Psychology is often a field that everyone has heard of, some people may know the general ideas and theories behind the subject and others may know it is “to do with the mind” and not much more.

Whatever your knowledge of this science may be, you probably use psychology in your everyday life and if you don’t, it has probably been used on you, whether you know it or not.

Some people use Psychology consciously to help in their everyday life. For example, advertising uses psychological tactics to persuade potential buyers to buy the product or service they are selling. That advert that made you cry and forced you to text ‘1234’ to donate £4? It used emotional and psychological appeals to pull on your heart strings so you would do what they wanted.

Other people may use Psychology and not even be aware they are doing so. Listening to a friend’s problems and using words like “yes” or sounds like “mm” lets the person know you’re listening to them and is a well-used technique in counselling. Repeating words back to the speaker and mirroring their body language is another well-known technique to help the person feel at ease and more comfortable around you.

Robert J. Sternberg, PhD, is well-known for carrying out research to improve the areas he isn’t very good at, including intelligence tests because he wasn’t particularly good at IQ tests, love because he had failed relationships and creativity when he became aware he had no more good ideas. Using psychological research techniques, Sternberg developed solutions from analysing his research which helped him in each aspect of his life.

Lisa Logan, a self-defence instructor in Cambridge, believes that through studying the psychology of attackers, she is able to instruct her pupils how to get into the heads of the attacker in order to overcome them. Using psychology to pinpoint how the attacker things can reduce the risk of an attack happening and this can be applied to many areas of life.

Whether you’re aware of it or not, Psychology is used in our everyday lives and with the right tools, you too can use it to improve your life by making simple changes.

References:

  1. https://www.apa.org

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This Post Has 3 Comments

  1. jack

    great article.
    Would like to connect with you if you don’t mind.
    I do have the same kind of interests.

  2. Mihir

    Hey Christina, this is a very well written article. your bio seems like mine except the fact that I’m an MBBS student but that didn’t affect my love towards psychology. Actually, I’m attending lectures for the same nowadays. Would like to hear more from you.

  3. manano chrispus

    i like reading articles that change life. write more

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