SOME PSYCHOLOGICAL, SOCIAL AND BEHAVIOURAL CONCEPTS YOU SHOULD KNOW 1. STOCKHOLM SYNDROME: A term used to describe situations where hostages or abuse victims develop positive feelings towards their captors or abusers. Example: A hostage begins defending their captor and opposing people trying to rescue them. 2. ZERO-SUM GAME: A situation where one person's gain is exactly equal to another person's loss. Example: Two friends apply for the same job, but only one person will be employed. In this situation, one person's gain is indeed the other's loss. 3. COGNITIVE DISSONANCE: The mental discomfort that occurs when your actions contradict your beliefs, often leading you to justify your behaviour rather than admit you are wrong. Example: Someone who believes lying is wrong gets caught lying and starts explaining why their own lie was justified. 4. THE JUST-WORLD FALLACY: The belief that people generally get what they deserve. Example: Someone loses their job and struggles to feed their family, and instead of acknowledging that bad things can happen to anyone, people conclude that they must have been lazy or irresponsible. They assume that because someone is suffering, they must have done something to deserve it. 5. LEARNED HELPLESSNESS: When repeated experiences of having no control over a situation lead someone to stop trying to change it, even when opportunities become available. Example: An employee who has repeatedly been ignored when reporting workplace problems eventually stops speaking up, even when a new manager is willing to listen. 6. THE PRISONER'S DILEMMA: A game theory scenario in which two people acting in their individual interests may end up worse off than if they had cooperated. Example: Two competing businesses keep slashing their prices to outdo each other until neither makes a reasonable profit, even though both would have benefited from avoiding the price war. 7. THE BYSTANDER EFFECT: The tendency for people to be less likely to intervene in an emergency when others are present. Example: A passenger collapses in a crowded bus, but everyone waits for someone else to help, assuming another person will take responsibility. 8. THE HEDONIC TREADMILL: The tendency to get used to the things that once made us happy, causing their excitement to fade as they become part of our everyday lives. Example: Someone spends years working towards owning their dream car. When they finally buy it, they are overjoyed, but a few months later, the excitement wears off, and they start wanting a better car. They forget that what they now take for granted was once what they prayed and worked so hard to achieve. 9. PLURALISTIC IGNORANCE: When people privately disagree with something but assume everyone else supports it, so they publicly conform. Example: Everyone in a meeting thinks a proposal is terrible, but nobody objects because each person assumes the others support it. 10 THE MATTHEW EFFECT: The tendency for people who already have advantages to accumulate even more advantages. Example: Two equally talented graduates apply for jobs, but one gets more opportunities because they attended a prestigious university and already have influential connections. 11. THE EINSTELLUNG EFFECT: When a familiar way of solving a problem prevents us from recognising a better solution. Example: A business owner keeps using an outdated system because it is what they have always used, even though a simpler and cheaper alternative is available. 12. THE HALO EFFECT: When one positive quality makes us assume someone possesses other positive qualities. Example:People assume an attractive, well-dressed person is intelligent and trustworthy without having any evidence of either.