Why study psychology?

Since I studied psychology, people often ask me curiously, "Do you know what I'm thinking now?" I have also heard that friends go out to sell evaluation tools. After customers have tried personality evaluation, they have praised: "This fortune-telling is really accurate!" It is estimated that many people who do psychology-related work have encountered the scene of explaining to others that they are not fortune tellers. In the psychotherapy workshop, I also saw confused and helpless people asking the therapist, "Can fate be changed?" I have dealt with many words such as fate and fortune telling, and I can't help but take a closer look. What is fate? What determines fate? Careful observation shows that some ways people (especially fortune tellers) used to explain their fate are very interesting. Liang Yusheng, a famous martial arts novelist, visited friends in the north when he was young. One day, he praised his friend and met an effective fortune teller. A friend asked him what he thought of the efficacy. Liang Yusheng said that there are two points that are very accurate: first, he said that I am not a local; Second, he said that I had a quarrel with my girlfriend not long ago. My friend smiled and replied, Your southern accent doesn't belong here. As for quarreling with your girlfriend, it's too common at your age! Mr. Liang was a little naive when he was young, but among fortune-telling practitioners, it is estimated that there are many people with good observation-countless information is inadvertently conveyed to each other by the parties, and after others say it, they marvel at the efficacy of the other party's "fortune telling". The famous writer Conan Doyle (the author of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes) once went on a trip and the coachman recognized him. At that time, there was no TV, and the public would not know the image of the writer. The screenwriter asked in surprise: How do you know I am Conan Doyle? The coachman replied unhurriedly: A month ago, the newspaper said that you were going to travel to the south. At first glance, your skin color was only bronze. There are ink marks on your fingers, which indicates that you may be a writer who has been working at your desk for a long time ... Conan Doyle listened to a large section of macro theory of reasoning process and blurted out: You are simply a living Sherlock Holmes! The coachman finally added: Of course, there is the most important circumstantial evidence. On your luggage, it says Conan Doyle! Conan Doyle's colleagues focus on describing the world and human feelings, and some people have amazing powers of observation. Once, three Russian writers Gorky, andreyev and Bunin ate in an Italian restaurant. The three of them observed a customer for about three minutes, and then took turns to talk about the observation results. Andreyev was so careless that he even said that the color of the customer's clothes was wrong. Bunin spoke in the most detail, detailing that the customer's tie has black spots, the little finger nails are a little abnormal, the scars on his face and so on. And infer from the appearance that this person is a liar. Three people asked the waiter in the restaurant. This man is really unknown and has a bad reputation nearby. Fortunately, Bunin doesn't make a living by telling fortune, and he doesn't need to publicize how many years he knew before and how many years he knew afterwards. People inadvertently convey more information than they think. Not only observant people but also sensitive animals can receive it. About a hundred years ago, a horse that could do arithmetic appeared in Germany, and it could knock out the correct answer with its hoof (once the answer was more than 600, and the hoof had been knocked more than 600 times); Can accurately find the person in the crowd that everyone wants it to identify. This horse almost shocked the whole of Europe and was called the clever Hans. Is the creator's magic beyond human common sense? Are there really animals that know arithmetic? After careful observation and research, psychologists finally uncovered the secret-when the questioner doesn't know the answer, or Hans can't see the questioner, he can't answer the question. Obviously, the answer is that people inadvertently told it. It turns out that when doing arithmetic problems, the closer Hans is to the answer, the more curious and nervous people around him will be. When he knocks the answer number, the questioner often has unconscious actions, such as suddenly relaxing his expression and tilting his head. Hans is really a clever horse. Although he doesn't know arithmetic, he can accurately observe the subtle changes in people's expressions. There are some things in vague language that you don't even need to look at-because this is human nature. Many years ago, I went to Shanghai for the first time. When I visited Longhua Temple, a fortune teller wanted to visit my fortune teller and chased me all the way to lobby: "Miss, you seem to be a kind-hearted person. You are very kind to people, but others sometimes feel sorry for you ... "At first glance, I think what he said is really accurate. Then on second thought, I guess he said that to everyone. Who hasn't felt the feeling of giving without returning in life? There is a lyric in the song "I wish you peace": "Is your income still so small? Do you still pay so much? " This song is so popular, and it also benefits from telling the voice of almost everyone, right? This description of human nature can be called the FIM of MIW. This is an English abbreviation: father is a man and mother is a woman. If someone comes over and says: Your father is a man and your mother is a woman. Few people will think that this person has a unique vision or is unpredictable. But if it is replaced by a general description of personality characteristics, many people will think it is unique to them and think it is very accurate (Barnum effect). A few years ago, I met a man who praised my horoscope on the phone and asked him where he was. For example, one thing is particularly accurate: people who say they are rabbits don't like being criticized. I am a rabbit, so I don't like being criticized. I couldn't help laughing at the other end of the phone: I'm not a rabbit and I don't like to listen to criticism. Probability Some things or developments, although not all people do, often have approximate probability. I remember reading an article that a girlfriend found many famous local fortune tellers to calculate during the marriage crisis. Later, she went to ask her girlfriend if she was allowed. The girlfriend replied indifferently: I want to ask about the clutch. Anyway, there are only two endings, breaking up or not breaking up. Find ten people, and half is right. I can't help feeling sympathy like the author of that article. If you know it is false, but you are in a hurry to see a doctor, you should also listen, talk and comfort yourself. However, in addition to sympathy, there are people who admire and admire, and not many people have such a clear concept of probability. Indeed, things happen by accident. But when the judgment is not so clear, it is likely to regard accident as cause and effect. I have heard an example of accurate calculation of consternation. The old woman in the countryside was seriously ill and unconscious, and her family was helpless, so she went to the local wizard/Mr. Feng Shui. It turns out that the ancestral grave needs a little repair. After repairing the ancestral grave, grandma suddenly woke up and could drink porridge. The storyteller said flatly, "There is no other explanation! The guide is really accurate! " I don't believe there is no other explanation. I'm curious: if I come from a remote place and don't know medicine. When I arrived in Beijing, I suddenly had a severe migraine attack. I was prescribed painkillers, and my head still hurts after taking them for a while. So I believe that this medicine is useless, and I start to burn incense and pray for all kinds of immortals ... Suppose I toss for three quarters of an hour, my headache will gradually ease, and I pray for the blessing of Guanyin Bodhisattva, and my head will stop hurting. Because I don't know that the painkillers I take usually take an hour to take effect, I come to the conclusion from my personal experience that immortals are more effective than modern medicine! Guanyin bodhisattva is more spiritual than all other gods and buddhas! -Is that unbelievable? To believe in fate, my initial pursuit is peace of mind. If you want to know the reason why things happen, you can fundamentally control and reform them. However, if the explanation of the reason is not accurate at all, will everything done afterwards be easily lost? Seeking inner peace, but paying a real price for false peace? Some researchers once told me bluntly that many people do poorly in attribution. Otherwise, the study of psychology will be much easier. In this way, some so-called "accurate calculation" examples make use of the parties' own beliefs. The success or failure of doing things and the development of the situation are only between people's thoughts. How you believe, how you live. I have heard a high school teacher earnestly teach students not to be too nervous before the college entrance examination, and for example, once in the physical examination in previous years, the hospital mistook Feng Jing for Ma Liang and put the illness of one candidate on the physical examination results of another healthy candidate. A few weeks later, when he was examined again, Feng Jing, who had the disease, was safe and sound. Ma Liang brought someone else's illness by mistake. Because of his heavy mental burden, he really got sick and needed treatment. Believe in who you are, and you will easily become such a person. This is a "self-fulfilling prophecy". Not only will it affect your own attitude, but your attitude towards others will also affect others. In 1960s, an American psychologist made a famous experiment. In a primary school, he and his assistant claimed to evaluate the students' future development prospects, and mysteriously handed over a list of the most promising students to the teacher, demanding strict confidentiality. Not all the good students on the list are familiar to the teacher. Psychologists explain it this way: the evaluation is the future development, not the present performance. The dramatic thing happened eight months later, and the psychologist returned to this primary school to check the progress of the experiment. Those students on the list of "promising students" have indeed made progress in their grades, become more cheerful and lively, and have a better relationship with their teachers. When the teachers rejoiced at the amazing accuracy of the psychologist's assessment, the researchers uncovered an unexpected mystery: in fact, the list was randomly selected and had nothing to do with the so-called assessment. What really affects the performance of these students is the concern and expectation of "gifted students" inadvertently revealed by teachers after they think they have development prospects. These trust, encouragement and positive expectations have improved the relationship between teachers and students, and stimulated these children's self-confidence and enthusiasm for learning. The phenomenon that teachers' expectations affect students' performance is the expectation effect-scientific experiments have ethical restrictions, and it is impossible to try to give teachers a list of "no future" without doing it. However, we have all seen teachers or parents easily make such a judgment: "This child has not developed and can't teach!" Can't teach well! " When parents and teachers complain that their children are disappointing and disobedient, how do their expectations subtly affect their children? Does the strong party in the relationship know what kind of likes and dislikes or judgments they inadvertently reveal, and how to shape the relatively weak party? Second, personality determines fate? What determines character? Expectation effect and self-fulfilling prophecy both refer to the influence of consciousness on the level of consciousness. The level of consciousness is still so powerful, not to mention what we believe and do unconsciously. Repeating the same misfortune is often not destiny takes a hand, but the parties have fixed thinking and behavior patterns. Large and small patterns make up a person's character. Repeatedly being "kind as a donkey's liver and lungs"; Meet people repeatedly in feelings; Interpersonal relationships have broken down many times in a similar way ... usually it is not fate, but the parties themselves do not know how to teach others how to treat each other unintentionally. There is an old joke that a little turtle and a turtle are drinking coke in the room, and there is only one cup left. So the tortoise said, there are many cokes in the opposite room. Go get it, and we'll drink it together. The little turtle refused, fearing that he would be separated, and then swallowed the coke himself. The tortoise promised to wait until it came back. So the little turtle went to get a coke. The tortoise is waiting in the room An hour passed, and two hours passed. He wants to know if the little turtle found a lot of coke and had a good time alone. Three hours have passed ... the more I think about it, the angrier the tortoise can't help it! He went to the coke and picked up the cup. He was about to drink when the door opened with a bang. The angry little turtle stood there complaining: I knew you would steal coke alone. I finally caught you after three hours! Of course, the characters in the story don't know that this "finally caught" relationship pattern is his own making. If he does not change, the same thing will happen again. In this sense, people's behavioral responses can be explained and predicted. An application example of behavior pattern analysis is that criminal psychologists profile a serial case of the same person according to the modus operandi, infer the characteristics of the suspect and help the police solve the case. After reading a classic example abroad, psychologists concluded that the criminal was about forty or fifty years old, Scottish, single, living with one or two sisters, and dressed conservatively (wearing a double-breasted suit, etc. ) ... When the police found the criminal, the middle-aged single Scot who lived with his sister answered the door and wore what psychologists call a double-breasted suit! People's thinking and behavior will be patterned, and the development of natural and social situations also has its regularity. If the story of "borrowing from the east wind" in the Three Kingdoms is true, it is that Zhuge Liang has grasped the law of weather changes. The so-called "can pinch and calculate" is just the deification or attachment of future generations. Jin Yong, a martial arts master, has been writing social commentary in Hong Kong for decades, and has repeatedly made accurate predictions on the development of the situation in various countries when the current situation is still unclear. To the world's surprise, he explained that he was familiar with the History Book and learned the law of political change from the history books. There is nothing new in the sun. And modestly said, because Ming Pao is his own newspaper, whenever the prediction is accurate, it will be reported in major newspapers after it is determined; There are still some things that are uncertain, so I won't mention them myself, and everyone will naturally forget them. -No matter how complicated and changeable things are, after all, they all have their own laws and rules. The so-called fate, there will be some things you can't choose-the time, place and family of birth. There will be things out of control-occasional external events. But in the final analysis, the quality of life lies not in what happened and what happened, but in whether you can experience and create wholeheartedly. I always remember the psychological explanation when I first read Psychology and Life: describing, explaining, predicting and controlling psychological phenomena and behaviors, with the ultimate goal of improving human welfare. To "transfer", improve the status quo and improve the quality of life is nothing more than understanding and respecting the law, letting nature take its course and doing whatever you want.