Psychology
Discover facts about psychology. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Psychology
Why fear and excitement feel almost identical
Whether you are about to ride a rollercoaster or get fired, your body reacts with the exact same racing heart, sweaty palms, and adrenaline spike. Your…
Discover more
Prosopagnosia deletes the ability to recognize faces
Imagine looking at your closest friends and seeing a completely unrecognizable arrangement of features every single time. Face blindness makes navigating…
Discover more
Saying one word can disrupt your memory
Articulatory suppression is a brilliant way to break your own mind. Try to read and memorize a list of words while constantly saying the word 'the' out loud.…
Discover more
Why feeling watched can make you behave better
True altruism is shockingly rare; mostly, we just behave well because we fear massive social ruin. The mere whisper of a suggestion that an observer is…
Discover more
Listening to Mozart temporarily boosts spatial reasoning
Classical music briefly makes you slightly better at puzzles. The complex structures of Mozart's compositions temporarily warm up the areas of your brain…
Discover more
Some people have an overwhelming fear of buttons
Zippers and velcro are your only true allies in this terrifying world of clothing fasteners. The sight of small plastic discs sewn onto a shirt gives you…
Discover more
STACKY FOR IPHONEA bigger world.
One discovery
at a time.
Keep discovering with Stacky. Interesting facts in an app that is always within reach.
Why confident liars can sound more convincing than experts
If you have ever wondered how cult leaders get so much funding, here is your miserable answer. The human brain uses confidence as a cheap proxy for…
Discover more
Knowing your past without reliving it
Severely Deficient Autobiographical Memory strips the time-travel aspect out of the brain. Affected individuals can recite facts about their past with robotic…
Discover more
Why deep voices sound more authoritative
Deep voices automatically command unearned respect. People naturally perceive individuals with lower vocal registers as stronger, more competent, and better…
Discover more
Why interruptions can make focused people furious
Do not ever talk to someone deeply immersed in a puzzle. Abruptly halting a strongly focused activity strands the brain with highly unspent energy, rapidly…
Discover more
Why looking forward to Saturday can tire you out
Your anticipation is actively ruining your energy levels. The moment you start craving your Saturday sleep-in, your body prematurely drops its cortisol levels…
Discover more
Why tiny frustrations can trigger big breakdowns
People can endure massive life tragedies with eerie stoicism, only to completely shatter because their shoelace snapped. Micro-stressors bypass the brain's…
Discover more
Your nose can detect over a trillion scents
While we love to praise dogs for their incredible noses, our own olfactory abilities are astonishingly powerful. We just largely ignore this superpower…
Discover more
Why you forget what you came into a room for
The 'doorway effect' is your brain acting like a highly aggressive hard drive cleaner. Moving through a physical threshold signals to your hippocampus that…
Discover more
Why the same bad choice can bring different punishment
If you drive home drunk and hit a tree, you get a slap on the wrist and a ruined bumper. If you drive home drunk and hit a pedestrian, you go to prison for…
Discover more
Small random rewards hijack dopamine pathways
Getting paid a predictable salary is boring, but randomly finding a five dollar bill is deeply thrilling. Unpredictable, sporadic payouts flood the brain with…
Discover more
A thank-you note can lift your mood for weeks
Scribbling a brief message of appreciation does way more for you than the recipient. The act of externalizing positive feelings triggers a lasting, deeply…
Discover more
Why insomnia can make you think you never slept
You actually slept way more than you stubbornly claim. People suffering from insomnia frequently experience micro-sleeps that their brain fails to register,…
Discover more
Why stress strips your sentences bare
Under immense pressure, we strip sentences down to the absolute bare minimum required for transmission. Pleasantries evaporate the second things start going…
Discover more
When hair feels impossible to tolerate
Whether it is still attached to a head or lying on the floor, hair makes you want to immediately exit the premises. Petting a golden retriever is entirely out…
Discover more
Why toddlers repeat things days later
A toddler will calmly watch you accidentally swear at traffic, stay completely silent, and then enthusiastically recreate the event at a family dinner three…
Discover more
Completely opposing thoughts can be held simultaneously
It is entirely possible to deeply love a piece of terrible art while simultaneously recognizing it is absolute garbage. Ambivalence is a state of having…
Discover more
Why the feedback sandwich often fails
Tucking a harsh critique between two hollow compliments is a classic management trick that completely backfires. Most folks simply ignore the fake praise and…
Discover more
Why will the quietest, nicest person you know suddenly turn into an absolute monster in the comments section?
Why will the quietest, nicest person you know suddenly turn into an absolute monster in the comments section?
Discover more