Recently, "express delivery suspension time" rushed to the first place in the hot search.
Everyone always pays attention to the holiday time of the express company during the Spring Festival, and many netizens said frankly:
As soon as I heard that the express delivery was going to be suspended, I began to buy things."
Others said:
Don't stop it, I still have a lot to buy."
As small as buying cosmetics, snacks, bags of melon seeds, peanuts, and sanitary napkins online. It is so big that even the newlyweds send wedding cards, and they also ask the courier company to do it in the morning to buy groceries or move, and frequently use the courier, many people jokingly call this a sufferer"Courier dependence".
You have always been accustomed to the punctual delivery of the express, if the express is delayed, slowed down, and suspended, will you also be restless?
What is the magic of express delivery, which pulls our emotions, sometimes very happy, sometimes irritable. What are the psychological principles behind this? Let's take a look!
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Wait for anxiety
Waiting anxiety is not strictly a psychological phenomenon, but a product of psychology.
We all know that human beings, like most living things, are animals that seek instant gratification, and as soon as we see a good thing, we will immediately want to get it at that moment, such as wanting to eat fried chicken that has just come out of the pan, wanting to wear a nice dress, and wanting to find a healthy mate.
And it is precisely because of this pursuit of instant gratification that we have a strong sense of waiting anxiety when we can see but can't get something.
It's like when we like a piece of clothing, when we don't buy it, we think about it all the time, and we think about how beautiful it is, but when we get the clothes and we wear them, the anxiety is not so strong.
So we will call this kind of anxiety that arises in our hearts when we can see it, but we haven't got it yet, and call it waiting anxiety.
It's the same with buying express delivery, when we place an order for an item, our brain is in a state of extreme excitement, and it can't wait to enjoy the thing that has just been ordered.
But obviously, there is no way for the express to arrive in this instant, but to wait, and the depression of this waiting will be transformed into the happiness that occurs when the express is finally opened.
So the more anxious you are in the process of waiting, the more you think about these things, the stronger the happiness you get from the moment you unpack the package.
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endowment effect
The endowment effect is that when people own an item or asset, they tend to think that the value of the item or asset is higher than it was before they owned it.
For example, if we see a wool shoe on the market with a price tag of 150 yuan, then it is worth 150 yuan in our minds.
When we buy the shoes home and the shoes become our personal belongings, we may become emotionally dependent on the shoes and thus unable to objectively assess the value of the shoes.
When we consider this wool shoe, we may ask for a higher one to avoid feeling the loss.
This psychological tendency is reflected in many aspects of daily life, such as trading on the second-hand market, or in investment decisions.
In the field of investment, investors may become emotionally dependent on a certain ** or ** for a long time, so that they cannot objectively assess its value, resulting in the inability to make rational investment decisions.
It's actually the same for the express delivery that took a week to be delivered to our home, even if it's just a pack of ordinary potato chips, we will think:
I've waited so long for this potato chip and spent so much time checking on his progress, he must be the best potato chip I can buy! ”
This is because the value-added effect of this waiting makes us feel happy.
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Cognitive dissonance
According to psychologist Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance, when there is a mismatch between a person's behaviors, emotions, or beliefs, this triggers a sense of psychological discomfort, known as cognitive dissonance.
To reduce this discomfort, the individual will take a series of psychological adjustments to reduce inner conflict.
In short, if we have two conflicting perceptions in our minds, then we will feel very uncomfortable, and we must reconcile the two cognitions to reduce the discomfort.
For example, everyone knows that going to bed early is better for the body, and you should go to bed early. But at the same time, people want to play games at night.
These two things contradict each other, causing us to feel guilty when we play the game, or tossing and turning and can't sleep and want to play the game, so this is when we start to reconcile and negotiate with ourselves
There's nothing wrong with going to bed early, but it's good to go to bed early from Monday to Friday, and on weekends you can relax and play games and be a night owl, which is not too much.
The same is true for the unpacking express, we know that it is not worth expecting too much because it is just a pack of potato chips in the express, but the early waiting makes us have strong expectations, and after the brain is coordinated, it will also give new value to the potato chips.
You might think: it took me a long time to pick it out, and the chips took a long time to reach my home, this pack of chips must be delicious. ”
This is to regulate our cognition, in fact, we feel happy more because of the waiting process ahead than because of the bag of potato chips.
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The Betting Effect
If you don't think the first few effects are true, you must have experienced the last one.
The betting effect is simply that:
When we open a blind box, we pay money, there is a probability that we will draw different shapes, and when we get a doll that we like, the brain releases dopamine, which is a neurotransmitter associated with pleasure and reward.
The activation of this reward system will be pleasant, which will increase the attractiveness of the gambling activity.
Dismantling the express delivery is actually the same as opening the blind box and scratching the lottery ticket.
The same is true when unpacking the parcel, we pay money and wait time, the goods we receive may be good or bad, and the anticipation of the brain makes us secrete dopamine and produce pleasure.
That's why we're so happy when we unpack the parcel.
In fact, it doesn't matter why unpacking affects our mood, what matters is how we can understand ourselves better through these psychological principles.