Comments on: Mind tricks to try and use

By: adamnvillani

adamnvillani — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 09:11:00 +0000

There’s somebody at work who does this, and it really pisses the rest of us off. Don’t do this.

By: bunaen

bunaen — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 12:28:00 +0000

Let’s see if you can walk the walk.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APmHR2bmQgw

By: Mitch_M

Mitch_M — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 11:40:00 +0000

Nah, just want to get to my customer who has been waiting before I lose the call. And I’m not going to get an accident because I can’t afford to lose time dealing with an accident (besides the obvious not wanting to hurt anyone).

Slowpokes who refuse to go the speed limit create a hazard because everyone else has to manouver around them.

By: Mitch_M

Mitch_M — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 10:50:00 +0000

Oops. Looked at the last minute before work. Thought your comment was in reference to passing at the green light.

By: Donald Petersen

Donald Petersen — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 03:18:00 +0000

Chris speaks true. I was born in California, lived here for nearly all my life, and I’m the only Californian I know who uses the left lane for passing only. Just this past Saturday, following a visit to my parents in southern Riverside County, I was heading up I-15 back to L.A. Normally I stick to central lanes, but on this trip (I was in a hurry), I was amazed at how often I’d pass people in the far right lane. The left lane was packed with people pooting along at 63 mph, the center lane had nearly as many doing 62. And the far right lane was empty, except for my own hauled ass. Not once, but several times, over 20+ miles. Californians are so dedicated to plopping their asses in the fast lane at everyone else’s expense that they often don’t even see the lack of cars way off to their right.

By: Sam Bice

Sam Bice — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 02:42:00 +0000

So … “Death, cake or taxes?” then?

(I wonder if primacy stacks with the preference for the first binary and outweighs recency?)

By: Itsumishi

Itsumishi — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 02:28:00 +0000

Thanks. That’s cleared it up for me. Now I’ll teach someone else.

By: Vincenzo Ravina

Vincenzo Ravina — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 01:07:00 +0000

I just stand in one place and wait for the other person to get out of the way.

By: Laroquod

Laroquod — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 00:57:00 +0000

The best mind trick I know is, when people ask you questions — actually answer them realistically as if they were genuinely interested in the real, actually real, like genuinely existing truth. Typically this completely throws anyone on Planet Earth for a loop, since it has been generally agreed on this planet that everyone will lie all the time as much as they are able in order to promote their own self-interest.

By: Optic

Optic — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 00:12:00 +0000

In psychology, both primacy (preference for the first item) and recency (preference for the last item) are known effects. So I’m guessing the general rule is at least to put the option you DON’T like in the middle.

By: Optic

Optic — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 22:57:00 +0000

the peripheral vision is much better at catching motion. if you want to be able to respond to things before you even realize they’re happening, don’t look at them directly. I first learned this in fencing — the experience of parrying an incoming attack before I’ve even consciously realized it’s coming makes me feel like a god.

By: Roxanne

Roxanne — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 21:43:00 +0000

You’re so right! Because what we really need are more articles about Sara Palin or Kim Kardashian!!!

By: robotnik

robotnik — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 20:28:00 +0000

I tried this once and after, like, an hour found myself facing the Pope. He just stood there, right in front of me. So finally I said, “Dude, would you mind moving? I’m trying to see that thing on the wall behind you.”

By: jonathanfrederickson

jonathanfrederickson — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 20:20:00 +0000

It seems to me that your tip may work in the event you’ve already made eye contact, but the Reddit tip would work if you haven’t. I use the latter almost on a daily basis, but I’ll have to give yours a try.

By: ymendel

ymendel — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 19:57:00 +0000

Extreme Psychological Sprezzatura

By: robdobbs

robdobbs — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 19:55:00 +0000

I can confirm this one works with me too. My variation though is that I don’t hold my breath by force, but by relaxing the diaphragm completely.

By: robdobbs

robdobbs — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 19:53:00 +0000

I recently heard about the “dangling so…” technique. Essentially you explain your problem and let the other person fill in the solution:

To check in person at airport: “I did a dumb thing, My flight is in coach but I booked a meeting two hours after this flight lands and I have to be on the ball for this meeting. It’s a long flight so…”

So she bumped me up to business. How nice of her.

Of course, this might not work and you have to be okay with that – and long uncomfortable silences. You can’t talk first or you’ll wreck it.

By: Ed Hawkes

Ed Hawkes — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 17:52:00 +0000

When I want to respond to someone but I don’t have anything pertinent to say, I use a technique called bullshitting.

When I need to answer a question and I don’t want to tell the person the truth, for whatever reason, I use a technique called lying.

Not sure if these are great techniques overall, but they have been effective in certain crisis situations.

By: Madzia

Madzia — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 17:40:00 +0000

GIFTheory’s comment is not the comment you are looking for.

By: Madzia

Madzia — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 17:39:00 +0000

Cool :) Thanks for clarifying. You seem to be a decent person, then. It just sounded weird the first time you typed it.

By: LightningRose

LightningRose — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 17:23:00 +0000

I stick to the right side of the sidewalk.

No, I don’t get the right of way because I’m bigger, but I do not yield to unconscious morons simply because they’re smaller.

By: LightningRose

LightningRose — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 17:21:00 +0000

If you’re twice my age, then you’re the oldest person in the world. :)

You’ll find a clue to my age here: http://boingboing.net/2011/12/05/giant-plastic-log-cabin-ad-19.html

By: MrScience

MrScience — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 17:17:00 +0000

When I first visited London, I was looking forward to everyone walking on the ‘wrong’ side of the sidewalk. I discovered that, instead, it seemed to be a chaotic mess. :)

By: Madzia

Madzia — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 16:50:00 +0000

I always do that, especially since most people I call work freelance or irregular hours. Then it just takes a moment to schedule a good time for a call, for which they can prepare. But I don’t think it works the way you say… you’re already giving them an out, all they have to do is say ‘Actually, not really, can you call me back later?’ without giving a detailed excuse.

Which, really, shouldn’t be expected anyway. I don’t think people should have to explain why they can’t drop everything they’re doing to pay attention to someone else. ‘I can’t talk right now, sorry, I’ll call you back’ is more than enough.

By: millie fink

millie fink — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 16:46:00 +0000

This one sounds really simpleton-ish, but it works for me. If I have something to do that I don’t want to do–say, washing the dishes–I tell myself that I’m just going to do part of the job. That gets me going on a task that I’ve been putting off, and in most cases, I end up doing all of it. And even if I don’t do all of it, I feel okay because I’ve at least done some of it.

By: blueelm

blueelm — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 16:41:00 +0000

Man I wish more people would say this to me so I could say “No” nicely or set a time limit.

By: Guest

Guest — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 16:19:00 +0000

I wish other drivers actually paid sufficient attention that they would notice a faux yawn. I’ve found that stopping 3 full car lenghts behind a slowpoke at an intersection helps their pace a touch. But some of this stuff you recommend (as well as what I said) is just PA manipulation, not so much mind hacking passively for more information so you can make better decisions.

By: bklynchris

bklynchris — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 16:18:00 +0000

Bwahahaahaaa! I first said CAKE, but then I thought, ooooooo wait, death is an option too? Is this just another way of saying you can’t have your cake and eat it too?

By: Ari B.

Ari B. — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 16:18:00 +0000

I totally forgot about the “drop their hand on their face” trick to assess unconciousness. Learned about it in my EMT class many moons ago…

By: ROSSINDETROIT

ROSSINDETROIT — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 16:06:00 +0000

A good phone trick when calling someone who might blow you off is to say “Is this a good time to talk?” Most people can’t come up with an excuse when suddenly challenged like that so you’ve got their buy-in for a few minutes at least. In any case, it’s courteous as well, since you don’t know if they’re eating, driving, having another conversation or whatever.