Psychology is popular and fascinating because it helps us to better understand ourselves,
the people around us, makes us better communicators and gives us insight into mental illness.
Psychology is applied in every action we take; want to make friends?
Apply psychology.
Want a thriving business?
Apply psychology.
Here are five a psychological facts that you might not have heard before.
Did you know that people remember an average of 5,000 faces?
A research team at University of York tested study participants, mean age of 24 and how
many faces they could recall from their personal lives.
People they went to school with, family, colleagues and the media, as well as the number of famous
faces they recognized.
Whether it be actress, politicians or any other public figures.
The results showed that the participants knew between 1,000 and 10,000 faces.
How many do you know?
Their range could be explained by the natural attitude that some people have for remembering
faces.
There are differences in how efficiently people processed information and how much attention
they paid to faces.
Let's pretend it's snowing hard and you need yourself a new winter coat.
You decide you saved up for a while and want to try this long branded winter coat out.
It's a long winter coat that hits at your ankle and you haven't seen anyone with it
before.
Now, with your new coat, you walk across your university campus and you see one, two, three
girls with the same coat.
What!
Over the next week you see it even more.
People at the mall are wearing the same coat, people at your local supermarket are bundled
up in their long coats too.
Did everyone decide to get a long coat because you did?
Welcome to the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon, otherwise known as the frequency illusion
or recency illusion.
This phenomenon occurs when the thing you've just noticed, experienced or been told about
suddenly seems to come up constantly.
It gives us a feeling that out of nowhere, pretty much everyone and their cousin are
talking about it.
This phenomenon is caused by two processes; the first is "selective attention".
You have just come across something for the first time and you then unconsciously keep
an eye out for it.
And as a result, and it's surprisingly often.
The second process is "confirmation bias" in which you agree with information that confirms
your existing beliefs, that yep, you are definitely seeing it more often and that the branded
long coat you just purchased a week ago has gained overnight popularity.
Time to buy another coat.
The decoy effect/ asymmetric dominance effect labeled by researchers in 1982 is a cognitive
bias which shows us that consumers can easily be tricked into paying more than we want to.
Ever wonder why products usually come in threes?
Behavioral economist Dan Ariely explains this phenomenon in one of his TED talks, where
he used an old economist advertisement as an example.
The ad featured three subscription levels, $59 per online only, $159 for print only and
$159 for online and print.
He figured that the option to pay $159 per print only exists so that it makes the option
to pay one hundred and fifty nine dollars for both online and print look more enticing
than it would have if it was just paired with the $59 online option only.
Researchers at Western Sydney University and the University of Manchester examined the
effects of aerobic exercise on a region other brain called the hippocampus, which is critical
for developing new memories and other brain functions.
Brain health declines with age, with the average brain shrinking approximately five percent
per decade after the age of 40.
The researchers reviewed 14 clinical trials which examined brain scans of 737 people before
and after aerobic exercise programs, like stationary cycling, walking, treadmill running
and those in controlled conditions.
The results showed that, while exercise had no effect on the total volume of the hippocampus,
it did significantly increase the size of the left region of the hippocampus in humans.
The hippocampus is important not just for forming new memories, but also for retrieving
old memories.
Research shows that one of the first areas in the brain affected by Alzheimer's disease
is the hippocampus.
This explains why one of the early symptoms of Alzheimer's is often impairment of memory,
especially the formation of new memories.
Alzheimer's is the most common cause of dementia.
Researchers say one new case of dementia is detected every 4 seconds globally.
The estimate is that by 2050, more than 150 million people will have dementia worldwide.
Postdoctoral research fellow Joseph Firth said that when you exercise, you produced
a chemical called brain derived neurotrophic factor, BDNF, which may help prevent age-related
decline by reducing the deterioration of the brain.
Exercise helps the memory and thinking through both the direct and indirect means.
The benefits of exercise come directly from its ability to reduce insulin resistance,
reduce inflammation and stimulate the release of growth factors; chemicals in the brain
that affect the health of brain cells, the growth of new blood vessels in the brain and
even the abundance and survival of new brain cells.
Indirectly, exercise improves mood and sleep and reduces anxiety and stress.
So, what should we do?
Get to exercising.
Standard recommendations advice 30 minutes of moderate physical activity most days of
the week or 150 minutes per week.
If that seems too much or overwhelming at the moment, start with a few minutes a day
and increase by small 5 to 10-minute increments until you reach your goal.
And lastly, one that we found to be more interesting is the "Truman Show delusion" aka, the "Truman
syndrome" is a delusion where a person believes that they are being watched on cameras, filmed
and that the films are being broadcast for the entertainment of others.
The Truman Show is a 1998 movie starring Jim Carrey where the plot follows Truman Burbank.
What Truman doesn't know is that every single person, other than himself, is an actor and
the island that he lives on, is constructed under a massive dome where several thousands
of cameras watched his every single move since birth and documented it on a TV show to the
real world.
Psychiatrists and brothers Ian and Joel Gold described this syndrome back in 2006.
The delusions name came about based on the fact that three out of five of Joel Gold's
initial patients referenced The Truman Show when they described their experiences.
Joel gold says "it's important to state that Truman Show delusion is a symptom of psychosis.
People who choose to be the center of attention have concerns about social standing or who
may fear being in public eye or seek it out, may be more drawn to identify with this delusion.
I don't think people are making it up or choosing it".
So, that was five not so well known psych facts.
Which ones stuck with you the most?
This is one of our many psychology facts series.
If you enjoyed this and want to see more, let us know what you'd like to learn about
in the comments below.
Until next time!