9 Psychological Quirks Most Of Us Have And Don't Realize It

Jun 13, 2018 by apost team

Oh, no, there’s only one carton of Starbucks Limited Edition Molten Mocha on the shelf at the grocery store; do I get it or leave it?!? So, why is that even a question? There’s one there, right? Why don’t we just grab it and be on our way?

If you’ve ever spent any time thinking about all the unspoken social rules and subconscious self-imposed adherences we follow in life, which we mostly call psychological quirks, then you’re going to love finding out about these nine we follow almost daily and why we do what we do. 

You’re headed into the unfamiliar for an important destination, be it business, pleasure, social, or educational. In all likelihood, you’ve shushed any conversations and turned the volume on the radio down or off, and you’ve probably done it without even directly saying to yourself that you need quiet. 

We subconsciously do this so that we can focus all our efforts on our eye input, not our ear input. Dr. Steven Yantis, a professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at John Hopkins University, says that we are less aware and focused on the visual info our brain needs to get us where we are going when our attentions are divided by listening to background noise. 

apost.com

Most of us converse with gesticulation just as much as words. If our hands aren’t directly involved in the convo, such as by demonstrating, drawing, or writing, then we start to gesticulate them into it with random motions and movements. It’s all part of evolution according to Andrew Bass, a professor at Cornell University. Professor Bass points to science tracing the neural networks of mammal brains back to the hindbrain of fish and how birds use social gesticulation signals as part of their speech. 

Whether it’s the last cookie, slice of pizza, or doughnut, that last one will sit there untouched by all the salivating bystanders at an adult function or party. It’s quite the enigma considering research tells us that limited quantity equals increased demand. Scientists have broken down the phenomenon to entitlement, or rather the diffusion of entitlement. Civilized adults will never take the last of anything in a large social or professional setting because they simply don’t feel like they have that right, that entitlement, to do such a selfish action. 

The parking lot is almost empty, but you park near another car. Scientists explain this away to humans innately being social creatures. It’s the same as the autopilot ‘follow the crowd’ that happens in groups. 

Yale University’s Rob Henderson dissects the research to offer some explanation on the follow-the-crowd mentality. He rationalizes one reason is that we have so much available to us at any given time that we don’t have time to vet it for ourselves, which leads us to go with what’s already been done by the majority. He points out that this follow-the-crowd nature is further promoted by others telling us what is recommended by peers and experts. In the parking lot case, your peer has recommended where to park simply by being there first. 

Personal space and confidentiality are important protection bubbles that are respected by most with any degree of tact and decency. A 1976 study actually tested the urine stream and flow as men urinated right next to someone verses one or more urinals apart, ultimately finding that men had better urination abilities and streams when at some distance from others. Attribute it to modesty, paranoia, confidence, or personality, surveys and research most always universally conclude that men like their personal space at the urinal. 

Men apparently do not need directions... as many lost horror movie couples can attest from their seedy motel deaths in the middle of nowhere. Experts rationalize the ‘men don’t ask for directions’ behavior as a rebound for not wanting to feel humiliated and incompetent when it happens and vulnerable that it might happen. A TrekAce survey showed that only 6% of lost males would ask directions from a stranger, which results in the average male being found to drive about 900 ‘lost’ miles in a 50-year timespan.

From an early age, many are taught the politeness and good manners of holding the door for other people. Treat others as you’d like to be treated is also engrained in most of us. But, is it pure conditioning, or is something more primitive at play in our automatic behavior to allow others to prosper from our doorman skills? Some science points to the collectiveness of humans as a whole. Survival. It’s these little efforts that we subconsciously make on a primal level of survival to minimize the universal collective efforts of our race; in other words, you hold the door for two or three people that didn’t have to expend energy now and someone will later return the favor to your own energy expenditure later. 

In general, we tend to nether buy the most or least expensive option available to us. We take the rational road of matching quality and price in the middle, under the assumption that the cheapest is of poorest quality and the most expensive is the most overly priced for value. 

Of note, marketing experts are savvy to this behavior and often negate the middle option by placing an extremely high option of no real intent to sell aside the ‘cheaper option’ they do intend to sell. They do this because they realize that most people will always go with the moderate choice, which is the cheaper when they only have the two options. This ensures the product being marketed is predominantly picked. 

A group of potential suitors approach you. Did you know that your feet will gravitate in the direction of whichever one catches your fancy? So, next time you’re on a date and want to know if the guy/gal is interested, don’t look at their head or torso... see if their feet are pointed toward you or elsewhere. In his book, “What Every BODY is Saying,” Joe Navarro M.A. explains that our bodies make certain that our feet can be the first to react in fight or flight, meaning we keep our feet poised to escape when we are threatened, disinterested, or uncomfortable. 

Funny how all these little things we label as quirks make perfect sense now, right? How many hold true for you?