Want to learn some simple psychology tricks?

These tricks will help you in an incredible number of areas within self-improvement, including communication, first impressions, ability to get ahead, gaining attraction and admiration etc.

And yet, they’re so easy to implement within everyday life.

Each one of these tricks takes seconds to implement, so as long as you can remember them, you’re good to go.

20 Simple Psychology Tricks

We’ve put together this awesome compilation of 20 psychological tricks and tips that’ll work on any of the people you meet in daily life. Isn’t that pretty cool?

The best part of this is that you can immediately start testing them out for yourself.

Here are the top 20 best psychology tricks:

20. Getting Information

If you have a friend that struggles to open up to you, tell you how their feeling, or even give you simple information; this trick is a perfect way to get that information out of them in full detail.

Ask them a question, and if they respond partially, or it feels like they’re hiding something, simply keep eye contact and remain silent for a few seconds.

The silence combined with eye contact will make them uncomfortable. They’ll do anything to break this tension, even if that means giving you the information they were holding back.

So remain silent for a few seconds, and they will most likely continue to talk.

19. The Snack-man

If you are in a group of people, or even just with one other person, and you feel like conflict is about to break out, try this.

Eat!

People who are eating usually feel comfortable within their environment. Eating is a calming activity, and will likely help to smooth out conflict.

If someone is angry with you and you start to eat, this will help keep conflict at bay. This fact was originally discovered after two people were fighting and one guy stepped in between them whilst eating a slice of pizza.

He was coined the snack-man.

18. The Stalker Detector

Do you ever get that feeling like somebody’s eyes are on you and they’re intently watching you? Maybe you can feel somebody’s stare on the back of your head?

If you want to find out whether or not they were watching you, try this simple psychology trick:

Yawn.

Make sure they can see you when you yawn. After you yawn, turn and look at them. If they’re now yawning, you know that they were watching you. This is because yawning is contagious.

Try it… watch a video of someone yawning, and see if you do the same. In fact, even while writing this section of the article, I’m finding myself yawn uncontrollably.

This is a great trick for anybody who wants to find out if someone is showing an interest in them, like a crush or so on.

17. Destroying Ear-Worms

Ever had a song stuck inside your head?

I know you have…

The melody just keeps replaying over and over inside your mind, but you can’t quite seem to remember which song it is! And while you can’t remember, you keep trying to remember. Which leads to you wasting a huge amount of time trying to remember the name of something incredibly pointless.

Well, here’s the common psychology trick you’ve been waiting your entire life to hear.

Think of the end of the song. Not the beginning, or the middle. The end. Your mind will continue to think of things that are unfinished or incomplete, according to the Zeignark effect.

Therefore if you think of the end of the melody, the song will be complete and your mind will reset. This’ll release the song from your mind, so you can get back to focusing on something productive.

16. Always Agreeable

Want people to agree with what you’re saying?

All you have to do is start nodding whilst you’re saying the thing you want the person to agree with.

The “nodding” action makes the person start to believe what you’re saying is actually true, and therefore they will most likely begin to nod as well, and agree with you.

This can work in certain situations where you might need to make a good impression on someone, but don’t get greedy. This won’t work on everyone.

15. Conversation Conditioning

I’m not sure how much use this trick is compared to the many other simple psychology tricks on this list. However, it could be fun to try.

When you’re having a one on one conversation with somebody, pick a word that they say a few times. Then, as they say the word, give them a positive affirmation. A smile, a nod, whatever it may be.

As long as they recognize your action as a positive one, they’ll begin to use the word all the time. The effectiveness of this trick will usually depend on how much of an interest the person has in you.

14. Clearing A Path

The chances are you’re often in crowded places, and that can be a big annoyance for a lot of people, including me. Sometimes people aren’t walking the same pace, they’re standing still, or there’s just so many people you can’t move.

Here’s a pretty obvious, yet effective trick you can use to help clear yourself a path:

Just look in the direction you want to go.

That’s it.

Don’t look at the people around you, the environment, your phone or your friends. Just look at where you’re headed, and people will make an effort to move out of your way.

The reason for this is that normally people will look at your eyes, and if they can see what your vision is fixed on, they have a better understanding of your mission, and will naturally move out the way.

Give it a try.

13. Reducing the Risk of Conflict

If you’re in a group gathering or meeting, and you think someone is likely to become aggressive towards you, sit next to them.

It’s very easy to show anger towards someone when they’re sitting on the other side of the table, but if they’re sitting next to that person, then it makes things harder and more awkward to do so.

Firstly, you have to turn your body. Secondly, there is an intimidation factor. And thirdly, sitting next to each other makes things more personal, and you’re unable to hide within the group’s circle.

12. Rock Paper Scissors

Maybe you do play this when making bets or choosing a particular person to do an unpleasant task. Maybe you don’t.

But if you do, here’s a little psychology trick to help you win every time (probably).

Ask the other person a question right before playing the game. Right after asking the question, break out into the “rock, paper, scissors” chant. They will be most likely to pick scissors.

11. Shoot for the Stars

When you want something from someone; be it a certain amount of money for an item you’re selling, or you want your kids to eat more vegetables, aim ridiculously high.

Start by suggesting an amount that is much higher than the amount you want.

When the person says no, which they should say if you’ve given a high enough number, then you can ask for the real amount.

The other person will feel bad for already having said no, and will be more likely to accept your offer this time around.

10. Being Memorable

This little psychology trick can be incredibly useful if you’re trying to stand out and give people a clear memory of yourself or the time you spent with them.

It’s said that people remember the beginning and the end of something the clearest. The middle, however, is where things might tend to get a little blurry.

What does this mean?

Well, if your setting up a time for an interview, try and make sure you’re either interviewed first or last.

If you’re going on a date, try picking the beginning or the end of the day. And, whilst on the date, make sure to set a strong impression for the beginning and end of the date.

9. Trust Mirror

If you want to build people’s trust more quickly, this can be a very effective way of doing so.

When you’re striking up a conversation with them, try mirroring their body language. Don’t do this in an incredibly obvious way, otherwise it’ll probably put them off more than anything else.

However, subtly mirroring people’s body language subconsciously makes them think you’re in sync, which works very well for building trust.

8. Learning Whilst Teaching

A lot of people don’t realize this, but people learn best when they’re teaching others. Which means that if you take your learning process one step further, and teach someone else after you’ve studied and practised the information, you will also significantly benefit.

The three steps of knowledge are:

• Researching & learning
• Practising
• Teaching

And it makes a lot of sense. Think about it. To teach someone else, you have to have all the information at hand. You’ll also have to organize it and present it in a suitable format for the individual, which requires more knowledge.

7. Adrenaline Rush

This is one of the simple psychology tricks you’ve probably already heard of before.

If you’re on a date, and you choose an activity that involves an adrenaline rush; this will help stimulate arousal in the brain, and make the other person believe they are really enjoying their time with you.

6. Warm Hands

When you shake someone’s hand for the first time, try and make sure you have warm hands. Warms hands mean exactly that, a warm approach and introduction.

This makes you far more impressive and attractive to the other person, no matter who they are. Cold hands symbolize a cold and poor introduction.

5. Eye Color

Everyone knows eye contact is important when talking to someone, and trying to build an impression. Yet a lot of people find it hard to maintain eye contact. It fact, most people are very uncomfortable with eye contact, not necessarily when listening, but when speaking to the other person.

So, when your speaking with someone else, try to make a note of their exact eye color. This way you’ll make the right amount of eye contact.

4. Laughing Admirers

When a group of people start laughing with each other, each individual will glance at the person they feel closest to. This is pretty good way to see who enjoys who’s company the most at your office, or within your group of friends.

3. Eliminating Haters

If you think that someone doesn’t like you, try asking them for a really small favor, like borrowing their pen. If they don’t like you, then they will be inclined to say no to your request, naturally.

However, asking to borrow a pen is such a small favor, that it’s incredibly hard for anyone to say no to that. After accepting your request for a small favor, he will eventually come to the conclusion that you’re okay after all.

2. The Great Listener

Whenever you’re friend makes a statement, paraphrase it, and repeat it. This way, they’ll think you’re paying a great deal of intention and listening intently to what they have to say.

Don’t do this all the time though. That would not work out well for you.

1. Fatherly Advice

If you’re stating something to someone, or a group of people, and you don’t want them to doubt your judgment, mention that your father gave you this advice.

People are much more likely to believe father figure’s advice at first glance.

At one time, the term rock bottom was completely foreign to me. I can remember feeling really bad for anyone who claimed to have ‘hit rock bottom.’ What devastation they must feel. Their whole world must have just collapsed. How will they go on? I was soon to find out.

My journey to rock bottom

I’m not gonna say I had it all but for the most part, my world was pretty good. It wasn’t perfect and I’ll admit, I was sailing through on a song and a prayer. I lived in a nice house in a posh neighbourhood with my partner and in 2010 I purchased my first business, a hair salon.

I belonged to an amazing networking group of successful women. I was well respected in the community and had lots of friends. You could say my life was pretty good. However, this didn’t last for long. 

Three years after the purchase of the salon I closed the doors and declared bankruptcy. Six months after bankruptcy, I walked out of my abusive relationship with nothing to my name. 

I was a shell of a person. I had nothing and in my eyes, I was a complete and utter failure. At 52 years old, my whole world came crashing down on me and I for the first time in my life, was absolutely terrified.

I walked around in a daze for months. I was completely empty inside, both emotionally and mentally. I had no desire to rebuild my life. There was little life left in me to work on. I secured my old job at the salon I was at prior to my business purchase. Every day I had to face people who I’m sure were disappointed in me and most likely laughing at me behind my back.

I was a loser. They knew it and so did I. When you hit rock bottom, any and all self respect and self confidence you ever had goes right out the window. You’re constantly embarrassed and feel worthless all the time. However, one day something snaps when you look in the mirror and can’t stand to look at the person looking back at you. This is without a shadow of a doubt the moment some confidence and hope arises to change.

I looked in the mirror one day and I didn’t recognize the person staring back. She was sad, empty, blank and lifeless. This wasn’t Iva and I so desperately wanted her back. I missed the optimistic, bubbly and outgoing girl that used to stare back at me in the mirror. And I was determined to get her back.

I had reached a point where I was tired of crying and feeling sorry for myself. I was tired of telling myself I was a loser and a failure and that I would never amount to anything. But I was mostly tired of just existing with no purpose or passion.

“Rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.” – J.K. Rowling

The climb out of rock bottom

I started devouring self help books and reading any and all blogs I could on how to get your life back on track and how to find self love and self worth again. I read inspirational quotes and listened to motivational YouTube videos day in and day out. I journaled and cried and prayed and meditated. All the things I have never done in my life, I was doing daily without fail.

Slowly, Iva was emerging but she was so much different this time around. She had hope, faith and determination and nothing was going to stop her or stand in her way of rebuilding her life. My journey out of rock bottom took almost a full year to complete but in that time, I learned so much about myself, people and life.

Here are the 5 life lessons I learned from hitting rock bottom:

1. Failure isn’t real

There’s no such thing as failure. I’m not even sure why this word exists. You had an idea or a plan, tried it, and it didn’t work. You learn lessons from this and you move on. Always remember one very important thing: you tried. Most people don’t even bother. Believe in yourself.

2. You’re not stuck anywhere

If something isn’t working or isn’t good for you, leave it. I was terrified to leave my abusive relationship because I knew it meant I would lose everything. And I did. When I finally took the plunge and left, everything in my life changed for the better. Have faith!

3. Change is fun and scary, but do it anyway

Although change is terrifying, it’s necessary. We don’t grow in our comfort zone or in our misery. Sometimes you have to do things that will scare the daylights out of you..do them anyway. This is where you learn and grow. You meet people and you experience things you never would have if you stayed in your comfort zone. Take the leap.

“To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.” – Winston Churchill

4. Everything is temporary

The good and the bad. Nothing is forever. No matter how horrible your situation is, it won’t last. It will eventually go away or maybe even turn out great! Embrace all the good life has to offer you and learn the lessons the bad will give you. Have patience.

5. You have great power over your life

I was determined to change my life any way I had to. I did whatever I had to do to turn my life around. Was it easy? No. Is it impossible? No. I knew I had the power to change and it was up to me, and only me, to do that. No one could do it for me.

No matter where you are in your life right now, if things aren’t working out the way you expected, don’t worry. Things will always get better if you try to make them better. You can do anything you want. All you have to do is find the power that’s in you and unleash it. 

Of all the productivity hacks I’ve tried over the years, none has had as much of a positive impact relative to the time I put in than meditation. Just 8 minutes per day to be precise. Meditation is a practice that has been around for centuries. Once primarily used by practitioners of Buddhism to reach a higher level of consciousness, science has since shown it has a lot of more earthly benefits as well.

As Healthline reports, meditation improves concentration, reduces fatigue and stress, brings a sense of relaxation and improves sleep patterns, among other benefits. All the above reasons explain why some of the most successful people rely on meditation to thrive in their professions. Jeff Weiner, former Yahoo executive and the current CEO of Linkedin says that meditation has made a huge positive impact on his productivity. Similarly,  Ray Dalio, who is the founder of Bridgewater Associates, attributes a big part of his success to meditation.

5 Ways Meditation Helps with Productivity

Before I get to my own meditation routine that takes just 8 minutes of my time daily, let me first go over in general how meditation can give you a huge leg up in your career and business, backed by studies.

1. Improves Your Attention Span

There are tons of factors that improve productivity, but one that plays a very important role is the ability to focus. Being attentive enough to complete the task at hand means you’ll finish your work with higher accuracy and better efficiency.

According to Pubmed, several studies have shown the efficacy of meditation in reversing parts of the brain that cause mind wandering and the inability to concentrate. Russell Simmons, the CEO of Rush Communications, says that meditation is one of the things that has helped him focus the most.

2. Increases Neuroplasticity

For a long time, scientists believed that brain development only happened during childhood and then ceased. But recent discovery regarding the neuroplastic nature of the brain concludes that our brains actually continue to change and adapt through experiences. In other words, the brain is continually reorganizing itself by creating new neurons and new connections.

Meditation is one practice capable of changing your brain’s structure and functions. In fact, Harvard Researchers at MGH have shown that meditation increases grey matter volume in your brain. What this means is that it causes more neurons to accumulate in one space.

Another theory that explains how meditation boosts neuroplasticity is that it increases cerebral blood flow (CBF). By placing you in a state of relaxation, blood is able to flow more freely leading to better oxygenation and nourishment in your brain. With increased neuroplasticity, your ability to acquire new skills and positive habits increase.

3. Sharpens Your Memory

A major benefit of mediation is that it boosts one’s working memory capacity. The working memory determines how much information the central nervous system can hold and process at any time. It’s like the Random Access Memory in a computer.

A study was done to investigate the effect of active meditation on individuals’ working memory capacities. Researchers had the participants take part in a 45-minute meditation exercise twice per week. After a couple of weeks, they recorded the results and discovered that the respondents’ working memory capacities had increased by more than 30%. Put simply; they could hold and process 30% more information than the average person.

The study proved that meditating increases the working memory capacity. With a larger working memory, you can take on more sophisticated tasks and handle them efficiently.

4. Improves Cognitive Thinking

As you age, your cognitive functioning deteriorates gradually. The resulting deficit weakens your ability to reason, remember and process information. All these are factors that can make you less productive at work and in other areas of your life. Good news is, practising meditation and mindfulness can help with that.

To examine the impact of meditation on cognitive function, researchers from the University of California at Santa Barbara conducted a study. They asked 48 undergraduate students to attend one of two classes: a nutrition class or a mindfulness class. The result? Those who attended the mindfulness class saw marked improvements in their exams afterwards, while the nutrition group saw no statistically significant improvements.

One factor that can explain this outcome is that meditation improves the balance of the left and right sides of the brain. Synchronizing both brain hemispheres allows for greater processing power and neural communication.

5. Reduces Stress

Stress is something that people experience on a daily basis, and more so at work. According to the American Institute of Stress, work-induced stress is the most common form of stress. Based on a recent survey they did, at least 80% of Americans experienced stress at work, hampering productivity and leading to mistakes.

Thankfully, having a meditation practice as part of your routine can lower stress and make you more productive. It goes beyond just stress reduction, however. According to the Journal of Behavioral Medicine, meditation has been shown to reduce the symptoms of social anxiety, paranoid thoughts, obsessive-compulsive behaviors and panic attacks.

How 8 Minutes of Meditation Daily Has Changed My Life

My personal journey with meditation has been nothing short of life changing. What if I told you there was a productivity hack that only required 8 minutes of your day, and as a consequence, will double your attention span, mental stamina, and ability to function under stress? What if I told you, thanks to just 8 minutes a day, a once self diagnosed ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) sufferer now frequently loses track of time as he ticks off one item after the next on his daily to-do lists? Yes, that’s what meditation has done for me, and I believe it can do that for anyone.

The meditation routine I follow is based on the best selling book “8 Minute Meditation” by Victor Davich. As a meditation guru, Victor sought out to devise a meditation program that fits in with the ultra busy lifestyles of Westerners while still delivering the main benefits the practice at its fullest provides.

Here is the gist of the “8 minute meditation” that I practice every day right before I go to bed:

• Set a timer for 8 minutes.
• Find a comfortable sitting pose. This could be in a cozy meditation chair or sitting with your legs crossed on a yoga mat
• Close your eyes slowly as if you were planning to sleep. Avoid squeezing them or shutting them involuntarily.
• Next, start taking slow, deep breaths.
• With every inhale, envision that you are breathing in light. Follow the light as it enters your body.
• With every exhale, imagine breathing out all the tension and negativity that you have been harbouring. Relax every muscle from those on your face, chest, back, legs all the way to the tips of your toes.
• As you breathe in and out, your mind will most likely start to wonder. Do not get upset. Just slowly bring your awareness back to your breathing. Imagine catching a fish and just letting it go.
• Continue this until the timer goes off. Then, slowly open your eyes again..

A big part of the magic happens in meditation when you do it consistently. For me, with every day of practice, my ability to stay focused on my breathing and stay present increased during those critical 8 minutes. And as my ability to do those seemingly simple things improved, that’s when I started to notice all the tangible benefits of meditation I mentioned earlier.

Meditation is not a new concept. And it doesn’t require you to invest anything that you don’t already have. This is one of the greatest benefits of meditating; it doesn’t require any special equipment or registration for training. Essentially, you have nothing to lose but so much to gain. To me, meditation dare i say is the greatest productivity hack of all time.