26 Psychological Life Hacks that Will Help You Gain The Advantage In Social Situations - 2

14) If you want to be persuasive, try and reduce the use of the words “I think” and “I believe.”

I don’t really feel the need to elaborate on this one.

Obviously these words do not evoke confidence and the other person will most probably not take you seriously. Change them to ‘I know’ and ‘I will’ instead.

15) A clean and organised environment affects your mood, productivity, and others perception of who you are.

How many times have you waken up without any motivation at all?

How many times have you started working on something without being able to get focused and inspired?

Next time this happens, take a look around you.

Is your environment clean and well-organized?

If not, take some minutes to clean it up and put everything into place.

You will feel refreshed and reborn and productivity will spark immediately.

But not only that, you will come across as caring and punctual, two highly esteemed traits.

Why do think most of the big companies pay so much attention to creating the best working environment for their employees?

They know what makes them happy and how it affects their productivity.

16) Want to find out which people are close to each other within a group and who is perceived as the leader?

Pay attention to who is looking at each other when everyone in the group laughs at a joke.

People instinctively look at and agree with the person they feel closest to within the group.

17) Whenever you call a person you want to meet, show excitement!

Always have this in mind. Excitement is contagious. Why do you think the music video from Pharrell Williams – “Happy” got so many views and so many people were talking about it?

People love excitement! It is like an escape from their boring lives. Never forget that.

(You can mirror this and show disappointment if somebody let’s you down, making them painfully aware of their hurtful actions.)

18) Want to build rapport and gain respect? Match body language.

This is quite a common topic among body language experts and works well if you want to gain respect from a person that has high value.

 Example:

You are in a social situation where a person has higher value among others within the group.

He is the center of attention and he totally enjoys it. How do you match his value? By befriending him!

If you want his respect and attention the best thing to do when you approach him is to match his body language and speaking patterns.

 If he has open body language and he talks with excitement and joy, don’t go there with crossed arms and with an attitude of negating his words.

Approach him with the same amount of excitement and show openness and interest.

19) When someone insults you, either ignore him or mock him. Never lose temper.

Always control the frame.

Haters are everywhere. The more you feed them with hate, the stronger they become.

Never lose your temper. This is a great example of how to deal with a hater. Enjoy!

20) Stand up straight, have warm hands and always keep eye contact.

• Keep a straight posture and walk like a born leader. This sub-communicates confidence and others will respect you automatically.

• Keep your hands out of your pockets. If you don’t know what to do with them, it is better to fold your arms rather than keep them inside your pockets.

• Keep your hands warm. If you have a warm hand when you shake somebody’s hand, you immediately become a more desirable person to get along with. Secret Tip – wash your hands with warm water often to

keep them warm or take cold showers.

• You have heard this a thousand times. Here is the 1001st. – never lose eye contact! Losing eye contact is like losing your confidence. One cool trick when first meeting someone is to focus on their eye color and smile at the same time. The eyes are the gateway to the soul, and taking the extra second to gaze shows you are confident and present.

(Be sure to move your eyes away periodically, a constant stare will creep people out.)

21) The Benjamin Franklin Effect.

The Ben Franklin effect is a psychological finding:

A person who has done someone a favor is more likely to do that person another favor than they would be if they had received a favor from that person.

Similarly, one who harms another is more willing to harm them again than the victim is to retaliate.

This is an unbelievable finding. In social situations, you can hack this by making someone do something small for you, then asking for your true favor.

It’s such a small favor that they will say yes, and due to cognitive dissonance their brain will rationalize that they must like you enough to do you a favor in the first place.

This is also called the foot-in-the-door effect.

22) Don’t be afraid to touch another person.

Touching someone on the shoulder or their knees creates an emotional and physical bond.

Especially during moments of joy, laughter and excitement touching positively reinforces these traits.

If you’re uncomfortable with touching, remember 12, fake it until you make it.

23) Use the door-in-the-face hack.

The opposite of foot-in-the-door.

Make an unreasonably large request that will most likely be turned down (but if it isn’t then that’s even better!), and follow up with your true intended, more reasonable request.

The other person will be more likely to agree to the second request.

24) Always frame a request as a choice.

No one likes to feel pressured into doing something they don’t want to do.

By subtlety rephrasing a request, you can make the person feel like they came to the decision on their own terms.

Homeless people who say things like, “it’s up to you if you want to donate or not” end up making more money than those who simply ask for money.

The same is generally true for bands that offer “pay what you want” payment structures for their music.

They know you can easily download their music for free off the internet, so they encourage you to pay what you feel is right.

A slightly more aggressive technique is the assumptive close:

This is a classic sales technique that can be used in any social situation. Instead of asking for permission, “do you want to donate/go on a date/get something to eat” assume that the person already does.

Of course, you can’t just force someone to do something, but a leading question can nudge them in the right direction: “Would you like to donate 5 dollars or 10 dollars?”

Now instead of simply saying yes or no, they have to actively deny your request and feel like a naysayer.

25) If you work in a bar or in customer service of any kind…

Put a mirror behind you at the counter.

When an angry customer approaches you, he will have to see himself in the mirror and will most probably calm down.

Nobody likes ruining his image.

26) Chew gum if you are nervous.

Evolutionarily speaking, our brains assume that if we are eating then we aren’t in any immediate danger, so the fight or flight response is weakened.

There you have it. The 26 most useful psychological life hacks that can help you gain advantage in social situations. Use them wisely.