People Tried These 50 Psychological Tricks And Were Surprised They Worked

If you want an answer to something, make an incorrect statement about it rather than asking a question. People love to correct inaccuracies.

When someone does me a favor at work, I thank them, and note the extra effort in an email, and copy their boss.

Now when something goes sideways, it's easy to get the extra help from people because they know the effort will be appreciated and noted.

So easy...so often not done.

Not sure if this counts as a psychological trick, but have you ever been going about your day and then suddenly had that horrible thought cross your mind:   "Did I remember to turn the stove off?" "Did I lock my front door?" "Did I close my garage?" OF COURSE YOU HAVE. For me it's closing the garage door. I've come home on more than one occasion to find my garage wide open, all of my possessions available for someone to just walk up to and take (thankfully I was never robbed). Then I read about this technique called "Pointing and calling" that Japanese train station workers use to reduce the number of errors they make. It involves pointing to the thing you are checking, and saying something out loud. So when I back out of the garage I press the button on the remote, watch it close completely, then I point to it and say "Garage closed". This does two things - it helps solidify the memory of watching the garage door close, so I won't have to remember later on if I remembered to close it (I've heard of some people even taking pictures of the door closed, so that they can look at their phone later and verify that they did it. Pointing and calling is sufficient for me). Secondly, it helps in that very moment by making you double check (pointing) and triple check (calling) so that you won't make a mistake in the first place.

When you want people to behave certain way with you just praise them when they do it. Let's say Larry just got you a fork because he noticed you needed one even though you didn't ask, then you say something like "Thanks Larry, you're very considerate" Larry will try to be more considerate when you're around him. I've tried this and it works most of the time.

Whenever I feel like someone doesn't like me in the office I will always ask them questions that I already know the answers to. they will explain them to me and I'll say thanks and smile. It's not much but I swear they change how they feel about me.

I talk to cows. I don't know what I'm saying but I always get a response. Every. Single. Time. (50+ years now)

One time I was jogging down a road next to a pasture and started my cow-speak. Within seconds, I had a whole heard of cows jogging along with me on their side of the fence. When they came to the end of their pasture, they huddled in this forlorn-looking group, moo'ed and even bellowed at me like I was their last friend to leave them (as I continued my jog).

Apparently, I have a very convincing MOO. Maybe it's not really cow psychology. Just good language skills.

I can get an auditorium full of high school or university students to almost immediately quiet down without uttering a word.

I just start mouthing like I'm talking and gesturing without making a sound. It has never failed to bring 500+ people to absolute silence within 30 seconds as everyone tries to figure out what I'm doing.

When you can hear a pin drop, I cease my antics, pick up the mic, say thanks, and get on with the meeting, ceremony, presentation, etc.

Never ask yes or no questions if you're trying to get someone to do something. For work, if I need to schedule a meeting with a client I never ask "Do you want to meet on Tuesday?". It's always, "I have time on Tuesday at 10am or 1pm, what works better for you?" This can work for your kids too if you're trying to get them to do chores. "Do you want to take the garbage out or clean the living room?" Never "Do you want to take the garbage out?"

There's something about giving them the power to choose that works.

I work in a restaurant.

People often complain that the air conditioning is too cold. I tell them, oh I'm sorry, I'll go see what I can do.

Return and tell them the manager bumped it up a few degrees, does it feel any better?

9 times out of 10 they say yes, it's better.

It's a giant sports bar. It's been four minutes. There's no way you'd be able to tell a difference. Also, I never told a manager and we never adjusted the temp at all. Power of suggestion.

Working with kids, if I can't get them to do something, I'll give them the choice to do it themselves or have me help them. Either way the task gets done without them realizing I still got them to do what I wanted them to!

Simple positive reinforcement works wonders, and I see people ignore it all the time. If somebody does something you like, find a way to "reward" it. I don't mean give them something, just say something nice, touch them lightly, smile at them, whatever.
Most of you probably think this is obvious and natural, but I see people all the time neglect to show any sort of appreciation for favors and the like. There's a reason you were taught to say "thank you," people.

If you act really excited every time you see someone they will eventually start to get really excited every time they see you without realizing why.

When working on group projects, if you want someone else in the group to do something, instead of saying "Can you do this" simply say "Can you start on this." This makes it sound like less work and they will be more willing to do it. Halfway through, tell them "good job, keep going" and they'll probably finish it. Very useful for lab reports.

If you're trying to go through a crowd of people and nobody's moving, start dry heaving like you are about to throw up. Everyone will walk away from you.

When playing rock, paper, scissors, ask the person what color shirt they're wearing right before you play. Most of the time they'll choose scissors subconsciously.

I usually only use this on those pesky types of people. If they ask me to do something I don't want to do, I just say "No." or "Sorry, I can't" and just leave it at that, instead of launching into a big explanation of why I can't do that. If you explain, they have a tendency to try to convince you to still do it, because oftentimes explanations make it seem like it's open to debate. But a good "Sorry, I can't." just leaves it at that, and doesn't give much leeway for negotiation. Plus, usually most people expect an explanation so it throws them off balance when you don't give them one. I read this in an old magazine once, and gave it a try. Seems to work.

Of course use sense. It's more for the jerk that wants to borrow $50.00 when they never paid back the $20.00 they owe you from before, but not a good thing to use if your boss asks you to do a project or something.

If you're practising a physical game like bowling, try visualising the entire motion a few times in your mind before you do it. See yourself bowling the ball and imagine the ball releasing from your hand and rolling down to knock down all the pins for a strike.

Once you have that full vision clear in your mind, go ahead and bowl the ball as you have imagined.

Apparently gymnasts use the technique to learn new moves.

Compliment people genuinely, as often as you can.

Some people go months or years without being complimented, so even 'I like your shirt!' or 'That jacket looks great on you' or 'Your hair looks nice' can brighten someone's day and improve their mood 300%.

Very low effort, high reward.

Plus if you're on the look out for nice things to say to people, it's easier to smile and seem like a nice + friendly person on reflex.

Smile when you walk around the office/yard/whatever. People either think you are some kind of maniac and leave you alone (good) or they smile back and make your day.

Also I don't know if that's true but I heard that if you smile your brain sets different hormones free that make you feel better. I definitely feel better just smiling walking around. If it's placebo I don't care.

My best example is how I met my boss when he just came out of a meeting which must have went horribly. He was really angry. I just stood my ground and kept smiling while simply greeting him. He loosened up visibly and greeted me back without a single bit of anger in his voice. I guess after having to deal with tough a*shats for hours on end he was glad to see someone that doesn't want to take it out on him and was just being genuinely friendly. After all your boss is just a human being, too. I digress, but once I have realized and accepted that it stopped being scary talking to superiors.

I take public notes in project meetings I attend or lead so that everyone can see what we've talked about. I also publicly write down summarized to-dos for the next meeting and write names next to them. For example "we talked about how we are going to handle x. Jeremy said he would follow up with John." When we start the next meeting I copy this list to the new meeting agenda to talk about. Projects get done like they've never gotten done before. The psychological part is that public goal setting increases likelihood of goal completion, and in my case, even when the person doesn't really want to do the task.