Eric Tian

A few days ago, I found myself with some time to kill so I decided to browse some psychological effects on Wikipedia. Here’s some interesting ones I found.

The spotlight effect
The phenomenon where people believe they are being noticed more than they really are.

It’s easy to forget that we are the hero of our own stories, yet often simply a side character in others’. Few people think or care about us as much as we think.

The false concensus effect/consensus bias
A bias where people view their own characteristics and beliefs to be relatively widespread throughout the whole population.

We probably underestimate how unique some of our beliefs and values are. On the surface, we might see our friends and family behaving in similar manner to us, so we assume that they share our views. But often, we overestimate the popularity of our beliefs.

This bias is known to increase self-esteem in a social environment because one might subconsciously believe that they are fitting in and being liked by others. If you believe everyone thinks the same way as you, you’ll be more comfortable around them and feel as though you are liked.

Naïve realism
The human tendency to believe that we see the world around us objectively, and that people who disagree with us must be uninformed, irrational, or biased. To be more exact, the social psychologist Lee Ross proposes three tenets that make up naïve realism. People:

1. Believe that they see the world objectively and without bias.
2. Expect that others will come to the same conclusions, so long as they are exposed to the same information and interpret it in a rational manner.
3. Assume that others who do not share the same views must be ignorant, irrational, or biased.

Some of the greatest novels in history such as Les Misérables and War and Peace are compelling for this exact reason. You have characters that inhabit the same world and yet are so fundamentally different from each other. The moral conflicts that arise are fascinating because each individual believes they are doing right in their eyes, but are simultaneously appalling to others.

The best example that comes to mind is from Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables, where a police officer named Javert is on a ruthless hunt to capture the escaped convict Jean Valjean. Javert believes justice should be primary value in any civil society and that he is the one that must enforce it. On the other hand, Valjean has been converted from a criminal to a Christian and believes in the power of forgiveness and redemption. Both men think the other as mistaken, yet both are right. The struggle to defend one’s own belief is one of the many reasons this story is phenomenal.

We’ve all heard of IQ (a measure of logical intellect) and EQ (a measure of emotional intellect). Yet, in the fast-paced 21st century, perhaps the most important trait to have is neither a high IQ or EQ, but a solid adaptability quotient (AQ).

The future is becoming increasingly uncertain. A global pandemic is tearing apart customs, an artificial intelligence revolution is reshaping work and unprecedented problems like climate change and big data surveillance are changing global priorities every passing moment.

The surest way to be left behind is to learn something once, and not know how adapt. Your knowledge; your job; your expertise might not even be relevant in a few years. To be stuck stagnant in a fast-paced world is akin to moving backwards. It’s all relative.

To thrive, one must be able to adapt by forgetting and relearning. As Epictetus once said: “It’s impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows.“

When you need to get something done, having artificial stresses can be hugely helpful.

For example, if you’re out for a run and feel like you can’t run any faster, imagine you’re being chased by a bear. The key word here is imagine: don’t just pretend it’s happening; feel the chase with every single fibre of your being. Picture the biggest, baddest bear you can imagine that will tear you to shreds if it catches you. You’ll find yourself tapping into energy resources you never thought you had. The bear, of course, doesn’t exist. But by creating this artificial stress, your body is forced to perform at a higher standard.

For the last two months, I’ve been doing this screen time challenge with my partner. Every week, we have to average less than two hours per day on our iPhones. You can go over two hours some days, but you just make up for it on other days. It’s to help us spend less time on our devices, which we both agree is a good thing.

If you average over two hours a day for a week, you pay the other person $200.

Of course, this punishment doesn’t really exist. No contract was signed with ANZ and Apple that takes $200 out of our bank accounts if we go over two hours per day, per week. But we both believe the punishment exists and it makes us more conscious about our screen time use.

So what makes a successful artificial stress? I’ve come up with three conditions:

The Three Conditions for Artificial Stress

1. The stress is for something worthwhile;
2. The stress is something real and significant;
3. The consequence is great

Examples:

	Running	Phone addiction
What the stress is for	Running faster	Being less reliant on devices
What the stress is	A bear chasing you	Potential to lose money
What the consequence is	Death	$200

The biggest problem is usually condition #2: the stress is something real and significant. To get pumped up by a stress, you have to first believe it. If you want to wake up earlier and the stress is that your bed will explode if you don’t, that might not be a very good stress. You probably don’t really believe it.

Imagination and accountability are key here. You need a good enough imagination to believe that your stress is real, and will happen if you fail. But if that’s not enough, you also need accountability to remind you that the stress exists. For example, if I ever feel overly addicted to my phone one day, my partner will gently remind me of our challenge. Are you ready to pay me $200? That always snaps me out.

I’m not recommending this for everybody. Some people are happy living quiet, stress-free lives and that’s totally cool. But if there’s a bad practice that needs fixing, having some artificial stresses can be a helpful tool.