10 Proven Psychological Tricks That Actually Work

15 Proven Psychological Tricks That Will Always Work

1. Find out whether someone is secretly looking at you

Do you ever have that feeling that someone near you is looking at you? Maybe during class, waiting for the bus, or in a group gathering? To be sure, try yawning. Yawns are famously known for being contagious and take affect almost immediately. If you think the person at the corner of your eye might be looking at you, yawn and wait for their reaction – if they yawn too, chances are that they were indeed looking right at you.

2. Stand out during a job interview

Job interviews can be stressful – lets face it, they’re terrifying! But there are certain tricks to make you stand out more to your employer upping your chances of getting the job. This is called the “Serial positioning effect” which is based on the idea that humans generally remember the first and last part of the subject and not as much of the middle – this strategy is quite often used in persuasive writing. This means that during an interview, be sure to emphasise yourself at the beginning and the end of the interview, they are more likely to remember those parts!

3. Make someone feel important

This is a different one, but effective! This is easily done by using someone’s name while you are speaking to them especially if you’ve just been introduced. For example, you could say, “Hello, Jill, its nice to meet you” as it shows their importance in the situation. Another way of doing this is paraphrasing during a conversation – this lets them know that you are actually listening to them and taking their discussion seriously.

4. Get someone to believe in you

This relies on the way you say something. Too often sentences start with “I think” which can come off hesitant or unsure, whereas being firm and confidence in what you are trying to propose. Even those times where you are unsure of something, it is important to remain confident when speaking to them – that way they might take you more seriously.

5. Getting an answer out of someone

Do you ever notice that someone you’re talking to has been avoiding answering to a question or topic? There is a way to get around this! During the conversation, take a pause while keeping eye contact with them – this puts them under the oblige that they have to continue the conversation, thus they often result to the conversation they were trying to avoid.

6. Making someone else like you

If you think or know someone isn’t fond of you, or you just don’t get along very well, try asking them something. A common way to do this is to ask to borrow a pen. Assuming you’ve given it back to them afterwards, it leaves them with a softer spot for you. The same result can occur by asking them to explain something to you. This gives them a sense of dominance along with empathy during the interaction.

7. Remembering whether you locked the door before leaving the house

Everyone at some stage in their lives has forgotten whether they’ve locked the door, turned off the oven or let the dog outside before leaving the house. An effective way to make yourself remember is to say something absurd when you do it. That way, you are already reminding yourself that you’ve done it and have something to remember when retracing your steps.

8. Making a lazy employee work more

When there is a lot to get done in a short amount of time, that one lazy employee easily slows down the whole system. But ordering them to work by saying “Do this, and this and this” can make them less efficient as they can see how much they are expected to do – instead try saying “Start with this” and “Continue with” as psychologically it seems as if they’ve got less to do.

9. Parting the sea

In a crowded area, it can become an intense task to cross the room or find your seats. But a hidden way to get passed everyone is to look directly towards where you want to go. This tells people that you are trying to get somewhere, and they will move out of the way, some people will even go a different direction to avoid running into each other. Sounds simple, but it works.

10. Resolving arguments with food

When in an argument that might be escalating, it is an effective technique to go out for dinner to talk it out then. Psychology says that we are instinctively calmer and more reasonable when we are eating making it easier to sort out their difficulties without making a scene.