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β¨ General 68
β¨ Dinosaur 10
Pi has been calculated to over 100 trillion decimal places and shows no repeating pattern.
There are more possible games of chess than atoms in the observable universe.
Phobias can be transmitted culturally β children model fear responses from observing caregivers.
Intrinsic motivation produces better long-term performance than extrinsic rewards.
Children as young as 3 show a preference for fairness, suggesting moral intuitions are partly innate.
The foot-in-the-door technique shows that people are more likely to comply with large requests after small ones.
Social comparison drives much of how people determine their own worth relative to others.
The generation effect shows people remember information better when they produce it themselves.
Scarcity increases perceived value β items rated more desirable when described as rare.
Overconfidence bias is the most robust finding in judgment psychology β people routinely overestimate accuracy.
Humans have a negativity bias β negative events have stronger psychological impact than equally positive ones.
The Pygmalion effect demonstrates that higher expectations from authority figures produce higher performance.
Color psychology shows red increases heart rate; blue promotes calm and focus.
People walking in opposite directions spontaneously form lanes without conscious coordination.
Sleep consolidates memories β learning just before sleep produces better retention than before wakefulness.
Priming β brief exposure to a stimulus β unconsciously influences later responses.
The peak-end rule means people judge experiences by their peak and ending, not the average.
Forcing a smile measurably improves mood due to facial feedback to the brain.
Implicit bias can be detected in reaction times even when conscious attitudes appear neutral.
The paradox of choice shows that more options can lead to worse decisions and lower satisfaction.
Embodied cognition shows that holding warm coffee makes people judge others as warmer personalities.
Studies show gratitude journaling measurably improves wellbeing over time.
Terror management theory suggests much of human behavior is unconsciously driven by fear of death.
The sunk cost fallacy causes people to continue bad investments because of what they've already spent.
Research shows people consistently overestimate how long negative emotions will last after bad events.
The planning fallacy causes people to underestimate how long tasks will take β even knowing about the bias.
Social proof β copying others' behavior β is one of the most powerful drivers of human action.
The cocktail party effect lets people focus on one conversation in a noisy room while ignoring others.
Learned helplessness occurs when repeated failure causes a person to stop trying even when success is possible.
The availability heuristic causes people to judge probability based on how easily examples come to mind.
People in positive moods make more creative decisions; negative moods promote analytical thinking.
The halo effect causes a positive impression in one area to influence all other judgments.
Loneliness activates the same brain regions as physical pain β social exclusion hurts neurologically.
Flow state β complete absorption in a challenging activity β was described by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.
The mere exposure effect means people prefer things simply because they are familiar with them.
The spotlight effect makes people think others notice their mistakes far more than they actually do.
Reading fiction consistently shows higher empathy and social cognitive skills in readers.
Nostalgia measurably improves feelings of social connectedness and personal meaning.
Mirror neurons may explain why watching someone get injured causes a physical sensation of discomfort.
The anchoring bias causes people to rely too heavily on the first piece of information they encounter.
The Zeigarnik effect means humans remember incomplete tasks better than completed ones.
The bystander effect means people are less likely to help in an emergency when others are present.
Cognitive dissonance drives people to rationalize rather than update their beliefs.
The average person makes about 35,000 decisions per day, the vast majority unconsciously.
Humans are the only animals known to blush β Darwin called it the most peculiar human expression.
The Dunning-Kruger effect means people with limited knowledge overestimate competence; experts underestimate theirs.
Roald Amundsen also became the first to navigate the Northwest Passage and the first to the South Pole.
The Voyager probes carry golden records with sounds and images from Earth as a message to possible finders.
The first descent to the bottom of the Mariana Trench took nearly 5 hours in the bathyscaphe Trieste.
The first photograph ever taken required an 8-hour exposure time β made in 1826 by Joseph NicΓ©phore NiΓ©pce.