13 Mental Traps That illogically impact and Control Our Lives

Society, peer pressure, our education system and even our culture and home environment put a lot of pressure and wrong expectations that get entrenched into our systems from childhood. The values which are ingrained in us are mostly good but some of them are archaic and prejudiced especially against women, but since we do not know better we live within these traps and do not even try to break free.  There are several instances where we may fall into our own mental traps that impact and influence wrong decisions without us realizing it. Some may have harmless results but others could prove bad for us.

Here are 13 such mental traps which can be vicious and one must try to break the cycle, if not with any support than might as well do it alone, easier said than done but it’s possible.

1Dual standards

When a man tries to take care of his kids on his day off, cooks and cleans after them in the absence of his working wife, he expects applause for efforts from everyone but does not feel the same appreciation for his wife who does it every day of the year. Because it is ingrained in our system that it’s her duty and her efforts are expected. Since men have this conception that they face similar challenges like the female partners it’s easy for them to blame their partners for any mishap, while if they are in the same predicament they conveniently put the blame on others.

2A dispute for the sake of victory

It has been scientifically proven now that many people get into useless arguments and scrapes just to intimidate and influence their peers or family members. Since from ancient times, it is believed that if you lose a debate you are a weak and vulnerable person. So we, in this modern day and age still create arguments to justify our place and validity of our existence. No wonder lawyers are the most successful professionals these days.

3Comparing the incomparable

We, humans, have this nasty habit of comparing ourselves with others or our family members, be it our spouses or kids, even our pets! We have the insatiable thirst of being superior to someone in some way, so we put all out arsenal to show the world we are doing something better than the rest and trust us this obsession leads to our doom. It is the same way of comparing dogs by saying the bigger the dog, the angrier it will get which is wrong as size doesn’t impact temper.

4Trusting only “your” people

“In-group favoritism” is a concept since ancient times. We always try to create and maintain a clique of friends or even lackeys around us to validate and support us in everything we do. This syndrome has plagued us since ancient times. We always try to create or try to be a part of a clique or a group which we inherently trust as we unwittingly divide the world between “us “and “them”. And the people who are outside the group, we are automatically suspicious and underestimate the other so-called “groups”.