Psychology Consent: Fill & Download for Free

This trick is the Rosetta Stone of psychological tricks.It’s really the skeleton key.If you saw the movie Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, you’ve seen it in action.In Beautiful Day, the beloved children’s educator Fred Rogers is interviewed by a cynical reporter.During an innocent chat about his life and work, the reporter observed, “It must have been hard for your kids to have had you as a father.”Fred Rogers was a wonderful father who zealously guarded his work/life balance before the idea was popular.The reporter’s fake-curious accusation was a journalistic fishing expedition - a lame attempt to get a rise out of the unstintingly compassionate Fred.Mr. Rogers paused for a very long time.Then, he thanked the reporter for his thoughtful observation.He told him it was so very kind of him to acknowledge the challenges of parenting.No one can hurt your feelings without your consent, as Epictetus said.No one can make you angry, disappointed, intimidated, or jealous.Substitute any reactive emotion.Whatever it is, no one can afflict you with it without your consent.You can choose to see things differently - this trick is called reframing.It’s the only one you’ll ever need.Mr. Rogers wasn’t using reverse-psychology or pretending to see something that wasn’t there.He dug deep, looked deeply, and found some insight in the reporter’s question.Rather than reacting to the reporter’s hostility, he ignored it and focused on the particle of compassion he saw in his heart.The people we interact with become how we treat them, more than we’d like to admit.

This is more behavioral/consumer focused but has social implications...and it is mind-blowing.Default OptionThe chart above (from a study by Eric Johnson and Daniel Goldstein titled "Do defaults save lives?") shows the percentage of people in each country who consent to donate their organs.What is interesting is that many of the countries in yellow on the left (Denmark, UK, etc.) are similar to many of the country in blue on the right (Belgium, Sweden, France, etc.) in terms of economics, development, etc. So why the staggering difference in consent to donate organs?It turns out the difference is based on the framing of the options (opt-in versus opt-out) on the government form. Here is essentially how it plays out:Yellow Countries (Opt-In Form)"Please check the box if you want to donate your organs."Nobody checks the box. Nobody donates.Blue Countries (Opt-Out Form)"Please check the box if you do not want to donate your organs."Again, nobody checks the box...but (because of the form) everybody donates.TakeawayThis study is a powerful example of how important the default option is in decision making. Making a decision is difficult so often times people resort to the default option. Thus, the manner in which the decision in framed has huge implications for the resulting behavior.Citations/Sources:Do Defaults Save Lives?

Divorce is mentioned in the Shastras but there is no ritual prescribed for it.The reason being is that marriage is by consent of the couple themselves - no priest will declare them married. The marriage is validated by the acceptance of their families and communities. According to Hindu law a young couple can with mutual consent may cohabit together without the consent or sanction of their families and it is considered as a valid form of marriage known as Gāndharva vivāha.By mutual consent the couple are joined and by mutual consent or sometimes by family enforcement the couple are separated. No formal ritual demanded for joining and thus none required for separation.Nowadays some couples who have a traumatic separation sometimes have a Shanti or Purification ceremony performed for their own psychological satisfaction and peace of mind.