15 Psychological Facts That Will Blow Your Mind
15 Psychological Facts That Will Blow Your Mind
The field of psychology looks at the science of the mind and behavior. Studies trying to understand why we are the way, we are have been going on for decades and will continue in the future. We’re learning more and more each day, but there’s still so much we don’t know. Some study finding are more fascinating than others. Did you know that punctuating in your text messages makes you come across as insincere? Strap yourself in; you’re in a wild psychological ride. The following psychological facts could just explain or confirm some of the things you see in yourself or others.
1. If We Have A Plan B, Our Plan A Is
Less Likely To Work :
Scientist
at the University of Pennyslvania studied at the performers of volunteers on a
certain task, and found that participants who thought about a backup plan did
worse than those who didn’t. They also found that when participants realized
they had other options, their motivation decreased. This is related to
Expectancy Theory which was developed by Victor H, Vroom in 1964. Expectancy
Theory basically states that your motivation for something Is a function of
whether it expect to be successful at it.
2. Catching A Yawn Could Help Us Bond :
The work day had just begun, and you’re ready to get lots done. You’re sitting at your cubical during your morning meeting when the guy next to you lets out a big, loud, obnoxious yawn. Before you know it, you’re yawing yourself. But you’re not even tired ! That’s a response yawn. There are various theories explaining why yawns are contagious, one of the leading ones being that response yawns demonstrate empathy. This explains why young children that haven’t yet developed a sense of empathy or those on the autism spectrum are less likely to response yawn.
3. We Care About A single Person Than
About Massive Tragedies :
In another University of Pennysylvania study, researchers examined people’s
behavior as it related to donating to
causes based on certain stimuli. One group was shown a starving young girl. The
second group was told a statistic million of people dying of hunger, and the
third group was talked about both. Those who heard only about the statistic
donated the least, followed by those who heard about both. Those who heard
about the little girl, donated double what the statistic group did.
Psychologists attribute this to the fact that if a problem feels to big, we
feel helpless and insignificant, like our efforts won’t have any payoff.
4. Beginnings And Ends Are Easier To
Remember Than Middles :
Have you ever been grocery shopping and you forget your grocery list? When
trying to remember things without it, you can visualize it and remember things
close to the beginning and ending, but the things in the middle are little
fuzzy.
5. It Takes Five Positive Things To
Outweigh A Single Negative Thing :
You might’ve heard the advice to start and end your day by thinking
about a few things you’re grateful for. This helps keep us balanced because we
have what’s called a Negativity Bias which makes us focus on the bad stuff
instead of the good. It’s useless to
ruminate on the negative things that brings you down. Shoot for a ratio of five
good things to one bad in your life. You just might manifest something
wonderful.
6. Food Tastes Better When Someone Else
Makes It :
Ever wonder why food always tastes better when mom makes it? In fact,
Food tastes better whenever anyone else makes it assuming they’re a decent
chef. Researchers attribute this to the fact that when you’re preparing meal
for yourself by the time you’re ready to eat, it’s been so long that it’s less
exciting, and as a result, you enjoy it less.
7. We’d Would Rather Know That When
Something Bad Is Coming Then Not Know What To Expect :
Have you ever felt a drop in your stomach when someone says, “we need to
talk”? Your mind is immediately flooded with the millions of bad things it
could be about. If it’ a romantic partner, you’d probably rather they just
break up with you then and there. If it’s your boss, you’d rather they just
fire you on the spot. Researchers have found that we prefer knowing something
bad Is going to happen over uncertainty. This is because when our brain doesn’t
know what to expect, it goes into overdrive trying to predict any possible
consequences, both good and bad.
8. When One Rule Seems Too Strict, We Want
To Break More :
In the psychological phenomena known as Reactance, people tend to break
more rules when they feel like certain freedoms are limited in an effort to
regain the freedom that they perceive as being taken away. This is best
illustrate d in teenagers. When grounded, not only might they sneak out, but
they may end up engaging in other risky behaviors as a form of Reactance.
9. There Is A Reason We Want To Squeeze
Cute Things :
Puppies and babies; don’t you just want to love them and squeeze them
and cuddle with them? Well, apparently, That’ a natural reaction, and it’s
known as Cute Aggression. According to a article in the Frontiers in Behavioral
Neuroscience, the idea behind cute aggression is that when we’re overcome with
the positive feelings like those elicited by an adorable pup or baby, a tad bit
of aggression balances out those overwhelming feelings, so that we don’t harm
innocent little beings.
10. We Unintentionally Believe What We Want To
Believe :
Confirmation Bias is the tendency to interpret facts in a way that
confirms what we already believe. This explains why people with certain
political views prefer certain news outlets over others. Forget even trying to
get Uncle Fred to change his stance on international relations. Not only does confirmations bias lead us to
seek out information that agrees with what we already believe, but it also
causes us to reject contradictory information.
11. You Are Programmed To Most Loved Music You
Listen To In High School :
Good Music triggers the release of dopamine and other feel-good
chemicals. Studies show that e connect to the music we bonded to during our
teenage years, more so than we ever will as adults, despite the passage of
time.
12. Memories Are More Like Pieced Together
Pictures Than Accurate Snapshots :
False
memories are something that you recall in your mind but aren’t actually true,
either in whole or in part. An example could be believing you started the
dishwasher before you left for work when you reay didn’t. This is because our
brains can sometimes inaccurately fill in the blanks when it only remembers the
gist of what happened.
13. We Look For Human Faces, Even In Inanimate
Objects :
Pareidolia
is the tendency to perceive specific often meaningful images, such as faces in
random or ambiguous visual patterns. A common example is the man in the moon.
Some scientist attribute the facts that, as social beings, recognizing faces is
so important that we’d rather create one where it doesn’t exist than miss a
real one that does.
14. People Rise To Our High Expectations And Don’t Rise If We Have Low Ones :
The Pygmalion Effect is a psychological phenomenon in which high expectations leads to improved performance. In a famous study in 1960s, researchers told teacher that random students had high potential according to their scores on an IQ test. They found that those indentified as high potential students did end up becoming high achievers, at least in part due to their teacher’s heightened expectations.
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