40 Psychological Tricks That Are Bound To Improve People's Lives

Do you have trouble making eye contact when nervous? Here's a handy way to confidently meet someone's gaze, no matter how intimidating they might be. Just make a mental note about what color their eyes are. Honing on in that detail will make you appear poised and self-assured, even while under pressure.

This one is a common sales technique that applies to everyday social conversation. To remember someone’s name, and to show that you’ve taken it onboard, repeat it as they say it, use it a few more times during the conversation and then say it a few more times in your head afterward. However, try not to overdo it, as doing so can give the impression that you’re being manipulative.

Everyone knows that yawning can be contagious. So, if you’re worried that you’re being watched, muster the biggest yawn you can. Then keep an eye on the suspect – if they follow suit, you’ll know your paranoia is warranted. Alternatively, you can try coughing or tapping your feet, as the person looking at you may end up subconsciously doing the same.

Psychologists have observed three important signals that we make to show someone else that we’re non-threatening. Perhaps don’t even notice that we’re doing them. Even so, they’re instrumental in telling others that we are friends, and not foes. Psychologist Jack Schafer said, “Our brains are always surveying the environment for friend or foe signals. The three major things we do when we approach somebody that signals we’re not going to present a threat are: an eyebrow flash — a quick up and down movement of the eyebrow that lasts about a sixth of a second — a slight head tilt, and a smile.”

You don’t have to display the forced excitement of popular YouTube vloggers, but when you give someone a call or bump into them add a little excitement to your voice. If you show excitement there is a good chance that the other person will reflect your positivity back to you, making for a better interaction and a better relationship.

If you’re in a meeting and you know that you’re going to be criticized, try sitting or standing close to your chief critic. In fact, you’re likely to be safer from critical comments when you are very close to the person dishing them out. As they say, “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.”

Don’t you hate it when you ask someone an important question, requiring a full explanation, and get an answer of only a few words? The trick is to stay silent after their short answer. Most of the time the person will feel pressured to fill the silence and will provide a more detailed response.

According to renowned physician Dr. Andrew Weil, there’s a simple trick that can help during those sleepless nights. Simply hold your breath while counting to four, then breathe out. After that, inhale again and hold for seven seconds before exhaling as fully as you can for another eight seconds. This method, Weil has asserted, helps promote the body’s intake of oxygen and so induces deeper relaxation.

Next time you’re around a kid causing problems, take note of what they’re doing wrong. Let some time pass. Then call their name – without even looking at them – and chastise them for what they were doing wrong. They’ll soon start to believe that you really do have eyes in the back of your head – and will think twice before acting up in the future.

Imagine you’re playing ping pong or basketball with a friend who always wins. Try asking them what technique they use for their non-dominant hand. Shifting their focus will distract them and hence give you an advantage. According to cognitive psychologist Tim Welsh, quoted in Scientific American, “It seems that it is the [distractions] we do not notice that cause us to deviate most from our objectives.”

According to a 2012 study done on the effects of chewing gum, this habit can improve mood and reduce anxiety and fatigue. To have ready access to these mental-health benefits, try to keep a pack of your favorite gum in your pocket for those times when you are feeling tense. Meanwhile, freshening your breath certainly can’t hurt.

If your goal is to ask someone for help then you need to drop your guard and be upfront with them. Using these four simple words at the start of your request will show them that you trust and respect their experience. Just don’t expect people to volunteer themselves. And if you have a big request, then the next tip could come in handy...

People want others to view them the way they see themselves. This phenomenon is what psychologists refer to as “self-verification theory.” It states that all of us want to have our view of ourselves confirmed, whether negative or positive. Studies at the University of Arizona and Stanford University found that people with positive perceptions of themselves wanted to interact with others who thought highly of them. Those with a negative view of themselves, meanwhile, preferred being around critics. This could show that we want to interact with people who provide us with feedback that matches our own self-identity. 

When dealing with social interactions you will find that silence often plays a key role. Listen to other people’s ideas before bridging the gap with your own and directing the discussion where you want it to go. Stressing the power of silence, leadership training expert Peter Bregman noted in the Harvard Business Review, “When people contribute their own ideas they inevitably work harder than if they are simply complying with our ideas.”

A study by psychology expert Dr. Richard Petty of Ohio State University found that nodding has surprisingly powerful effects. In fact, it will not only communicate positivity to other people but will actually reinforce positive thoughts in your own head. Indeed, thinking positive really is being positive. However, if you find yourself shaking your head then it may well have the opposite effect and lead to a loss of confidence.

It’s a fact of life – the most successful people aren’t the smartest. Indeed, the people at the top prefer to work and mingle with others who emit strong confidence rather than those who might have the most knowledge of a given subject. If you feel that you’re lacking knowledge for a certain role then – as well as doing background research – consider your approach and how you can best convey confidence. And taking that a step further...

If you have a goal, then don’t let a lack of experience get in the way of your journey. Many people experience doubt that they’re really qualified for a given position, but if you talk, act and dress for the role – while working to develop your knowledge and expertise – then you will soon start to see doors opening for you.

If you’re looking for an instant confidence boost, simply spread your arms and legs to take up as much space as possible. This “power stance” should in turn make you feel far more in control and authoritative; it’ll give you greater self-assurance, too. There's a reason why superheroes in movies often assume this pose before big confrontations!

A lot of people assume that asking questions will make you seem ignorant. However, in many cases, it will actually work to your benefit. Asking questions illustrates that you are interested and are keen to get a full understanding of a subject. Furthermore, it shows respect for the knowledge of the person you are questioning.

It’s very easy to join in when someone is complaining about something but it’s rarer to hear someone offering solutions. Next time you hear someone complaining about an issue that they’re having, try to think of some solutions to offer them in order to reframe the conversation. Indeed, sometimes the answer can be so simple that it just requires a second perspective.

We all make mistakes. But if your mistake affects someone else then you should own up and handle it immediately. If you don’t or, worse, if you try to cover it up, people will subsequently start to think of you as being untrustworthy. A 2014 psychology paper published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin noted that, “[People who take responsibility for mistakes] view the situation as an opportunity for them to grow as a person and develop their relationship with the victim.”

If you can talk as comfortably on your first encounter with someone as you would on your tenth meeting then you will give people the feeling that they can talk to you about anything. Indeed, talking about your fears and how you live can build a sense of intimacy and encourage others to reciprocate openness. You can even go a step further and ask the other person for advice, which will form a stronger bond.

Breathing also plays an important part in the way your body works. Talk too fast, and you’ll catch yourself breathing less and in quicker bursts. Walk into a crowded room feeling nervous, and you’ll catch your pulse rising, while you forget to breathe. No matter what you do, keep a consistent and calm breathing pattern so everything else can follow suit.

If you need an early morning pick-me-up to get you through the day, head for the fruit bowl. Why? Well, bananas are packed with vitamins and other good stuff like potassium, fiber, and carbohydrates. In turn, some of these components help produce serotonin – a hormone that naturally lifts your spirits. Just try not to slip on the peel!

If you’ve ever given in to the post-lunch slump, it’s time to feel vindicated. In fact, you might have been doing the responsible thing. That’s because a 2017 study by University of Pennsylvania researchers found that an hour-long afternoon nap can drastically boost memory and thought processes. How about that for an excuse you can give to your boss?

It may seem far-fetched, but if you’re struggling to recall something, try clenching your fists. More specifically, try clenching your left hand. If you want to be able to remember something later, however, think about it while clenching your right hand instead. Believe it or not, this simple action can actually help stimulate brain activity – and, in turn, assist with the making and retrieval of memories.

If there’s one gym mantra everyone should subscribe to, it’s “never work out in silence.” Indeed, pumping up your favorite tunes may give you the added edge you need to complete a particularly tough routine or to lift extra weight. It’s worth spending a little time perfecting your playlist before getting your sweat on, then.

Next time you’re brushing your teeth or unlocking your door, try using your non-dominant hand — that's the left one for most of us. Not only will it help you become more adaptable if anything happens to your dominant hand, but it could also enhance your creativity, boost your ability to learn, and even make you more open-minded.

It may seem counter-intuitive, but turning up the volume on “angry” music can actually make you calmer. Indeed, research from The University of Queensland in Australia has shown that listening to the likes of punk and heavy metal can actually help people deal with their feelings of rage. Next time you’re feeling riled up, then, throw on some Metallica.

When someone is telling you something that they want to hear confirmed, try rephrasing what they just said. Most people speak their minds to get feedback and rephrasing what they said will show that you understand exactly what they mean. Describing the psychological techniques that he used, former-FBI hostage negotiator Chris Voss told author Eric Barker, “[By feeding what they are saying back to them] you’re trying to help them hear what they’re saying, to find out if [it] makes sense to them.”

If you’re in a group situation and want to figure out who’s closest to whom, just wait until everyone starts laughing. Typically, the person whom an individual first gazes at while chuckling will be the one that they consider their closest friend. And you might even discover who you share the deepest bond with, too…

Once you’ve figured out how to read someone’s body language, you can use the same nonverbal communication in response to build trust. So, if they’re sitting back in their chair, mirror their action. Just make sure not to overdo the copying; they might cotton on and find it weird, after all.

The sooner people answer personal questions about themselves, the quicker a relationship can progress. Psychologist Jack Schafer is a former FBI special agent, and he explained, “If I’m selling something, the more quickly I develop rapport and get you to say all sorts of intimate details about your life, the faster you will treat me as a friend and the faster I can get to my sell.” And getting folk to open up to you in a short time is perhaps not as hard as you might think. Making presumptive statements is a great way to encourage people to share the details of their life. For instance, if you ask someone, “You must be around 30 years old?” they tend to respond by either confirming your hunch or by offering a correction.

The most likable people are those who are willing to admit their mistakes. Better still they are perfectly happy to recycle their faux pas and offer them out as anecdotes as a form of advice. Fostering this kind of openness makes you appear more genuine and can help to earn the respect of your peers. What’s more, charming people aren’t afraid to act the clown every now and then. It could be as extreme as donning a silly outfit for a work event or as simple as being able to laugh off your own foibles. You might think that owning up to mistakes would lose you the respect of others, but it actually tends to win it.

Science shows that we make sweeping judgments on a person’s character based on their looks alone. Alexander Todorov is a psychology professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and he says that impression is decided within a tenth of a second. So with the clock against us, what’s the best way of making a good first impression? Well, Todorov claimed the answer is as simple as a smile. In an interview with the BBC, the professor explained, “People will perceive a smiling face as more trustworthy, warmer, and sociable.”

If you want to be liked, when it comes to conversation, try to make the interaction more about the other party. Don’t talk too much about yourself. Instead, show genuine interest in what your companion has to say. That way, you can get an insight into their world by learning all that you can about them. As psychologist Jack Schafer said, “The golden rule of friendship is if you make people feel good about themselves, they’re going to like you.” Olivia Fox Cabane, who wrote the book The Charisma Myth, agrees. She said, “Imagine the other person is a character in an indie flick. Those characters become more fascinating the more you learn about them…”

It seems natural to enter an interaction with other people through small talk. But if you want to establish a bond with another person, the sooner you start exchanging intimate details, the better. And there’s some evidence to suggest that one of the best ways to build a relationship is through self-disclosure. In a study undertaken at Stony Brook University in New York, pairs of students were given 45 minutes to get to know one another. Some participants were given a list of questions, which were increasingly personal. Others, meanwhile, had more light-hearted lines of conversation. It was found that the students who asked more intimate questions finished the experiment feeling closer to their partners than the ones who’d stuck to small talk.

It seems that our expectations of people may actually have a bearing on how they react to us. In what’s known as “the Pygmalion effect,” we treat others based on assumptions that we’ve made about them. And, in turn, they then behave in a manner that corresponds to these beliefs, confirming our ideas about a person. In an interview for Harvard Magazine in 2010, Amy Cuddy explained, “If you think someone’s a jerk, you’ll behave toward them in a way that elicits jerky behaviors.” By way of contrast, if you expect someone to be amicable, they are more likely to react to you in a friendly way.

The most charming people are able to find common ground with someone even when there’s much they disagree about. The points of similarity don’t have to be significant. For instance, perhaps you’re both from California, or maybe you both like to keep an eye on current affairs or relevant industry news. Seattle University’s Suzanne de Janasz explained, “When you disagree, try to really listen to the other person rather than setting up your response, which research shows smart people tend to do. It might seem like you totally disagree but on closer examination, you might agree on a few things, at least in principle.”

According to the gain-loss theory, which looks at interpersonal attraction, our compliments are more effective if we offer them sporadically. A 1965 experiment at the University of Minnesota put this idea to the test. Researchers paired off 80 female students and allowed one half to “overhear” what their partners had to say about them. In reality, the opinions were scripted across four scenarios. In one, all the comments were negative, in another they were entirely positive. There was also another in which opinions went from positive to negative, and one more from negative to positive. Ultimately, it was determined that participants liked their partners most when their commentary went from bad to good. This suggests we like to feel like we’ve won other people over. 

If you’re hoping your new relationship will go the distance, try not to overwhelm the other person with information. Instead of laying all our cards on the table, it’s best to drip-feed people with details about yourself. Revealing too much too soon, could put the other person off, or leave them feeling like there’s nothing else to learn. With this in mind, Jack Schafer recommends implementing what he calls the “Hansel and Gretel technique.” Revealing information bit by bit, like a trail of breadcrumbs, turns every detail into a “curiosity hook.” As Schafer explained, “You gradually release information about yourself to keep the relationship alive.”

If you’d like to stay at your target weight, try slowing down when eating. After all, it can take the brain as many as 20 minutes to catch up with your stomach. In fact, you may become full without even recognizing it for a while – and during that period, you could very well consume more than you actually need.

According to the theory of triadic closure, two individuals are likely to form a closer bond if they have a friend in common. This idea was put to test by the University of British Columbia in an experiment in which they added friends at random on Facebook. And the results were very revealing indeed. The results of the study found that people were much more likely to accept a friend request if they had contacts in common. And the likelihood of a successful connection only increased with the number of mutual friends. That’s because only 20 percent of requests with no common contacts were accepted. But this number leaped to almost 80 percent with over 11 mutual connections.