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 "incomplete experiences occupy our minds far more than completed ones.”  This blog is part of our series of some advanced Mind Traps which will help you overcome difficult situations and equip you with more wisdom for daily living. These include: Cognitive Dissonance Spotlight Effect Anchoring Effect Halo Effect Gambler's Fallacy Contrast Effect Confirmation Bias Baader-Meinhoff Phenomenon Zeigarnik Effect   The Zeigarnik Effect  We can almost always remember incomplete tasks incomplete tasks will stick around in our memory longer completed tasks are easily forgotten imagine if you start doing something but don't finish it your brain keeps thinking about it until you complete it.  Here are some examples: Imagine you are playing a video game and  you have to finish a level but then you have to stop playing your brain will keep thinking about the game reminding you that you have to finish that level If you start reading a book but stop in the middle your ...

"when you become aware of something— a new type of pasta—and it seems to suddenly appear everywhere. Frequency illusion, it’s also called.”  This blog is part of our series of some advanced Mind Traps which will help you overcome difficult situations and equip you with more wisdom for daily living. These include: Cognitive Dissonance Spotlight Effect Anchoring Effect Halo Effect Gambler's Fallacy Contrast Effect Confirmation Bias Baader-Meinhoff Phenomenon Zeigarnik Effect    The Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon What is it? the false impression that something happens more frequently than it actually does. This often occurs when we learn something new. Suddenly, this new thing seems to appear more frequently when in reality it's only our awareness of it that has increased. Example you buy a red car and suddenly you start seeing that red car everywhere whereas you didn’t see so many red cars in the past this car must be so popular when you learn a new word you start noticing th...

  “People believe what they want to believe and then look for reasons to reinforce their beliefs.”  This blog is part of our series of some advanced Mind Traps which will help you overcome difficult situations and equip you with more wisdom for daily living. These include: Cognitive Dissonance Spotlight Effect Anchoring Effect Halo Effect Gambler's Fallacy Contrast Effect Confirmation Bias Baader-Meinhoff Phenomenon Zeigarnik Effect   The Confirmation Bias   You have an existing belief if you are asked to search for a proof you will find evidence to support that belief of yours people actively seek out information that confirms their existing beliefs & ignore information that contradicts them this contradicting info is forgotten very quickly we hate being wrong or to find out that we believed something false people don’t like discomforting evidence Works in a cycle existing belief focus us on selective evidence → finding that further reinforces our belie...

"Simply put, how you see anything depends on your reference point. One way or the other, your focus will determine your reality.”  This blog is part of our series of some advanced Mind Traps which will help you overcome difficult situations and equip you with more wisdom for daily living. These include: Cognitive Dissonance Spotlight Effect Anchoring Effect Halo Effect Gambler's Fallacy Contrast Effect Confirmation Bias Baader-Meinhoff Phenomenon Zeigarnik Effect    The Contrast Effect   What is it? people perceive things differently based on their context or comparison, Comparison can influence purchasing decisions It’s easy to think something is  Attractive - when it sits next to something ugly Large - when it sits next to something small Expensive - when it sits next to something cheaper Research  Food - Rs.500  people are given opportunity to save Rs.50 on food in a nearby restaurant they will walk extra 10mins to do so Clothes - Rs.10,000  ...

  "When investing, the gambler's fallacy will falsely inspire you to see patterns and lead you to think that you can control risk."  This blog is part of our series of some advanced Mind Traps which will help you overcome difficult situations and equip you with more wisdom for daily living. These include: Cognitive Dissonance Spotlight Effect Anchoring Effect Halo Effect Gambler's Fallacy Contrast Effect Confirmation Bias Baader-Meinhoff Phenomenon Zeigarnik Effect   Gambler's Fallacy Gambler's fallacy is a mistaken belief that the outcome of a random event is influenced by previous outcomes, even when the events are independent and the probabilities remain the same. It leads people to think that if a certain outcome has occurred more frequently in the past, it is less likely to happen in the future, or vice versa. However, in reality, the probability of an event remains unchanged regardless of past occurrences. Imagine you are playing a game where you hav...

“Winners are confident, losers are arrogant.”  This blog is part of our series of some advanced Mind Traps which will help you overcome difficult situations and equip you with more wisdom for daily living. These include: Cognitive Dissonance Spotlight Effect Anchoring Effect Halo Effect Gambler's Fallacy Contrast Effect Confirmation Bias Baader-Meinhoff Phenomenon Zeigarnik Effect   The Halo Effect  First impression is last impression. Is it true? It may be specious to say that, but it's roots lie in truth.  The brain, in order not to enervate us, relies on a lot of tools to quickly make decision. One of that tool is the logic, whereby our perception of someone is positively influenced by our opinions of that person’s other related traits. Because someone won at a match, we may safely assume that person is also confident and good perhaps. Look at these two people who came to interview for a position in your team: Amit He is Intelligent, industrious, impulsive, crit...

  "When we become anchored to a specific figure or plan of action, we end up filtering all new information through the lens we initially drew up in our head, distorting our perception"  This blog is part of our series of some advanced Mind Traps which will help you overcome difficult situations and equip you with more wisdom for daily living. These include: Cognitive Dissonance Spotlight Effect Anchoring Effect Halo Effect Gambler's Fallacy Contrast Effect Confirmation Bias Baader-Meinhoff Phenomenon Zeigarnik Effect   The Anchoring Effect We rely on our brain to give us best answers. But most of the time we are marginally-informed about the topic or none at all. But our brain doesn't like to commit that it's insufficient. This is usually where most of the cognitive biases arise. The Anchoring effect causes us to rely on the first piece of information we know or are given about a topic. An untrained mind never sees anything objectively. The easiest trick our m...

 

  “.. there’s no need to be obsessed with what others think of us. The reality is that everyone has greater concerns — themselves. So speak your mind. Take some risks. ..”    This blog is part of our series of some advanced Mind Traps which will help you overcome difficult situations and equip you with more wisdom for daily living. These include: Cognitive Dissonance Spotlight Effect Anchoring Effect Halo Effect Gambler's Fallacy Contrast Effect Confirmation Bias Baader-Meinhoff Phenomenon Zeigarnik Effect   The Spotlight Effect The Spotlight Effect is the phenomenon in which people tend to overestimate how much others are observing and judging them. This one is easy to understand, although it may take some practice to tackle this.    We all grow up with stories and watching movies. This makes it very easy for us to believe that we are the Hero/Heroine of the movie and everyone is sitting and watching us every minute of every day. Example You arrive 10...

 “The question is not, do you have conflicts? The real question is, are you aware of your conflicts?”  Our mind plays all kind of tricks with us. If you are lucky, most of the time you feel confident and like you know what's going on. But that confidence is swiftly extended over different fields and most of time we are unaware of it. These are called Mind Traps or also known as "thinking errors". They consume your thinking, and impact: what you pay attention to, how you feel, your decision making Some of the common Mind Traps around us are: Fortune Telling Mostly affects people who feel "I feel too confused about the future", "I don't know whether I should do it", "I can't progress". But at the root the core issue lies in the "lack of self confidence" or "fear of failure". Gita tells us that "no one can do anything alone."  If I say that I am capable enough to go out and go for a run alone on my own, I wo...

Week 1

“ Few minds wear out; more rust out.” We used to joke about it when we were kids. If we were to go to the market to sell our brains, I would get a very good price because my brain is completely new & unused. I never thought that childish joke would serve as a utilitarian perspective for me one day. It was almost 20 years since that joke, when I got caught in the Covid wave and spent over 1 month in hospital (most of it unconscious) fighting for my life. I was fortunate enough to have received love, care and some luck during that time. I got past that and recovered. But it was then when I started to see evidence of incipient concentration issues. I would forget some stuff. Found it difficult to concentrate. This got me frightened more than anything in my life. Even more frightened than when I was at the hospital. I knew this would stymie me from taking more challenging roads in life. I remembered that joke. And I knew I had to take the matters in my hands. "Most men would rath...