Growing up we would use the term “affected” to describe other kids that either were snobby, had too much money, sloshed around with bad attitudes, exhibited fake behavior, exuded pretentiousness, or were spoiled. I’ve learned recently the technical terms for lots of effects so of course I wanted to share them with you. Welcome to Effected.
The first one I have found to be personally true. It’s called the Baader-Meinhof Effect. Basically it means once you notice something once you tend to see it everywhere! It’s sort of like when you spot a small white dog and think suddenly they are taking over your neighborhood, or when you’re looking for a pair of yellow sneakers and every store you go into has only those but you could swear that you’ve never noticed them before.
The next one is really aimed at younger, more immature audience. It’s called The Spotlight Effect, and just like the name, it describes the scenario when you think everyone is thinking about you, and focused on you and judging you, but really everyone is only thinking of themselves. So true. And once you learn that, you’re so much less concerned with outside opinions. Whew– what a relief.
The Pygmalion Effect is so interesting. When you’re expected to perform at a high level, and you know that expectation exists, people tend to perform better! There have been studies aimed at students and young performers and when the teacher or person in charge tells them directly that more is expected, like magic their performance increases. Check out our pal George here. In 1939 he did something incredible because he thought he was expected to do it…
Sadly the opposite of high expectations is also true. For students being told that they will probably test poorly, across the board scores tend to be lower. The power of suggestion is amazing.
The Mere Exposure Effect is so true. It’s the concept of something growing on you. I remember once totally make fun of a pair of shoes my Mom had. Hated them. Some years later after seeing her wear them umpteen times, I sort of liked them. I even borrowed them once! That exposure led to me to gradually accept and then admire them. I wish the same were true for my new apartment wallpaper! Other than me, my bestie and her lifelong friend, everyone else says things like, “As long as YOU like it, Jen.” Ha. I love it. But maybe it will grow on them?
The Halo Effect is a fascinating concept. This has proven true for me in business. Let me explain. When I first started in the lending/bankruptcy world, I wanted a handout to remind people who I was. So I went off script and the OG Jen’s Little Black Book restaurant guide was born– and obviously dining suggestions had nothing to do with lending, but the audience literally ate it up. It was very “sticky marketing” and exactly what I was going for. Those who read the book and followed the suggestions dubbed me somewhat of a food guru. I became a trusted food source. And then something unexpected happened. This trustworthiness transferred into my business acumen… as in if she can be trusted with food, she must be a good lender, a good depository source, a trusted Escrow agent. I have benefitted hugely from The Halo Effect.
The next one is a bit bonkers. No matter how much you can accomplish in a week, month, year or lifetime or how successful those tasks might have been, for some reason your brain remembers and focuses on the incomplete ones. My dear friend’s father did something extraordinary. Prior to World War 11, he saved 669 children out of Prague. On the evening the war broke out, he was set to rescue another 250. Tragically he wasn’t able to arrange that last Kindertransport. And instead of focusing on the hundreds of children he saved, he lamented the rest of his life on the ones he could not help. You might have heart about him. His name was Sir Nicholas Winton and he was knighted for his rescue missions.
A little levity after a serious one, ok? I love The Barnum Effect. Do you ever read your horoscope for fun and then declare they are talking about you! It all makes sense and relates. And then you read Scorpio, Leo and Virgo and they too can apply? This Effect gets it’s name as the old Phineas Taylor Barnum, a true showman who promoted hoaxes at the circus used to say that there was a sucker born every minute because he could read minds with such generic info that he was believable! But he was a circus performer. And he was excellent at his job.
The Bystander Effect harkens back to a tragic incident back from 1964. I’m sure you’ve heard about it. I woman named Kitty Genovese was brutally assaulted and murdered outside her apartment building for thirty-five minutes. The assult was so loud at 3am that it woke many residents in her building. In fact, some 38 neighbors either watched or heard the attack and not one person did anything to help or report the crime. The psychological concept known as The Bystander Effect was hence born describing the fact that individuals are less likely to offer help to a vicim when other people are present. So the more recent tagline, “If you see something, say something” encourages individual action by any well-intentioned bystander. It squarely puts the onus of responsibility on each of us.
Our last one today is sort of funny to me. The Dunning-Kruger Effect is the opposite of what we all might think. We could assume that experts are all high and mighty and full of themselves while commoners literally know nothing and are aware of their novice. But this Effect shows the opposite is often true! Basically the data that suggests people with low skill in a field lack the actual knowledge to judge their own work. They don’t know what good work would look like! So the gap this creates makes them think they are much better than they really are. Conversely experts are acutely aware of how much they still need to learn, therefore underestimating their acquired skill set. And they assume others know as much as they do. And because they see the hard parts of tasks, they can take on low pride which causes their gap. Amazing!
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