Psychology can help you to understand other people’s behaviors, and sometimes even your own, much better. Oddly enough, it can help you in your social life as well. Here’s how-
•People notice the first and last things you do: In a sequence of events, people remember the first and last things to happen more strongly. You can use this knowledge to your advantage in many ways. If you are interviewing for a job, having a business meeting, or just having a conversation with someone you want to impress, start with a bang (making a good first impression) and end on a high note—this may mean finishing earlier than you had planned. People will remember the good parts and forget what happened in between, even if it was kind of average.
•Don’t give people incentive:
This probably sounds absolutely bizarre. Cognitive dissonance refers to the mental discomfort that someone feels when they do something which contradicts a belief they have, or when they hold a belief which contradicts something they have done. The way people generally deal with this discomfort is by adjusting either their belief or behavior so that it’s more like the other one.
•Give response time:
If you are having a conversation with someone and they only partially answer or respond to something you say, remain silent but keep eye contact. They will feel an implicit pressure to elaborate, or keep talking.
•Chew gum:
By chewing gum you are basically tricking your brain into thinking you are comfortable. Rather than getting flustered and panicky (which takes a lot of energy) your brain reasons that because you are doing something else (chewing gum), you mustn’t be worried or nervous—if you were you wouldn’t be doing something like chewing gum.
•Watch people’s feet: When you’re having a one-on-one conversation, it’s a good idea to be aware of the orientation of other people’s feet. Obviously you don’t want to stare at them—that would be weird, and probably make them very uncomfortable—but taking the occasional micro-glance or monitoring them in your peripheral vision is fine. People (often unconsciously) stand with their feet pointing away from someone if they are disinterested in them. This works the other way too: If they are standing with their feet pointing toward you, they are probably interested in you as a person—either socially or romantically—or in what you are saying or doing.
•Be excited:
Most people probably have some awareness of emotions being, to some extent, contagious. It’s hard to be really upset when you are surrounded by happy people.