Bird cage effect is a famous psychological phenomenon, also known as "birdcage logic", and it is one of the top ten psychology that human beings can't get rid of. Its discoverer is James, an outstanding modern psychologist.

The birdcage effect is a very interesting rule. People will continue to add more related things that they don't need on the basis of accidentally acquiring an item that they don't need.

1907, James retired from Harvard University, along with his good friend physicist Carlson. One day, two people made a bet. James said, "I will definitely let you have a bird soon." Carlson disagreed: "I don't believe it! Because I never thought about raising a bird. "

A few days later, on Carlson's birthday, James gave a gift-an exquisite birdcage. Carlson smiled: "I just think it's a beautiful handicraft, so don't bother."

From then on, whenever guests visit and see the empty birdcage beside the desk, they will almost invariably ask, "Professor, when did your bird die?" ? Carlson had to explain to the guests again and again: "I have never had a bird." "

However, this kind of answer often gets the puzzled and distrustful eyes of the guests. In desperation, Professor Carlson had to buy a bird, and James's "birdcage effect" worked.

As one of the top ten effects of psychology, it makes use of human's inertial thinking. Most of us humans rely on inertial thinking to think and react, so it is inevitable that some people will take advantage of this in our lives. For example, constantly reminding you about the size of meat under the shopping cart will make you spend unnecessary time and energy. ...

short story

/kloc-There was a French philosopher named Denis Diderot in the 8th century. One day, a friend gave him a robe with good quality and exquisite workmanship. Diderot likes walking around the room in this robe very much.

But he found a problem and always felt that everything around him was so uncoordinated: the furniture was too old and the carpet was too rough. In order to match the robe, he changed everything in the room into new ones, and the style of the room finally matched the grade of the robe.

After some crazy consumption, Diderot calmed down, and he was surprised to find that he was "intimidated" by a nightgown.

In real life, isn't it often that many people are "intimidated" by something inadvertently? Some people changed their hairstyles and bought new clothes to match their new hairstyles. Some people bought a new piece of furniture and decorated the whole house to match it. Some people have changed to a younger and more beautiful wife in order to match their new identity and status after promotion and salary increase.

How to get rid of "birdcage effect"

Timely detection

Finding it in time can help us find the "birdcage". If we can detect and discover the existence of these "birdcages" in time, it will provide us with the possibility of getting rid of this psychological state.

Dare to give up

Dare to give up can prevent us from becoming "caged birds". After discovering the "birdcage", what we need to do is to calmly analyze and give up appropriately.