If we have a plan B, our plan A is less likely to work.
Every now and then, it hurts to be prepared. 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. What's more, when they realized they had options, their motivation for succeeding the first time around dropped. The researchers stress that thinking ahead is a good idea, but you might be more successful if you keep those plans vague.
We care more about a single person than about massive tragedies.
In another University of Pennsylvania study, 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.
Beginnings and ends are 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, found one study published in Frontiers of Human Neuroscience. The middle gets muddled, which could also play into why you remember your boss wrapping up her presentation, but not so much about the middle.
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.
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.
Our favorite subject is ourselves.
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.
Some people enjoy seeing anger in others.
In one University of Michigan study, 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.
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.
We aren't 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.
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, according to research in Current Biology. We assume we'll rise up in our careers, never get divorced, raise little angels of children, and live to a ripe old age. Those might not all be realistic for everyone, but there's no harm in dreaming.
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.
Memories are more like pieced-together pictures than accurate snapshots.
Even people with the best memories in the world can have "false memories." The brain generally remembers the gist of what happens, then fills in the rest—sometimes inaccurately—which explains why you insist your wife was with you at a party six years ago, even though she's adamant she wasn't.
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. For instance, if you try to memorize this number: 90655372, you probably naturally thought something like 906-553-72.
You remember things better if you've been tested on them.
Sorry, kids! One of the most useful psychology facts is that testing really does work. One study published in the journal Psychological Science found that people are more likely to store information in their long-term memory if they've been tested on the information (the more, the better) than if they just study and don't need to remember it right away.
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.
We keep 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. It's one of the psychology facts to know that could make you smarter.
Social media is 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.
Power makes people care less about others.
You've probably heard about the famous Stanford prison experiment. (Refresher: College students were randomly assigned to be either a prisoner or guard in a fake prison, and the "guards" started harassing the "prisoners." It got so bad that the two-week experiment was canceled after six days.). That's pretty extreme, but later studies have found that when people feel like they're in a power position, they become worse at judging a person's feelings based on their facial expressions, indicating a loss of empathy.
Our brain doesn't think long-term deadlines are so important.
Pretty much everyone has procrastinated at one time or another, even though we know logically that it would make more sense to get a jump on our taxes than to turn on Netflix. We prefer urgent, unimportant tasks because we know we'll be able to complete them. There's also evidence that when we see the deadline looming in terms of days, rather than months or years, because we feel more connected to a day-by-day passing of time.
We loosen our morals when an authority tells us to.
It's one of the oldest psychology facts in the books: In the 1960s, Yale psychologist Stanley Milgram infamously conducted an experiment that he thought would prove Americans wouldn't accept immoral orders like the Nazis had. For a "learning task," volunteers were told to deliver shocks to a "learner" (an actor, little known to the real volunteers) if they got an answer wrong. To Milgram's horror, the participants continued delivering shocks, even when the learner screamed in pain.
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.
