One of the efforts of research in Psychology has been to understand what distortions of perception and thinking are that lead us to behave as we do. The idea is that by understanding the “psychological circuits” that condition our way of perceiving the world, we will be able to better understand the human mind.
That is why, for decades, Psychologists have studied a number of psychological effects ; curious phenomena capable of being studied in laboratory conditions and in which biases and strange patterns of perception that occur in almost all people are reflected. In this article we will see which are the most important.
These are several psychological and perceptual phenomena that show that, beneath the apparent order that exists in the human mind, strange mechanisms are hidden and that at certain moments they can behave in a counterintuitive way.
1. Dunning-Kruger effect
This is one of the most consistent and robust psychological effects among those that have been found in different research on human behavior, since it appears again and again in the majority of experiments carried out on this topic. Consists in the tendency to overestimate our abilities and level of competence in what we are not good at and in the tendency to undervalue ourselves a little in what we are really good at.
2. Stroop Effect
The Stroop effect has to do with a process of interference between the senses, in which the textual component of a concept is mixed with a sensation. It appears when, under certain conditions, we read aloud and quickly the name of a color, the word of which is written in a different color : In these cases, it is very likely that instead of reading what the text says, we mention the name of the color to which we have been exposed sensorially, and not textually.
This is one of the cognitive biases that have to do with the assessments we make about ourselves; That is, it is related to our self-concept and our self-esteem. Specifically, it is a tendency to believe that we are more skilled or virtuous people than the average and that, at the same time, if we show any signs of weakness or imperfection, this is due to circumstances external to ourselves, which have not allowed us to behave. or be the way that really defines us.
4. Cocktail party effect
For decades, attention management has been one of the topics in which Psychology has placed the most interest, and the cocktail party effect gives us an idea of ​​why, given that it is very curious and at the same time common.
It is the psychological phenomenon that occurs when, automatically and involuntarily, our mind selects a sound that is mixed with the background noise (or ambient noise) and that is relevant for us. For example, if we are at a party full of people and among the noise of people talking we hear our name, we will spontaneously be able to “isolate” that word from the rest and react to it, probably turning in that direction.
Thus, the cocktail party effect occurs between the border between the conscious and the unconscious, since it takes place before we decide to direct our attention to a specific conversation, and it “gives us” a sound that has been selected by some mental process beyond our control.
The McCollough effect is a perceptual phenomenon belonging to the world of optical illusions based on afterimages, which means that they show us the way retinal cells adapt to visual stimuli before and affect the way we see things we are exposed to right after.
For it to occur, we first fix our gaze on a series of parallel lines of red and green, and then we are exposed to a similar pattern of parallel lines, but this time colorless, black on white. This will make us perceive this stimulus mixed with the previous one, causing both to affect each other, creating an optical illusion.
6. Kappa Effect
The Kappa effect is the psychological phenomenon by which, if enough time passes between when we are exposed to one stimulus and when we are exposed to the next, we tend to believe that this period is longer than normal, while if this period is long enough short, the opposite happens: we have the feeling that less time has passed than what really has passed between one stimulus and another. That is, this psychological effect shows us the existence of thresholds that affect our perception of time.
7. Ben Franklin Effect
The Ben Franklin Effect Reveals a mental process related to cognitive dissonance : If we do a favor to a person, in successive periods we are more likely to do a favor again than if we had received a favor from that person. This is believed to occur as a way to justify our past action: we assume that it is natural to make small sacrifices for that person regardless of whether they are rewarded.
The Forer effect consists of the tendency to feel identified with deliberately abstract descriptions of a specific person, even when objectively there is nothing in them that indicates the degree of concreteness necessary to know who we are talking about. It is believed that the success of tarot and divination is based on this distortion of the mind, which can occur in practically anyone given the right conditions.
9. Halo effect
The halo effect consists of a tendency to positively evaluate a person or entity in general based on an assessment of one of their qualities in particular. For example, it is common for famous people to be, simply because they have that attribute (popularity and presence in the media), admired and valued very positively.
That is, the halo effect leads to exaggerated value judgments that are based on a lack of information about the person or entity as a whole starting from the fact of looking at one of its characteristics that are visible and easy to verify.
10. Von Restorff Effect
The Von Restorff effect describes the general pattern by which, when faced with a homogeneous set of stimuli, We tend to remember more those that deviate from the general norm. For example, if we see a group of generally tall people, we will more easily remember the one who is significantly short.
This is one of the most exploited psychological effects in the world of advertising, in which images and metaphors are often used that quickly express the idea that what is offered is different from what the competition offers.
