Applying scientific studies to regular life

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A lot of times I find myself using what I've learned about psychology, biology, and social interactions and applying it to real life situations to recognize social cues and signals, as well as send my own signals.

For example, people are flattered when you imitate them, even on a subconscious level. This translates to people using the same gestures and phrases of their friends, family, and co-workers.
During a conversation earlier tonight with a female roommate, I used the phrase "good find" for whatever reason (relating to something she had picked out). Only minutes later when I was looking through the freezer and pulled out a pint of Ben and Jerry's ice cream did she utter the same phrase, "good find". I laughed and smiled when she said this because I had this knowledge of imitation and flattery.

Body language is also interesting, and is something I feel I need to pay very close attention to, but it's more of a subconscious awareness. Perhaps there is a disconnect between the animal brain (early mammalian, I forget what it's called I'm sure someone knows) and the human brain (recent development, analytical functioning).




I hope to hear some other interesting dissections of human behavior... but also maybe some intuitions!


Thanks,
Tro

Ahh knowledge on the emotional processes that we seem to be enslaved too.
With this information you could be a powerful person.

And in a way, I think if you have sufficient knowledge in this area, and enough willpower, you could become the emperor of humanity!

I think often the people who can handle social interactions intuitively are the ones who understand them the least. They act and react appropriately and don't need to know why. A lot of things people think they know about how they interact with others and make decisions just aren't true.

Totally. There's nothing like knowing how a person thinks to get them to do what you want. Eg. the way anti-smoking ads geared at teens go over a lot better when you tell them to flip the bird at giant corporations that only care about profit than when you tell them to do what they're told or suffer the consequences.