There are a lot of subjects out there that we can study to better understand the world around us, and psychology is one of the most beneficial. It doesn’t just allow us to gain deeper insights into both ourselves and other people, but the practical skills that we can learn from it are immensely beneficial in just about every situation in which we may find ourselves.
If you’ve been considering learning more about psychology but didn’t know whether it had practical applications or not, read on to discover how it can help you develop these 8 high-value skills.
1. Improving interpersonal interactions by understanding “non-violent communication.”
The basic components of non-violent communication (NVC) revolve around observation, recognizing emotions (one’s own and those of others), negotiating needs, and expressing requests in a respectful and empathetic manner. By taking this approach, individuals can reduce potential conflict and improve interpersonal connection, rather than taking offense and becoming belligerent over perceived slights.
It’s an approach that allows people to understand others’ perspectives and motivations with empathy and understanding, while encouraging compassionate, gentle, and respectful dialogue. As a result, studying the psychology and methods of NVC can help to improve all your relationships. These approaches work just as well with colleagues and employers as they do with family members.
2. Managing stress more effectively by understanding “emotional self-regulation.”
When people are young and have Big Feelings, they run to mom, dad, or another trusted caregiver to help them manage their emotions. As we age, however, we need to learn how to regulate our emotions ourselves. We learn how to rationalize our way through tears, unfounded anxieties, bursts of anger, etc., through breathing techniques, meditation, and rational thinking in order to manage stress and have healthy relationships with others.
Those who don’t learn emotional self-regulation often lash out at people when they’re upset, or turn to others to regulate their emotions for them, like they did as children. Alternatively, they may turn to self-destructive coping strategies such as substance abuse or self-harm. By understanding emotional self-regulation and putting it into practice, you’ll be equipped to handle any stress that comes your way.
3. Creating and achieving goals by understanding “motivation.”
When you understand the motivations behind your own actions, you can determine the best way for you to attain your goals. Different people have a variety of motivating factors, and as such, the action plan that will work for one may be anathema to another. Understanding my own motivations has helped me exponentially over the years, especially with regard to meeting my health and fitness goals.
I read several psychology and philosophy books in my youth, and they allowed me to glean a better awareness of why I was pursuing my objectives. For example, in my case, I was interested in getting as strong and healthy as possible in order to live a long, capable, healthy life (that’s intrinsic motivation), while another person’s fitness focus might be for other people to think that they look good in their underwear (that’s extrinsic motivation).
Having this awareness will influence your milestones and action plans, and can also help you refocus if you fall off track.
4. Managing stressful situations better by understanding “appraisal theory.”
In Psychology, the concept of appraisal theory is that how we view various situations will directly relate to how we experience them. Situations and experiences are neutral for the most part, but many people will go into them with a preconceived idea of how they will unfold, rather than going in with openness and curiosity. The former approach will color the experience, whereas the latter will allow people to respond once they get a feel for what’s going on.
For example, let’s say your boss calls you into their office. A person who’s prone to negative thinking might assume they’re about to be fired and enter that office in panicked tears, when in reality, the boss just wanted their help with that year’s Secret Santa list.
By understanding appraisal theory, you’ll be much more capable of coping with any situation you find yourself in. Rather than assuming the worst (or ignoring red danger flags because you’re overlaying everything with positivity), you’re responding rationally to what’s actually going on.
5. Making better, more informed decisions by understanding “critical thinking.”
Critical thinking is one of the most important skills you can learn by studying psychology because it can be applied to just about every situation you may encounter in life. Rather than responding to situations with personal biases, preconceptions, or emotional reactions, critical thinking will allow you to focus on logic, reason, and a wide range of explanations so you can find the truth of the matter.
Essentially, it’ll teach you how to approach every situation without making assumptions or judgments based on your own biases. You’ll learn how to gather information and disseminate it from a neutral state of mind rather than jumping to conclusions because of snippets of what you think you saw or heard. This is as valuable for personal relationships as it is in the workplace or positions of authority over others.
6. Becoming fairer in your judgements by understanding “fundamental attribution error.”
Anyone who has spent time on social media has come across comments in which people judge — either condemning or defending — complete strangers, based on their own preconceptions about them. They might blame a victim for their own suffering because they believe the person “had it coming” due to certain characteristics, but would judge another person in the same situation differently (i.e., more favorably) if they felt that external circumstances either favored or harmed them.
This behavior, known as fundamental attribution error, also relates to judging other people based on a small fragment of information while judging the self differently.
Here’s an example: a barista might be rude or curt with you when you order your morning coffee, and you’ll mutter about how low-class and awful they are. You might even consider reporting them to their manager. Tomorrow, you might be rude or curt with someone else, and justify your behavior because your kids had kept you up all night, and you had a debilitating headache.
By understanding this kind of double standard, you’ll learn to be much fairer and to take all details into account rather than making snap judgments based on cognitive biases.
7. Gaining self-confidence by understanding the “spotlight effect.”
Many people grossly overestimate how much others think about them. In psychology, this is described as the “spotlight effect”, that is, people’s tendency to incorrectly assume their flaws and mistakes stand out like a spot light to others. They may suffer from crippling social anxiety because they think others are judging them horribly, or if they hear people laughing at the office, they’ll automatically assume that everyone is laughing at them for one reason or another.
In reality, most people aren’t paying attention to them at all. They aren’t terribly interested, aren’t judging them, and are likely to forget about them entirely within a short period of time. Understanding the spotlight effect is invaluable for cultivating a greater degree of self-confidence: it’s immensely freeing to realize that others barely think of you at all, let alone judge you poorly.
8. Improving your parenting, teaching, and workplace relationships by understanding the “order of brain development.”
Many people struggle when dealing with those of different ages, and few struggles are quite as intense as those of parents or teachers dealing with young people whose brains are still developing.
Most of us grew up with caregivers who regularly asked what was wrong with us: why couldn’t we understand X concept, or why are we overreacting to something insignificant? The answer has to do with the order of brain development, rather than any kind of personal failing.
The limbic system — which regulates emotions, behavior, motivation, and memory — develops far earlier than the prefrontal cortex, which governs reason, logical assessment, emotional regulation, and self-control. It’s why adolescents tend to be impulsive and irrational, and these tendencies don’t calm down until people are into their mid to late 20s.
Understanding that younger people (which may include staff members in your employ as well as younger family members) can make poor decisions or have emotional outbursts because they don’t yet have the brain structures to regulate themselves can go a long way towards improving your relationships with them.
Final thoughts…
Everything we learn helps to round us out as individuals, and each skill makes us a bit more capable in our daily lives. Psychology may be a relatively young discipline, but its concepts are present in ancient Roman, Greek, and Arabic medical texts. The ancients were aware of how understanding human motivations — including one’s own behaviors — could be immensely beneficial, and that rings just as true today.
There is no downside to learning about psychology, and the benefits of studying the skills and concepts listed here can only help you as you journey through life.
