The field of psychology is concerned with the science of thought and behavior.
For decades, research has been going on trying to understand why we are the way we are and will continue to be into the future.
We learn more and more things every day, but there's so much we don't know.
Some studies are more intriguing than others.
For example: Did you know that using punctuation in text messages can make people think you're insincere?
I've gathered some interesting research results. You will find that some results will change your perception.
The following psychological facts explain some of the strange things!
1 .If we have Plan B, then Plan A is unlikely to work
Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania studied volunteers' performance on a task and found that participants who considered a backup plan performed worse than those who did not.
They also found that when participants realized they had other options, their motivation decreased.
This is the same as Victor HVroom proposed the expectation theory in 1964.
Expectation theory basically says that your motivation for something is a function of whether or not you expect success.
The essence of a backup plan is that you can't get it right the first time.
Researchers say it's important to think ahead, but advise not to get too caught up in the details. You may have unintentionally sabotaged your success.
2 .A yawn can help us bond
The day's work has just begun, and you're ready to get a lot done.
In a meeting, you sit in your place and the person next to you yawns loudly, loudly, and nastyly.
Before you know it, you're yawning.
But you're not tired at all! It's a yawn in response.
There are a variety of theories as to why yawning is contagious: chief among them is that responding to yawning is an indication of empathy.
This explains why young children who have not yet developed empathy or who have autism are less likely to respond to yawning.
3 .We care more about a single person than with a large-scale tragedy
In another study at the University of Pennsylvania, researchers investigated people's behavior based on certain events because it was related to donations.
The first group saw a hungry little girl;
The second group saw statistics on millions of deaths from hunger;
The third group saw both. Those who only heard about the statistics donated the least, followed by those who had all heard about it.
Those who had heard about the little girl donated twice as much money as the control group.
Psychologists attribute this to the fact that if a problem feels too big, we can feel helpless and insignificant, just as there will be no reward for our efforts.
In this case, helping to save a hungry girl seems more attainable than eradicating world hunger.
4 .The beginning and end are easier to remember than the middle part
Have you ever forgotten to bring your shopping list when shopping at the grocery store?
When you try to remember what you're buying, you can visualize it and remember what's close to the beginning and the end. But the middle part is a bit blurry.
This is confirmed by a study from Frontiers in Human Neuroscience.
This is known as the sequence position effect.
That's why you may remember the end of the speech, but not the middle.
5 .Five positive things are better than one negative thing
You've probably heard the advice to start and end the day by reviewing something you're grateful for.
This helps us to maintain equilibrium because we have a so-called negativity bias that makes us focus on the bad things rather than the good ones.
It's useless to think over and over the negative things that frustrate you.
You might just find something fantastic!
Have you ever wondered why the food your mom makes is always better?
In fact, as long as it's made by someone else, as long as they're a good cook, the food will taste better.
Researchers attribute it to the fact that when you prepare a meal for yourself, when you're ready to eat, it's been a long time, it's not as exciting, and as a result, you don't enjoy it as much.
7 .We'd rather know that something bad is going to happen than nothing happens
Do you ever feel a sinking in your heart when someone says, "We need to talk"?
Your mind is immediately filled with a myriad of different bad things.
If it's a romantic partner, you'd probably rather they break up with you on the spot.
If it's your boss, you'd rather they fire you on the spot.
Researchers have found that we'd rather know that bad things will happen than uncertainty.
This is because when our brain doesn't know what's going to happen, it overdrives, trying to ** any possible outcome, which can be very tiring.
9 .There's a reason we want to squeeze cute things
Kittens, puppies and babies. Don't you want to love them and hug them?
Obviously, this is a natural reaction and is known as the "cutie attack".
According to an article in Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, the idea behind cutely aggressiveness is that when we are overcome by the positive emotions aroused by a cute puppy or baby, a little aggression balances those overwhelming emotions so that we don't hurt the innocent little one.
10 .We will unconsciously believe what we want to believe
Confirmation bias refers to our tendency to interpret facts in a way that proves what we already believe.
Not only does the confirmation bias lead us to only look for information that is consistent with what we already believe, but it also leads us to refuse to accept contradictory information, think about the ones you bought.
Memories are more like patchwork ** than exact snapshots
False memories are things that you recall in your mind but are not actually real.
An example is when before you go to work, you believe you turned off the lights, but you don't.
This is because when our brain only remembers the gist of what happened, it sometimes fills in the blanks inaccurately.
.Our brains don't think it's important to have a farther deadline
You may start a work project right now, but you have a few months.
Before you realize it's coming to an end, months have passed, and you're busy cramming months of work into a few days.
Urgent, unimportant tasks are more attractive. They provide instant gratification because they're quicker and easier to cross off your to-do list.
Our brains process short-term periods in days better than long-term periods in months or years.