The influence and role of interpersonal psychology in life

People have to communicate with other people every day, and they leave different impressions on people during the communication process, and these impressions are often different from the real situation. The reasons for this are actually some "Effect". Understand the knowledge of interpersonal psychology and understand some of the "effects" of impression formation. We can learn how to leave a good impression on others, and it can also help us overcome the negative effects of these effects. The following are some of the contents of the "effect":

Primacy Effect

Primacy Effect generally refers to people's intuitive observation and attribution judgment about the person they are interacting with when they first come into contact with each other. In this communication situation, the impression formed on others is called the first impression or initial impression. The primacy effect plays a decisive role in the formation of people's impressions. When we meet for the first time, we will form the first impression of the other person based on the other person's expression, posture, appearance, clothing, conversation, etiquette, etc.

Once the first impression is formed, it is not easy to change it. Even if the subsequent impression is different from the initial impression, many times we will naturally obey the initial impression. In real life, the first impression formed by the primacy effect often affects our subsequent evaluation and views of others. Sometimes we hear friends complain: "The only bad thing is that I didn't leave a good first impression on him, and the impression can no longer be changed."

Due to the existence of the primacy effect, the first impression plays an important role in interpersonal communication. important role, so we should pay attention to the first impression we leave on others when we interact with others. In order to create a good first impression, first of all, we should pay attention to appearance, clothes should be neat, and the matching of clothing should be harmonious and appropriate; secondly, we should pay attention to our speech and behavior, exercise and improve our conversation skills, and master appropriate social etiquette.

The first impression is the basis of long-term communication and the starting point for gaining trust from others. We not only need to learn some skills, but at the same time, we need to know that interacting with people is a lasting thing. Anyone can become a good friend. In order to maintain this long-term relationship, the most important thing is that we should have a sincere heart. heart.

Recency effect

The "primacy effect" produced by the first impression is generally particularly important in the early stages of a relationship, when both parties are still unfamiliar with each other, and it is also important in the later stages of a relationship. When both parties are already very familiar with each other, the recency effect plays a big role.

The so-called recency effect means that when multiple stimuli appear at once, the formation of an impression mainly depends on the stimuli that appear later. That is, in the process of communication, our most recent and latest understanding of others accounts for the majority. Status covers the evaluation of others formed in the past, so it is also called the "novelty effect". For a friend you haven’t seen for many years, the deepest impression in your mind is actually the scene when you say goodbye; a friend always makes you angry, but when you talk about the reasons for your anger, you can only give two or three reasons. This is also a kind of The manifestation of recency effect.

In the process of communication, we often use the recency effect to modify our own image. For example, if the relationship between the two parties is not getting along, and once they are about to break up, taking the initiative to express good feelings or even apology to the other party will unexpectedly win the other party's favor and even resolve past grievances.

Halo Effect

American psychologist Dane Bernstein once conducted an experiment in which participants were given photos of people who were classified as attractive. , unattractive, and moderately attractive, and asked the experimenters to rate several characteristics unrelated to appearance, such as marriage, professional status, social and professional happiness, etc. As a result, attractive people are rated highest on almost every characteristic and are perceived to have all the positive qualities simply because they are good-looking. This is the halo effect.

The so-called halo effect means that when we evaluate others, we often like to start from a partial impression of good or bad and diffuse an overall impression of all good and all bad, just like a moon halo (or Like a halo, it gradually spreads out from a central point into a larger and larger circle, so it is sometimes called the moon halo effect or halo effect.

In most cases, the halo effect often causes people to make mistakes such as "overgeneralizing from one part to the next" and "taking too much of one thing for granted." This creates the feeling that one person is good for everything.

"Onlookers know clearly, but those in authority are confused." We must be good at listening and accepting the opinions of others and guard against the negative effects of the halo effect. At the same time, you can also use the halo effect to increase your own attractiveness. When interacting with others, we can use a preemptive strategy to let the other person understand our strengths and obtain positive evaluations.

The halo is beautiful. Under its beautiful halo, we can see life calmly and objectively and grasp our relationships.

Stereotype effect

Businessmen are often considered treacherous, and there is a saying that "there is no business without treachery"; professors are often considered to be gray-haired, gentle old people; people from the Jiangnan generation tend to People from the north are considered to be smart and adaptable; northerners are considered to be forthright, bold and upright... When we know and judge others, we do not know the individual as an isolated object, but always regard him as an individual. Being a member of a certain type of person gives him both personality and personality, and it is easy to think that he has all the qualities of a certain type. Therefore, when we generally classify people into fixed and general types to understand them, stereotypes are formed.

The positive effect of stereotypes is that they simplify our understanding process. Because when we know some information about another person, we often infer all his other typical characteristics based on the characteristics of the group to which the person belongs. Although this cannot form a correct impression of others, it can help us simplify the understanding process to a certain extent. But the stereotype effect brings more negative effects. Such as racial prejudice, national prejudice, gender prejudice, etc. It often makes people look at people with points instead of faces, and it is easy to produce biases in judgment and misunderstandings in understanding.

Setting effect

A farmer lost an ax and suspected that his neighbor's son had stolen it. So he observed the way he walked and the expression on his face, and felt that there was nothing wrong with his words and deeds. Not like an ax thief. Later, the farmer found the lost ax in the mountains. When he looked at his neighbor's son, he felt that there was no trace of stealing the ax in his words and deeds. This story describes the farmer's psychological activity process under the influence of psychological stereotypes. The so-called mental set refers to a psychological reaction tendency that people use "old eyes" - existing knowledge and experience to look at current problems in cognitive activities. It is also called thinking set or mindset.

In interpersonal communication, the stereotyping effect is manifested in people using a fixed image to recognize others. For example: when we interact with the elderly, we will think that they are rigid in thinking, stuck in rules, and unable to keep up with the times; while they will think that we are young, inexperienced, "hairless in mouth, and weak in doing things." When getting along with classmates, we will think that honest people will never lie; but once we think that someone is cunning, even if he expresses a good impression of you, you will think that this is "a weasel giving a chicken a New Year greeting with no good intentions."

Mental stereotypes often lead to prejudices and stereotypes, preventing us from correctly understanding others. Therefore, we have to "separate each other for three days and look at others with new eyes"! Don't just look at people and things through old eyes.

Projection effect

In ancient times, a person who liked to eat celery always thought that others also liked to eat celery like him. So he enthusiastically recommended celery to others whenever he went to public places, which became a well-known joke. But in life, everyone is bound to make mistakes like this, "Judge others by yourself." In psychology, it is called the projection effect, that is, in the process of interpersonal cognition, people often assume that others have the same attributes, hobbies or tendencies as themselves, and often take it for granted that others know what they are thinking.

Psychologist Ross conducted such an experiment to study the projection effect. He solicited opinions from 80 college students who participated in the experiment and asked them if they would be willing to walk around campus carrying a large sign. As a result, 48 college students agreed to carry the sign and walk around campus, and believed that most students would be willing to carry it. However, those who refused to carry the sign generally believed that only a few students were willing to carry it.

It can be seen that these students project their attitudes onto other students.

"Using a villain's heart to judge a gentleman's heart" is a typical projection effect. When other people's behavior is different from ours, we are accustomed to use our own standards to measure other people's behavior and think that other people's behavior violates the norm; jealous people often attribute the motivation of other people's behavior to jealousy. If others are slightly disrespectful to them, they will He feels that others are jealous of him.

In order to overcome the negative effect of the projection effect, we should correctly understand ourselves and others, be strict with ourselves, treat others objectively, and try to avoid judging others by our own standards. The other party is not as we imagine, we will only know if we try.