate again after they have raised their babies and the males do not have enough patience. Monkeys kill their unborn babies because they know they will die anyway, saving the mother time, effort and money.

Leidenfrost effect

If you have ever splashed water on a very hot pan and seen the drops start to swirl like crazy, then you have observed the Leidenfrost effect, named after the German doctor Johan Gottlob Leidenfrost in 1796. The Leidenfrost effect is a physical phenomenon that occurs when a liquid is very close to a surface that is much hotter than the liquid's boiling point. Under such conditions, the liquid creates a protective layer of vapor that separates it from the hot surface and prevents rapid evaporation.

In the case of droplets in a hot pan, the water will eventually boil and evaporate, but much more slowly than if the temperature of the pan were above the boiling point but below the Leidenfrost point. This effect allows water, under certain conditions, to levitate over a hot surface. For the same reason, it is possible to dip a wet finger in liquid nitrogen without consequences. But it’s better not to experiment like that, it’s still dangerous.

diorama effect

The diorama effect, also known as "pseudo-macro" or "diorama illusion," describes the process when a photographer captures life-size real objects in such a way that they look like miniature models in the picture. Sometimes it is also called the “tilt-shift” effect, but in fairness it should be noted that tilt-shifting is a technique that always allows you to create a “pseudo-macro” effect. This technique can be used in digital photography to give the impression that the photo was taken with a special lens.

The creation of such images takes place in several stages. Several key points can be distinguished: - take a picture from above; - blur the edges of the photo; - increase color saturation. Of course, much more can be said about this. You can also find step-by-step instructions online.

review effect

Of all the psychological effects ever named and studied, the review effect is the rarest, with only 534 people being exposed to conditions in which it is possible. When astronauts see the whole Earth from orbit or from the surface of the Moon, many describe an incredible sense of scale and perspective, which is called the view effect. Invented by writer Frank White, this effect has a profound effect on a person, puzzles, inspires, awakens emotions. The view of the Earth from space changes a person's attitude to reality. The astronauts return home with a new vision of how we are all connected, with a sense of the meaninglessness of any cultural boundaries, and with a desire to care for the environment.

Gaffe effect

Imagine that you are madly in love with a girl, and she seems talented, kind and beautiful to you. Then imagine that you see her walking down the sidewalk, tripping and falling straight down on her face. For many reasons, you fall in love with her even more and you yourself seem much more attractive to her, and all this is a result of her clumsiness. Studied particularly widely in the worlds of sports, business, and politics, this psychological phenomenon is known as the “gaffe effect.” This effect was originally discovered and named by researcher Eliot Aronson in 1966.

The results of this effect may be different. Research shows that people tend to love imperfect people who make mistakes. The effect has been analyzed a lot and it turned out that, for example, clumsy women attract men more than vice versa, but the basic principle (a person becomes more attractive by showing his shortcomings) remains.

Sleeper effect

The sleeper effect is an often studied, controversial psychological effect that shows how information influences a person's opinion. Basically, when you see an ad with a positive slogan, positive associations arise with it (and with the advertised product). However, after some time, these positive associations disappear and, in the end, there are no associations at all with this advertisement. But under certain conditions, for example, if the message was accompanied by a "discount remark", the positive association may remain for a longer time.

The “discounting response” is usually presented in the form of a source of information that is not credible, or the message comes with a caveat, or the source of information is somehow unusual. When you see a negative political ad sponsored by an opponent, you may initially be suspicious of the message, but after a while you will begin to believe. Research states that the sleeper effect is real, but difficult to implement in reality, so for it to be effective, a strict set of guidelines must be strictly followed.

Tamagotchi effect

Oh that Tamagotchi. If you grew up in the 90s of the twentieth century, you probably had it, or you knew someone who had it, or at least knew about its existence. By 2010, over 76 million little electronic animals had been sold worldwide. For those not in the know, the Tamagotchi is a small portable virtual pet invented in 1996 in Japan.

The owner of the Tamagotchi was engaged in feeding, treating, raising and cleaning up after his pet. The Tamagotchi effect is a psychological phenomenon in which people become emotionally dependent on a robot or other virtual object. A person can have such an attitude towards a Tamagotchi, a cell phone, a robot, or even some kind of computer program. Research shows that the Tamagotchi effect can manifest at any age and can have both positive and negative effects on a person's mental health.