Psychology 01 (Nov 08 - Jan 14)

[winston]

Some restaurants purposely try to create a line ups outside the restaurant. Eventhough there are empty seats inside, they purposely take their time to let the people in.

[millionairemind]

Some restaurants purposely try to create a line ups outside the restaurant. Eventhough there are empty seats inside, they purposely take their time to let the people in.

Ya W... this is to create impression that the food is very good.

I guess this is the same as creating an "exclusive preview" for property launches to make the development more desirable.

[kennynah]

last time...they used to have paid "mourners" engaged for wakes/funerals ... maybe these stores pay part timers to queue up...pay at counter...take food...go to the back...receive money and recycle the bowl of noodles...hahaha....

[millionairemind]

This much money will buy you happiness
by POP on JUNE 16, 2010
http://www.popeconomics.com/2010/06/16/ ... happiness/

[memphisb]

Time will fool your mind into trusting (Psychology) matters.

Beware.

[Poles]

Winston,

please re-direct. Don't where to post this article....

I find this can apply to trading...certain trade I got so focus on the price & vol action...intend to go in ...avg up...& exit within 1-2 week.
...I forget other stuff, index , news...visiting forum...i think the result is better....

if eng eng...go read CNN, CNBC, CNA....& all the clowns shouting at CNA....there is an unconscious influence on your trading decsion....




Unconscious Will


Think You're Operating on Free Will? Think Again
By Eben Harrell Friday, Jul. 02, 2010
Click here to find out more!


Studies have found that upon entering an office, people behave more competitively when they see a sharp leather briefcase on the desk, they talk more softly when there is a picture of a library on the wall, and they keep their desk tidier when there is a vague scent of cleaning agent in the air. But none of them are consciously aware of the influence of their environment.

There may be few things more fundamental to human identity than the belief that people are rational individuals whose behavior is determined by conscious choices. But recently psychologists have compiled an impressive body of research that shows how deeply our decisions and behavior are influenced by unconscious thought, and how greatly those thoughts are swayed by stimuli beyond our immediate comprehension. (See why dreams may mean less than we think.)

In an intriguing review in the July 2 edition of the journal Science, published online Thursday, Ruud Custers and Henk Aarts of Utrecht University in the Netherlands lay out the mounting evidence of the power of what they term the "unconscious will." "People often act in order to realize desired outcomes, and they assume that consciousness drives that behavior. But the field now challenges the idea that there is only a conscious will. Our actions are very often initiated even though we are unaware of what we are seeking or why," Custers says.

It is not only that people's actions can be influenced by unconscious stimuli; our desires can be too. In one study cited by Custers and Aarts, students were presented with words on a screen related to puzzles — crosswords, jigsaw piece, etc. For some students, the screen also flashed an additional set of words so briefly that they could only be detected subliminally. The words were ones with positive associations, such as beach, friend or home. When the students were given a puzzle to complete, the students exposed unconsciously to positive words worked harder, for longer, and reported greater motivation to do puzzles than the control group. (See why gut decisions may not be so smart.)

The same priming technique has also been used to prompt people to drink more fluids after being subliminally exposed to drinking-related words, and to offer constructive feedback to other people after sitting in front of a screen that subliminally flashes the names of their loved ones or occupations associated with caring like nurse. In other words, we are often not even consciously aware of why we want what we want.

John Bargh of Yale University, who 10 years ago predicted many of the findings discussed by Custers and Aarts in a paper entitled "The Unbearable Automaticity of Being," called the Science paper a "landmark — nothing like this has been in Science before. It's a large step toward overcoming the skepticism surrounding this research."

But Bargh says the field has actually moved beyond the use of subliminal techniques, and studies show that unconscious processes can even be influenced by stimuli within the realms of consciousness, often in unexpected ways. For instance, his own work has shown that people sitting in hard chairs are more likely to be more rigid in negotiating the sales price of a new car, they tend to judge others as more generous and caring after they hold a warm cup of coffee rather than a cold drink, and they evaluate job candidates as more serious when they review their résumés on a heavy clipboard rather than a light one.

"These are stimuli that people are conscious of — you can feel the hard chair, the hot coffee — but were unaware that it influenced them. Our unconscious is active in many more ways than this review suggests," he says.

Custers says his work demonstrates that subliminal-advertising techniques — which some countries have outlawed — can be effective. But he says people concerned about being unconsciously manipulated "should be much more scared of commercials they can see, rather than those they can't see." Many soda commercials, he says by way of example, show the drink with positive-reward cues such as friends or beaches. "If you are exposed to these advertisements over and over again, it does create an association in your mind, and your unconscious is more likely to suddenly decide you want a Coke," he says.

But he also says that, at least when it comes to unhealthy food, policymakers are beginning to understand that "personal choice" may be a weak counter to heavy advertising. "We are starting to talk about 'toxic environments' with food and to understand how easy it is to mindlessly reach for a bag of potato chips. Removing such stimuli from the environment can be very effective," he says.

Both Custers and Bargh acknowledge that their research undermines a fundamental principle used to promote human exceptionalism — indeed, Bargh has in the past argued that his work undermines the existence of free will. But Custers also points out that his conclusions are not new: people have long sensed that they are influenced by forces beyond their immediate recognition — be it Greek gods or Freud's unruly id. What's more, the unconscious will is vital for daily functioning and probably evolved before consciousness as a handy survival mechanism — Bargh calls it "the evolutionary foundation upon which the scaffolding of consciousness is built." Life requires so many decisions, Bargh says, "that we would be swiftly overwhelmed if we did not have the automatic processes to deal with them."

For his part, Custers says that it is true that our conscious selves are sometimes voyagers on a vessel of which they have little control, but he does not see this as a cause for helplessness. "We have to trust that our unconscious sense of what we want and what is good for us is strong, and will lead us largely in the right direction."

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/health/article ... z0uDwBzDBp

[kennynah]

I need to visit dr lily neo soon... such sesquipedalian articles give me throbbing migraines.... Hahaha

But maybe got some truth to it leh...I feel sombre everytime I see portraits of persons hanging on walls...remind me of the deceased.. No wonder most gahmen offices are so lifeless. Hahaha

[winston]

Long article. Link attached.


Top 10 Common Faults in Human Thinking
By Nikki / Source: The List Universe


10. Gambler's Fallacy
The Gambler's fallacy is the tendency to think that future probabilities are altered by past events, when in reality, they are not.

9. Reactivity
Reactivity is the tendency of people to act or appear differently when they know that they are being observed.

8. Pareidolia
Pareidolia is when random images or sounds are perceived as significant.

7. Self-fulfilling Prophecy
Self-fulfilling prophecy is engaging in behaviors that obtain results that confirm existing attitudes.

6. Halo effect
The Halo effect is the tendency for an individual's positive or negative trait to "spill over" to other areas of their personality in others' perceptions of them.

5. Herd Mentality
Herd mentality is the tendency to adopt the opinions and follow the behaviors of the majority to feel safer and to avoid conflict.

4. Reactance
Reactance is the urge to do the opposite of what someone wants you to do out of a need to resist a perceived attempt to constrain your freedom of choice.

3. Hyperbolic Discounting
Hyperbolic discounting is the tendency for people to prefer a smaller, immediate payoff over a larger, delayed payoff.

2. Escalation of Commitment
Escalation of commitment is the tendency for people to continue to support previously unsuccessful endeavors.

1. Placebo Effect
The Placebo effect is when an ineffectual substance that is believed to have healing properties produces the desired effect.

http://www.mindpowernews.com/ThoughtFallacies.htm

[winston]

10 Modern Methods of Mind Control By Nicholas West / Source: Activist Post

For as long as man has pursued power over the masses, mind control has been orchestrated by those who study human behavior in order to bend large populations to the will of a small "elite" group.


1. Education

This is the most obvious, yet still remains the most insidious. It has always been a would-be dictator's ultimate fantasy to "educate" naturally impressionable children, thus it has been a central component to Communist and Fascist tyrannies throughout history.


2. Advertising and Propaganda

Edward Bernays has been cited as the inventor of the consumerist culture that was designed primarily to target people's self-image (or lack thereof) in order to turn a want into a need.

This was initially envisioned for products such as cigarettes, for example. However, Bernays also noted in his 1928 book, Propaganda, that "propaganda is the executive arm of the invisible government."

Media; print, movies, television, and cable news can now work seamlessly to integrate an overall message which seems to have the ring of truth because it comes from so many sources, simultaneously.


3. Predictive Programming

Many still deny that predictive programming is real. I would invite anyone to examine the range of documentation put together by Alan Watt and come to any other conclusion. Predictive programming has its origins in predominately elitist Hollywood, where the big screen can offer a big vision of where society is headed.


4. Sports, Politics, Religion

Some might take offense at seeing religion, or even politics, put alongside sports as a method of mind control. The central theme is the same throughout: divide and conquer.

Sports has always had a role as a key distraction that corrals tribal tendencies into a non-important event, which in modern America has reached ridiculous proportions where protests will break out over a sport celebrity leaving their city, but essential human issues such as liberty are giggled away as inconsequential.


5. Food, Water, and Air

Additives, toxins, and other food poisons literally alter brain chemistry to create docility and apathy. Fluoride in drinking water has been proven to lower IQ; Aspartame and MSG are excitotoxins which excite brain cells until they die; and easy access to the fast food that contains these poisons generally has created a population that lacks focus and motivation for any type of active lifestyle.


6. Drugs

This can be any addictive substance, but the mission of mind controllers is to be sure you are addicted to something. One major arm of the modern mind control agenda is psychiatry, which aims to define all people by their disorders, as opposed to their human potential. This was foreshadowed in books such as Brave New World.

Today, it has been taken to even further extremes as a medical tyranny has taken hold where nearly everyone has some sort of disorder -- particularly those who question authority. The use of nerve drugs in the military has led to record numbers of suicides. Worst of all, the modern drug state now has over 25% of U.S. children on mind-numbing medication.


7. Military testing

The military has a long history as the testing ground for mind control. The military mind is perhaps the most malleable, as those who pursue life in the military generally resonate to the structures of hierarchy, control, and the need for unchallenged obedience to a mission.

For the increasing number of military personal questioning their indoctrination, a recent story highlighted DARPA's plans for transcranial mind control helmets that will keep them focused.


8. Electromagnetic spectrum

An electromagnetic soup envelops us all, charged by modern devices of convenience which have been shown to have a direct impact on brain function. In a tacit admission of what is possible, one researcher has been working with a "god helmet" to induce visions by altering the electromagnetic field of the brain.

Our modern soup has us passively bathed by potentially mind-altering waves, while a wide range of possibilities such as cell phone towers is now available to the would-be mind controller for more direct intervention.


9. Television, Computer, and "flicker rate"

It's bad enough that what is "programmed" on your TV (accessed via remote "control") is engineered; it is all made easier by literally lulling you to sleep, making it a psycho-social weapon.

Flicker rate tests show that alpha brain waves are altered, producing a type of hypnosis -- which doesn't portend well for the latest revelation that lights can transmit coded Internet data by "flickering faster than the eye can see."

The computer's flicker rate is less, but through video games, social networks, and a basic structure which overloads the brain with information, the rapid pace of modern communication induces an ADHD state.

A study of video games revealed that extended play can result in lower blood flow to the brain, sapping emotional control. Furthermore, role-playing games of lifelike war and police state scenarios serve to desensitize a connection to reality. One look at the WikiLeaks video Collateral Murder should be familiar to anyone who has seen a game like Call of Duty.


10. Nanobots

From science fiction horror, directly to the modern brain; the nanobots are on the way. Direct brain modification already has been packaged as "neuroengineering." A Wired article from early 2009 highlighted that direct brain manipulation via fiber optics is a bit messy, but once installed "it could make someone happy with the press of a button."

Nanobots take the process to an automated level, rewiring the brain molecule by molecule. Worse, these mini droids can self-replicate, forcing one to wonder how this genie would ever get back in the bottle once unleashed. Expected date of arrival? Early 2020s.


http://www.mindpowernews.com/ModernMindControl.htm

[winston]

Things Are Not Always What They Seem by Alexander Green


I was driving along Route 250 when my seven-year-old, David, spotted Kohr Brothers, his favorite ice cream shop.

"Dad," he shouted, "let's stop for a cone!"

It wasn't the worst idea I'd heard all day. I pulled in.

We got the usual - two vanilla cones - and grabbed our favorite spot, the bench just outside the front door.

As we sat there, two attractive young women walked up and I said hello as they opened the door. They were busy talking and didn't notice.

Ah, I thought to myself, twenty years ago they might have noticed, but not today. Back then one might have nudged the other, a brief signal, a silent recognition. But not any more, I thought, a tad wistful. Too many summers had passed.

Just then, one of David's classmates and his father approached us from the parking lot. My son and his buddy quickly disappeared inside. I stood chatting with the father for several minutes, shooting the breeze.

A few minutes later, my ice cream was melting faster than the glaciers in Glacier Bay. By the time his friend's dad turned to go inside, the cone itself was disintegrating.

I took a couple frantic bites but it was too late. The whole thing was coming apart in my hand. An opportunity lost, I tossed the sticky mess into the trashcan beside me.

As I wiped my hands, the two young women came out of the shop with their cones and glanced in my direction. But they didn't just look once. They did a double take - both of them - turned and smiled broadly to each other, then continued into the parking lot.

My spirits lifted immediately. This was new. These women hadn't just looked my way. They had looked twice - then broken into big smiles. I reviewed the scene in my mind. Yes, they had definitely smiled.

Maybe the old magic is still there, I thought. Maybe I still have it.

Just then my son walked out of the shop, looked up and shouted, "Dad!"

"What?" I said, taken aback by his tone.

He put his hands on his hips. "You have ice cream all over your nose."

Pride goeth before the fall.


Source: Spiritual Wealth