During the "May Day" period, a pair of mothers-in-law and grandchildren "panned and cut the queue" in the Hengdian scenic area, and after being stopped by the man behind the line, the two sides quarreled fiercely. During the quarrel, the brutal expressions and words of the mother-in-law and grandson were photographed by netizens and uploaded to the Internet, triggering netizens to denounce the mother-in-law and grandson.
The queue at tourist attractions is already anxious, and being cut in line brings a negative experience of "adding fuel to the fire" to many people. However, if excessive anger generates physical impulses or makes things more troublesome, it is not worth the cost.
After all, why is it so "overhead" to be cut in line? How to control emotions when encountering injustice? What else is interesting psychological knowledge about "cutting the queue"? This article gives you the answer.
Why was it "cut in line"
So infuriating?
Humans are social animals and beneficiaries of social norms, and there are costs to comply with and maintain norms, such as the time cost when queuing.
When the people who cut the queue obtain benefits and enjoy the services in advance, the people who obediently line up to abide by social norms will be frustrated, and there will be a conflict of choices between complying with norms and not following them, resulting in inner anxiety and anger.
Of course, if it is only to break the sense of fairness, it is not enough to make people angry, and the emotional loss of control when being cut in line is also related to the negative experience when queuing.
In fact, humans are a species that naturally hates queuing, and researchers such as MIT researcher Richard Larson have confirmed through a large number of studies that queuers will have a faster pulse, increased blood pressure, and emotional agitation or depression during the waiting process, especially in the case of time urgency, anxiety will be more obvious.
At the same time, crowding can also cause strong anger, and a large number of experiments have proved that overcrowded environments can invade private spaces and bring discomfort.
What's more, the waiting time in the queue is often unknown.
The unknown may disrupt our original plans and arrangements, and this uncertainty will weaken our sense of time, increase the pressure of waiting, and make us feel irritable that we can't do anything.
The queue is already in a bad mood, and it is also encountered by disgusting people who cut the line, which can lead to emotional breakdowns and even physical conflicts.
Why do some people always cut the queue?
Most of the time, people hate the unfairness of being "cut in line," not the act of jumping the queue itself.
A Harvard Business School professor conducted an interesting social experiment in which people took money to people in line and asked to cut the queue. It turned out that the more money was given, the more people in line were willing to let others cut the queue. This result is not unexpected.
Unexpectedly, the more money is given, the more willing the people in line are to take nothing and still let others cut in line.
The professor believes that when people find that someone is willing to pay more money for a very simple little thing, they will speculate that the matter is important to the person who pays the money, and conclude that a little sacrifice of their own will bring great value.
Therefore, they would rather not collect money than assume social responsibility.
It can be seen that when people feel that "being cut in line" is helping others, people can even experience a "sense of moral improvement" in agreeing to cut the queue.
What's more, even if the person who cuts the queue finds a lame excuse, it is easier to gain the forgiveness of others. Scientists such as Ellen Langer, a professor of psychology at Harvard University, have done a much-cited study in which experimenters try to use some reason to plug in a line in front of a photocopier.
One of them is a short and polite request, but there is nothing reasonable - "Sorry, I have five pages, can I use the photocopier first?" "This request allowed them to successfully plug 60% of the team, and with the statement that they were in a hurry, the success rate reached 94%.
There is another that is also more effective - "Can I use a photocopier, because I need to make a photocopy." - although this reason sounds unreasonable and even outrageous.
It seems that our "ear roots" are indeed more soft than you can imagine.
According to a study by American social psychologist Stanley Milgram, the person who is directly cut in line often determines whether the act of cutting in line will be allowed. If that person does not object, then the rest of the queue tends to remain quiet, even if they are "cut in line" to their own interests.
Researchers such as Milgram have also found that two people cutting in line at the same time is more likely to trigger negative emotions than one person cutting in line, so if you want to jump in line, don't act in partnership.
Of course, the above is just interesting psychological knowledge about cutting the queue, and while Bojun smiles, it also makes us understand human nature better. When I return to reality, I hope that everyone can still queue up in a civilized manner and abide by order.
How to relieve anxiety when queuing?
If you want to relieve the anxiety when queuing, the key is not to shorten the queue time, but to make the waiting time not anxious, that is, so that passengers have something to do during the waiting time.
Houston Airport in the United States has received a large number of complaints from passengers that the waiting time to claim baggage is too long. As a result, the airport has shortened the waiting time to 8 minutes by adding baggage handlers, but the dissatisfaction of passengers is still high.
Later, at the suggestion of psychologist Larsen, the airport modified the walking route of passengers. Passengers who used to walk 1 minute off the plane and wait 7 minutes at the baggage carousel now walk 6 minutes and wait 2 minutes.
Something magical happened, and these complaints disappeared almost overnight. This is because travelers are walking in a state of having something to do, which is different from meaningless, static waiting, and does not make people feel anxious and irritable.
If you encounter unreasonable queue cutting, gently but firmly remind the person who cut the queue not to cut the queue.
The purpose of speaking loudly is to make everyone notice him and make the other person feel ashamed. It should be noted that speaking loudly often leads to emotional intensification, so the voice should be as calm as possible, so as not to let the other party feel that he has been scolded, and keep a peaceful mind.
Maintain a tolerant attitude and do not get angry, otherwise it will only make the other person angry, which will often lead to more serious consequences. Be sure to maintain peace of mind, no matter what, the person who cut the queue has done wrong, just correct him.
In short, mindset is the key to determining the experience of queuing, as Balzac said: "Those who are good at waiting, everything will come in time." ”
So, what about the queue, just wait slowly, it will always be our turn.
Finally, returning to this hot event, the lack of managers to oversee the order of the queue is also a factor in the queue. We should learn from experience and arrange managers to maintain queue order in public places with a large number of queues to avoid such incidents from happening again.
Author: Tang Yicheng, Deputy Director of Beijing Center for the Promotion of Psychological and Mental Health of Chinese Science Popularization
Review: Chunlei Fan, Associate Researcher, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Source: Popular Science China