How Your Expectations Conflict With Your View of the Present
We all have expectations for upcoming events, current events, ourselves and others. These expectations can change the way you think about the present more than you think. Sometimes it’s for the best, sometimes it’s for the worst. Let’s see how it works.
Your Expectations Affect Your Likes and Dislikes
It may sound absurd, but when we are told that something will be good, we tend to believe it, especially if we are told by an expert. Whether it’s movie reviews, book reviews, or – in the case of the aforementioned Penn & Teller clip – water, our expectations often outweigh the more critical side of our brains.
This is especially true for products. Over time, we have seen a variety of studies showing how our expectations change our perception of taste. For example, one study published in the journal Food Quality and Preference tested the effect of expectation on the flavor of a smoked salmon-flavored ice cream (yes, you read that right). When people read the ice cream label, they found they didn’t like it and found it salty and savory. When they called it “frozen savory mousse,” people liked it better because they didn’t expect the usual sweetness of ice cream.
In a more classic study published back in 1964, researchers looked at how beer brand labels affect taste. The researchers asked brand-loyal college students to rate a pile of unlabeled beer. Overall, the study participants didn’t seem to notice a difference in taste between beer brands when they weren’t labeled, suggesting that the brand name has a pretty big impact on how much we like something.
And these are just a few examples. Coca-Cola scores are higher when consumed from a brand logo cup, the presence of the word “soy” on diet bars makes them grainier , coffee becomes less bitter when we are told it is not bitter, and wine is a classic example of how expectations change. our perception of quality. In a truly bizarre study, researchers found that when they told people that a comic was funny, they tended to agree even when they weren’t.
When it comes to preference, when we are on fire before accepting something, we tend to agree with what the initial expectation is and ignore what we actually think about.
Why Expectations Change Your Perception of Reality
And it’s not just about taste and personal preference. Our expectations can affect how we view reality in general. It sounds absurd, but professor of psychology and behavioral economics Dan Ariely describes it in the video above as follows:
The way we expect something changes the way we perceive it … This suggests that the brain works to influence our perception. If our perception was established without information from the brain, the information from the brain is no longer relevant …
More generally, this raises the question of how our preconceptions color our perception of reality … what happens when we look at the world with glasses heavily colored by our preconceptions? These results suggest an interesting connection between body and mind … they suggest that our mind is trying to predict the future … by waiting for the future, the mind actually changes our physiology … it prepares us for that future. In doing so, the mind basically forces us to experience the reality that we expect.
This concept is in line with the idea of a hedonistic treadmill . We tend to increase our expectations in such a way as to devalue our accomplishments. Basically, if you liked a B + grade last year, you would need an A- grade to get the same satisfaction again. You’ve probably heard the classic phrase “happiness equals reality minus expectations,” and it’s true. In short: in theory, you can apply the placebo effect to your daily life.
In a conversation with Scientific American, science journalist and author Chris Burdick offers the following example of exactly how this works:
For example, many people fear that they will suffocate under pressure. They look to coaches and develop training methods to overcome this trend. Or they just freak out and bite their nails before important presentations or competitions. But in one study, researchers told some athletes that what they thought was arousal before a race actually improved their performance, and another group was told that such arousal is usually detrimental. The athletes acted accordingly when the pressure was building up. In another athletics study, researchers gave each subject a personal questionnaire, and then randomly gave some of them false reports that their responses indicated that they were the type of person who thrives under pressure. When it came time to compete, the athletes said they would probably perform better under pressure, and so they did.
Of course, this does not mean that you can change the world around you with the help of your mind. If you get sick, you will still be sick. If you are sad, you will still be sad. But this suggests that we are more in control of our future than we think, at least on a subtle level. If you expect to perform poorly, this thought may influence your present behavior. This applies to all aspects of daily life, from work to school to dating and exercise. You cannot physically change the world, but your expectations play a key role in how you perceive the present.
Other people’s expectations change you.
How you think other people perceive you (or how they actually perceive you) also changes the way you act.
The most classic example of this is in the 1977 Journal of Personality and Social Psychology . This study examined the role of various stereotypes in interpersonal attraction. The researchers handed the men a photograph of the woman before the phone call. Some of these photographs showed an attractive woman, others less attractive. Then the men talked to women: half of the men thought they were talking to an unattractive woman, and the other half thought they were attractive. The women did not know this was happening. However, men who thought they were talking to an attractive woman spoke differently, and the woman subsequently adapted to behaviors stereotypically associated with attractive people. Usually, when men thought they were talking to someone attractive, they changed their manner of speaking and the type of conversation, and the woman did the same.
This works with teaching too. Psychologist Robert Rosenthal has studied the relationship between teacher expectations and children’s academic performance for many years. NPR breaks down its research like this :
Following the children over the next two years, Rosenthal found that the teachers’ expectations of these children did indeed affect the students. “If teachers were made to expect more IQ increases, these kids would get more IQs,” he says.
As Rosenthal did more research, he found that expectations affect teachers’ day-to-day interactions with the children they teach in a thousand almost invisible ways. Teachers give students what they expect, more time to answer questions, get more specific feedback and more approval by constantly touching, nodding, and smiling at these children more often.
Again, like your own perception, this is not always an exact science. You may not notice the subtle clues someone else gives you about their expectations, or you may not need these social cues to act in a certain way.
The expectations of others play a role in our behavior. In a recent issue of Invisibilia NPR, they explain how the world’s expectations of blind people are changing the way the blind look at reality. This is a large-scale example of stereotypes in general, but it is obvious how this might apply to race, gender, religion, and a host of other characteristics. You may not realize it, but we all tend to live up to the perceived expectations around us. Perhaps your friends call you “quiet,” “adventurous,” or “party-goer,” and you subconsciously obey these stereotypes, even if that’s not who you are anymore.
Keep your expectations in check
You cannot control what others expect of you, but you can work on your own expectations … at least to a certain extent. Like so many things like that, it’s about recognizing your behavior and remembering it as best you can.
However, you can think of a couple of simple tips. Psychologist Bob Tibbee suggests separating your “desires” from “positions”:
Herd mentality and autopilot are usually tied to requirements. They come from our heads, our superego, the parental voice in our heads. Positions, by definition, are expectations imposed by others. When we don’t do them, we feel guilty. When we do follow them, we often feel led … and expect rewards for our efforts: because I do what I really don’t want to do, I really expect others to appreciate, notice, give me a reward, pat me on the head. , do what I expect. When the expected return does not come, our frustration and resentment are fueled.
Likewise, returning to science journalist Chris Burdick , it’s important to use these expectations to your advantage:
On the other hand, if there is something you can do to relieve anxiety, you will give that anticipation a slippery slope. This is the theory that the brain anticipates fatigue. So, if you’ve run a lot of 10K races, your brain knows what your body needs, how much energy it will take and what pace to set, and it takes into account a lot of things, like how you feel and how much you feel. rehydrated. After all, he can slow down. It’s not just that you’re running out of gas. Your brain is like, “Oh, oh. You will run out of gasoline. It will be a problem for you. ” So it basically makes you tired ahead of time.
Expectation is not some limitless resource and prevents you from doing things that you might not otherwise be able to do, but it is a helpful reminder that sometimes these self-fulfilling prophecies can change our behavior.
At the end of the day, it is about paying attention to what you think is going to happen, what is actually happening at the moment, and how you can project onto others. Take a week and think about your expectations of yourself and your friends. Then watch them unfold in real time. How much your expectations for events, food, and people influence your views may surprise you.