A nudge is a modification that is made to an environment in order to alter people’s behavior in a predictable way, without forbidding any options or changing their incentives on a significant level. For example, if a school has the goal of reducing the amount of soda that students drink, then placing water bottles …
Read moreNudge: How Small Manipulations Can Make a Big Difference
The bandwagon effect is a cognitive bias that causes people to do things simply because they believe that others are doing the same. This form of thinking can affect various types of decisions that people make, including how they dress, which political candidate they vote for, and what ideologies they adopt. Because the bandwagon …
Read moreThe Bandwagon Effect: Why People Tend to Follow the Crowd
The fallacy fallacy is a logical fallacy which occurs when someone assumes that if an argument contains a logical fallacy, then its conclusion must necessarily be wrong. For example, consider a situation where someone claims that a certain medical treatment is preferable to an alternative simply because it’s perceived as more “natural”, and someone …
Read moreThe Fallacy Fallacy: Why Fallacious Arguments Aren’t Necessarily Wrong
The interleaving effect is a psychological phenomenon which enables people to learn new material better when they mix together different topics as they study. Interleaving is therefore highly beneficial, and can facilitate learning in various domains, including in history, math, music, and sports. In the following article, you will learn more about interleaving, see the various …
Read moreInterleaving: How Mixed Practice Can Boost Your Learning
The egocentric bias is a cognitive bias that causes people to rely too heavily on their own point of view when they examine events in their life or when they try to see things from other people’s perspective. For example, if you do something embarrassing, the egocentric bias might cause you to overestimate the …
Read moreThe Egocentric Bias: Why It’s Hard to See Things from a Different Perspective
The familiarity backfire effect is a cognitive bias that causes people to remember a myth as true, after they are shown information which is meant to prove that it’s false. Since the familiarity backfire effect plays a crucial role in how people respond to refutations of pseudoscientific theories and conspiracies, it’s important to understand …
Read moreThe Familiarity Backfire Effect: Why Debunking a Myth Can Make People Believe It
A red herring is something that distracts people from an important issue or from an issue that is currently being discussed. Accordingly, the red herring fallacy is a logical fallacy where someone presents an irrelevant piece of information in an attempt to distract their opponent and the audience from the topic which is being discussed, …
Read moreRed Herring: How People Use Irrelevant Information as a Distraction
Most of us use social media in one form or another. While there is nothing inherently wrong with that, social-media use can promote a number of psychological issues, such as addiction and depression, which negatively impact your mental health and emotional wellbeing. In the following article, you will learn about the various psychological issues …
The confirmation bias is a cognitive bias that causes people to search for, favor, interpret, and recall information in a way that confirms their preexisting beliefs. This bias is widely prevalent in many areas of life, and has a powerful influence on the way people make decisions and shape their beliefs. In the following …
Read moreThe Confirmation Bias: Why People Only See What They Want to See
Many people like to listen to music while they work, or to at least have some sort of noise in the background. Fortunately, research shows that this is beneficial, since music and background noise offer various cognitive benefits when it comes to factors such as productivity and creativity. In the following article, you will …
Read moreThe Cognitive Benefits of Music and Background Noise