Psychology Facts That Explains A Lot
New research comes out every day that helps illuminate why we are the way we are. And while some psychological studies provide us with fairly banal psychology facts we’ve rounded up the psychology facts that explain human nature. These are the mind-blowing psychology facts that explain everything.
If you’ve been wanting to understand what people around you do without asking them you might want to master these psychology facts, they will help you understand people better and even enable you predict their future actions. It is important to be armed with some of the mind blowing psychology facts as they will you put you at the top understanding people.
#1. The Beginning and end are actually easier to remember than middles.
When people are asked to recall items from a list, they’re most likely to think of things from the very end, or from the very beginning, but not so much about the middle.
#2. Having a plan B, our plan A is less likely to work.
In a series of experiments from the University of Pennsylvania, researchers found that when volunteers thought about a backup plan before starting a task, they did worse than those who hadn’t thought about a plan B.. The researchers stress that thinking ahead is a good idea, but you might be more successful if you keep those plans vague.
#3. Food tastes better when someone else cooks it.
Ever wonder why that sandwich from the takeout place down the street tastes better than the ones you make at home, even if you use the same ingredients? One study published in the journal Science found that when you make yourself a meal, you’re around it so long that it feels less exciting by the time you actually dig in—and that, subsequently, decreases your enjoyment.
#4. We’d rather know something bad is coming than not know what to expect.
This is because the part of our brain that predicts consequences—whether good or bad—is most active when it doesn’t know what to expect. If stepping on the gas will help us beat traffic, we’ll go through that stress instead of just accepting that we’ll have to come up with a decent excuse when (not if) we’re late.
#5. Our Fears can actually feel good if we’re not really in danger.
For the people who love scary movies, there are a few theories as to why—the main one coming down to hormones. When you’re watching a scary movie or walking through a haunted house, you get all the adrenaline, endorphins, and dopamine from a fight-or-flight response, but no matter how scared you feel, your brain recognizes that you’re not really in danger so you get that natural high without the risk lol
#6. Catching a yawn could help us bond.
Why do you yawn when someone else does, even if you aren’t tired? There are a few theories about why yawning is contagious, but one of the leading ones is that it shows empathy. People who are less likely to show empathy—such as toddlers who haven’t learned it yet or young people with autism—are also less likely to yawn in reaction to someone else’s.
#7. We care more about a single person than about massive tragedies.
In a study research, one group learned about a little girl who was starving to death, another learned about millions dying of hunger, and a third learned about both situations. People donated more than twice as much money when hearing about the little girl than when hearing the statistics—and even the group who’d heard her story in the context of the bigger tragedy donated less. Psychologists think that we’re wired to help the person in front of us, but when the problem feels too big, we figure our little part isn’t doing much.
#8. We always try to return a favor.
It’s not just good manners—the “rule of reciprocity” suggests that we’re programmed to want to help someone who’s helped us.
#9. ourselves are our favorite subject.
Don’t blame your self-absorbed brother for talking about himself—it’s just the way his brain is wired. The reward centers of our brains light up more when we’re talking about ourselves than when we’re talking about other people, according to a Harvard study.
#10. Sometimes our brains try to make boring speeches more interesting.
Researchers found that in the same way that we hear voices in our heads when we read aloud, our brains also “talk” over boring speeches. If someone is speaking monotonously, we’ll subconsciously make it more vivid in our heads.
#11. We automatically second-guess ourselves when other people disagree.
In a famous 1950s experiment, college students were asked to point out which of three lines was the same length as a fourth. When they heard others (who were in on the experiment) choose an answer that was clearly wrong, the participants followed their lead and gave that same wrong answer.
#12. We’re convinced that the future is bright.
Doesn’t matter if you like where you’re at right now or not, most of us have an “optimism bias” that convinces us the future will be better than the present. We assume we’ll rise up in our careers.
#13. We unintentionally believe what we want to believe.
We are victim to something called confirmation bias: the tendency to interpret facts in a way that confirms what we already believe. So no matter how many facts you throw at your uncle trying to sway his political opinions, there’s a good chance he isn’t going to budge.
#14. We are not as good at multitasking as we think we are.
Research published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology shows that even when you think you’re doing two things at once, what you’re actually doing is switching quickly between the two tasks—you’re still focusing on one at a time. No wonder it’s so hard to listen to your partner while scrolling through Instagram.
#15. You’re programmed to love the music you listened to in high school the most.
The music we like gives us a hit of dopamine and other feel-good chemicals, and that’s even stronger when we’re young because our brains are developing. From around age 12 to 22, everything feels more important, so we tend to emphasize those years the most and hang on to those musical memories.
#16. Being lonely is bad for our health.
Researchers found that the fewer friends a person has, the higher levels of the blood-clotting protein fibrinogen. The effect was so strong that having 15 friends instead of 25 was just as bad as smoking.
See some useless facts that are very mind blowing
#17. Our brains actually want us to be lazy.
Evolutionarily speaking, conserving energy is a good thing—when food was scarce, our ancestors still had to be ready for anything. Unfortunately for anyone watching their weight, that still holds true today. A small study published in Current Biology found that when walking on a treadmill, volunteers would automatically adjust their gait to burn fewer calories.
#18. Some people do enjoy seeing anger in other people.
People with high testosterone remembered information better when it was paired with an angry face than a neutral one or no face, indicating they found the angry glare rewarding. The researchers said it could mean that certain people enjoy making someone else glare at them—as long the flash of anger doesn’t last long enough to be a threat—which could be why that guy in the office won’t let go of that stupid joke at your expense.
#19. There’s a reason we want to squeeze cute things.
“It’s so cute, I just was to smoosh it until it pops!” That’s called cuteness aggression, and people who feel it don’t really want to crush that adorable puppy. when we’re feeling overwhelmed by positive emotions—like we do when looking at an impossibly cute baby animal, a little bit of aggression helps us balance out that high.
#20. When one rule seems too strict, we want to break more.
Psychologists have studied a phenomenon called reactance: When people perceive certain freedoms being taken away, they not only break that rule, but they break even more than they otherwise would have in an effort to regain their freedom. This could be one of the best psychology facts to explain why a teenager who can’t use his phone in class will chew gum while stealthily sending a text.
#21. It takes five positive things to outweigh a single negative thing.
Our brains have something called a “negativity bias” that makes us remember bad news more than good, which is why you quickly forget that your coworker complimented your presentation but keep dwelling on the fact that a kid at the bus stop insulted your shoes. To feel balanced, we need at least a five to one ration of good to bad in our lives.
#22. There’s a reason that certain color combinations are hard on your eyes.
When you see bright blue and red right next to each other, your brain thinks the red is closer than the blue, making you go practically cross-eyed. Same goes for other combinations, like red and green.
#23. Putting information in bite-sized pieces helps us remember.
Your short-term memory can only hold on to so much information at a time (unless you try one of the simple ways to improve your memory), which is why you use “chunking” to remember long numbers.
#24. When you feel like you’re low on something (like money), you obsess over it.
Psychologists have found that the brain is sensitive to scarcity—the feeling that you’re missing something you need. When farmers have a good cash flow, for instance, they tend to be better planners than when they’re tight for money, one study found. When you’re feeling cash-strapped, you might need more reminders to pay bills or do chores because your mind is too busy to remember.
#25. We tend to believing things, even when we know they’re wrong.
Researchers in one Science study fed volunteers false information, then a week later revealed that the facts weren’t actually true. Even though the volunteers knew the truth (now), fMRI scans showed that they still believed the misinformation about half the time.
#26.We look for human faces, even in inanimate objects.
Most of us haven’t seen Jesus in a piece of toast, but we’ve all noticed cartoonish faces seemingly staring back at us from inanimate objects. That’s called pareidolia, and scientists think it comes from the fact that recognizing faces is so important to social life that our brains would rather find one where there
#27. People rise to our high expectations (and don’t rise if we have low ones).
The Pygmalion effect before, we do well when other people think we will, and we don’t do well when people expect us to fail. The idea came from a famous 1960s study in which researchers told teachers that certain students (chosen at random) had high potential based on IQ tests. Those students did indeed go on to be high achievers, thanks to their teachers’ expectations in them.
#28. The Social media is actually psychologically designed to be addictive.
Told yourself you’d just quickly check your Facebook notifications, and 15 minutes later you’re still scrolling? You’re not alone. Part of that has to do with infinite scroll: When you can stay on the site without actually interacting and clicking, your brain doesn’t get that “stop” cue.
#29. We can convince ourselves a boring task was fun if we weren’t rewarded.
Volunteers in one Psychology of Learning and Motivation study did a boring task, then were paid either $1 or $20 to convince someone that it was actually pretty interesting. The ones who were paid $20 knew why they’d lied (they got a decent reward) and still thought it was boring, but the ones who’d only gotten a buck actually convinced themselves it really was fun, because their brains didn’t have a good reason to think they’d been lying.
#30. Money can buy happiness, but only up to a certain point.
Research shows that in terms of income, people have a “satiation point” where happiness peaks and earning more won’t actually make you happier. Different studies have suggested various amounts (one 2010 study said $75,000, but a 2018 survey said $105,000), but the point is the same: Constantly aiming for more, more, more won’t necessarily do you any good.
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