Dear friends, I am Miao Baoping, a psychological counselor. Starting today, we will read the book "Learn Some Psychological Effects Every Day" written by Lu Fang together. Today is the chapter " Chapter 1: Learn to recognize your own psychological effects " of the book.
It is important for people to have self-awareness, but it is difficult and difficult to know themselves. We are eager to know ourselves clearly and understand the truest self. Perhaps someone else's "I really don't understand you" will make you feel confused all of a sudden, and even you will start to feel confused. But we say that if a person wants to make a difference and give full play to his strengths, he must learn to know himself. But knowing yourself is not an easy thing. The psychological effects introduced in this chapter will explain how to correctly understand yourself from different aspects. The self you know is not exactly the person other people say. So, what kind of you is the most authentic? What should you pay attention to in the process of getting to know yourself? Regardless of the advantages or disadvantages, you must accept them unconditionally.
The Barnum Effect: Only those who understand themselves are qualified to succeed
In the 1870s, U.S. President Grant traveled around the world. When people learned that he was an American, the first thing they asked was mostly, "Then you must Know Barnum !" It can be seen that circus star Barnum was even more famous than the President of the United States at the time. The reason why people like Barnum so much is not only because of his hilarious performances, but also because he is good at using ingenious ways to attract the audience's attention, even if the attention is negative.
Barnum planned a show in 1835. Joyce. Heth was an old black woman, and Barnum claimed that she was originally George. Washington's nanny and slave. This speech, coupled with a lively performance by the blind Joyce Heth herself, had Barnum's museum filled with curious people.
Soon after, when the museum was no longer so attractive, Barnum announced that Joyce. Heth is not actually a person, but an elaborate mechanical device. In this way, the museum was crowded again, and everyone wanted to come and find out.
However, many people criticized Barnum as a liar, but Barnum himself did not care. When evaluating himself, he said: "Although some people say that I am a liar, I think that is definitely not belittling me. People I hate scams, but this is on the premise that scams strongly attract them. The reason why my program is so popular is that there are elements in my program that everyone likes, so people will be fooled every minute.”
Barnum effect: In real life, there is a common psychological phenomenon. If you want everyone to feel that the words describing their personality are accurate, they must describe those universal behavioral characteristics, so that The description applies to everyone. This is a trick often used by scammers who read palmistry and tell fortunes. As Barnum said: "There is something in my show that everyone likes, so
someone is fooled every minute." No matter what the fortune teller says, it seems to make sense to you. The meaning of the Barnum effect is that people are easily disturbed and suggested by some information from the outside world, and thus have deviations in self-perception. Those general and general descriptions of personality are considered to be the most accurate and most suitable for them. of. It can be seen that people are always accustomed to looking at themselves through the eyes of others, and often ignore the truest self-character nature.
Interpretation:
In addition to "people should be self-aware", a similar meaning is "the authorities are obsessed with the onlookers' clarity", which means that people who play chess often do not have a clear understanding of the situation, but those watching from the sidelines can see it clearly. It is a metaphor that the parties concerned will be confused by the truth and often deal with things in a confused way, but outsiders can see it more clearly than the parties involved.
In real life, such examples abound. For example, when units are evaluated and promoted to professional titles, those who are unsuccessful often complain, thinking that those who are elected are not as capable as themselves, and why they are the ones who are unsuccessful.For another example, during the college entrance examination score evaluation every year, there are always people who overestimate their scores, resulting in their failure due to mistakes in filling in the application forms.
Zhuge Liang in "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" also "directed" the "Barnum Effect". Why do you say that? In the Shu Army, Ma Su did read a lot of military books and liked to talk about military affairs. Zhuge Liang came to him to discuss war, and he kept talking and came up with some good ideas. Therefore Zhuge Liang trusted him very much. But when Liu Bei was still alive, he saw that Ma Di was not very practical. Before his death, he specifically warned Zhuge Liang, saying: "Ma Di is exaggerating. We cannot send him to do big things. He must be investigated carefully." However, Zhuge Liang believed too much in his instinct of recognizing people and did not take these words to heart.
After Zhuge Liang pacified Nanzhong, after two years of preparation, in the winter of 227 AD, Zhuge Liang led the army to garrison Hanzhong Northern Expedition Wei Kingdom . Hanzhong was close to the border of Wei and Shu, and Zhuge Liang arrived at Qishan . Because Jieting was a military important place with a dangerous location, Zhuge Liang decided to send a group of troops to occupy Jieting (southeast of today's Zhuanglang, Gansu) as a stronghold. At that time, he was surrounded by several experienced veterans. But he was of no use. He only wanted to join the army and Ma Su was guarding the street pavilion. As a result, the street pavilion was lost, the Shu army was completely defeated, and the Northern Expedition failed. There is a classic story of Zhuge Liang killing Ma Su in tears. In fact, if you analyze carefully, the loss of the street pavilion was also caused by Zhuge Liang's insistence on going his own way, "a leaf blocking his eyesight", and improper use of Ma Su.
Therefore, it is not easy to know your own people correctly every moment. Only by constantly improving one's comprehensive quality in practice, broadening one's horizons, accepting the opinions of others, being good at discovering and having the courage to discover one's own shortcomings, and correcting one's own shortcomings can the occurrence of the "Barnum Effect" be reduced.
June 29, 2022
