Affected by the epidemic, major businesses are suffering, and at the same time, they are also making various preparations for finding ways to make money from consumers' pockets after the epidemic.
In addition to merchants, our economic situation will also be greatly affected, so at this time, what we need to do is "open source and throttling". Maybe opening channels and making more money is not something that everyone can do, but throttling is indeed something that every one of us can achieve.
However, we have always been influenced by various consumption theories and fall into the trap of "buying, buying and buying".
Why do we always fall into the trap of merchants? How do you identify and escape the traps of merchants?
When I approached the book Grotesque Behavior, I seemed to find the answer.
The author of "Grotesque Behavior" is Dan Airry, a professor at the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the book was recommended by Nobel Laureate economist Akerlov and the author of "Black Swan" Talev, the author of the book opened up new perspectives, linking psychology and economics, through a series of experimental studies, better answering the causes of some irrational behavior in life, and proposing solutions on its basis.
Author Dan Airry once did such an experiment, he asked 100 students to choose how to buy The Economist, the magazine has a total of three ways to buy, the first is to spend $59 online to order to read; the second way is to buy a $125 print edition, the third way to buy $125 to buy both electronic and print editions.
The result: 16 people chose the first, 0 people in the second type, and 84 people in the third type.
Later, the author withdrew the second option and offered only the first option: an online subscription for $59 and a third option: a $125 electronic and printed version, and the results were far beyond the author's imagination: the number of people who bought the first package increased to 68, and the number of people who originally chose the $125 package dropped to 32.
Just removing one choice, but the difference is very large, so what is the reason behind it?
After many experiments by the author, he discovered the principle:
In fact, people rarely make choices that do not pass comparison, and we do not have a "meter" of the value of the object itself. We focus on the relative situation of this and other items, using this comparison to estimate.
Merchants have mastered this routine, thereby increasing their sales.
If we look closely, we will find that something similar seems to be happening around us.
When we go to the restaurant to order, the restaurant will always set up a higher price dish, and most people will choose to buy the second or third price of the same kind of dish, although this high price dish is rarely ordered, but the restaurant will also be set there, just as a "bait", to lure people to buy the same kind of dish in the middle price.
From these phenomena, it shows that people's irrational thinking, influenced by the consciousness of "comparison", will always make choices through various external comparisons.
Growing up, we seem to have been living in comparison. When I was a child, I compared my academic performance and ranking with what my parents called "other people's children"; after work, I compared the salary and position with my classmates and colleagues; after starting a family, I compared my children's education with other parents.
We seem to spend time comparing and comparing, and this kind of comparison not only makes people physically and mentally exhausted, but also makes people unable to focus on their own things.
Banagi and DiFfro, authors of The Nature of Poverty, studied the masses in various countries and fields and finally found that one of the essential causes of poverty is "comparison".
Because each of us has limited energy, if we always focus our energy on others, we will only let ourselves fall into the vortex of 'comparison' and cannot focus on our own field.
Once we always focus on other people and can't grow, we fall into this cycle of anxiety, inferiority, fear, and jealousy, and it's hard to pull ourselves out.
In addition to poverty, comparison will also bring another extreme behavior: in order to compare others, do not know the effort to stop, although there have been good results, but always not satisfied, as the saying goes, "people's hearts are not enough snakes swallow elephants", this sense of dissatisfaction is like the abyss, can not fill their own heart, can not feel happy.
1. Admit the inner "comparison"
Many theories in economics are based on rational situations, but the reality is that "man is not a rational animal", and perhaps because of this, there will be many phenomena in our lives that economic theories cannot explain.
When we want to solve a problem, the first thing to do is to face it head-on, and only by acknowledging the existence of "comparison" can we solve this problem or reach a reconciliation with it.
2. Adjust the object of "comparison"
Acknowledging "comparison" is the first step, and the second step is to internalize the comparison with others into a comparison with oneself.
Mr. Jin Yong once said that 'he is strong and strong, the breeze blows the mountains and hills", the strength and weakness of others and we do not have much to do, what we need to do is to compare the past self and the present self, and when judging the value of things, we should compare the value of things themselves, and only in this way can we get greater progress and growth as much as possible.
3. Appropriate use of 'comparison'
In the end, when we face the gap between ourselves and others, our hearts will care. Proper care can increase our enthusiasm, but if it is a transitional care, it will trigger our inner inferiority and even jealousy. Whatever the situation, these emotions consume their time and energy. Therefore, we can control the scope of comparison, so as to rationally use "comparison", so that we can continue to progress and grow under the pressure that we can bear.
When we are always caught in the trap again and again, behind it is actually our irrational thinking, and the book "Grotesque Behavior" mainly deals with the strange things that people do under the influence of irrational thinking.
But as long as we dare to acknowledge its existence, rationally use "comparison", and reach a reconciliation with it, and put more energy and time into our own.
Calm down in the face of other people's difficulties.
In the "Treatise on the Ancient Zun Su Language", Han Shan and Shi De once had such a classic dialogue:
Han Shan asked, "How should some people in the world slander me, deceive me, insult me, laugh at me, despise me, despise me, hate me, and deceive me?" He replied, "Just put up with him, let him, let him, avoid him, be patient with him, respect him, ignore him, stay a few more years, and you will see him." “
Take every step steadily, "but the future, do not ask for a good road", one day, what we should get, will come to our side.