The term ‘psychology’ is derived from the Greek word ‘psyche’, which means ‘soul’ and ‘logos’ that corresponds to ‘study of’. Psychology can be understood as the study of the soul. This has become an up-and-coming field of study and has grabbed everyone’s attention.
Interesting Psychology facts
As long as the first and last letter of any word is in the correct place, we can understand the word.
Can you understand these words?
Aplpe, Mnago, Taehcer, Oinon.
You can even read sentences. Try reading this
“We mghit eat smeo cohocalte ice ceram tadoy!
You can still understand this!
We yawn even if we aren’t exhausted or sleepy.
Yawning is known to be contagious, and that’s why we might yawn when someone around us yawns.
Putting information in bite-sized pieces helps us remember.
This can be understood as chunking. Our brain can process and remember tiny chunks of information, over a huge chunk of information. This makes it easier to store and recall when needed. It is usually advised to learn information in chunks, rather than as a whole.
Money can buy happiness, but only a certain level of happiness.
As much as we agree money can buy happiness, that might not always be the case. We cannot use the money to maintain healthy relationships or bring the dead back to life. Money is a tool that we can use to gain happiness!
Food prepared by someone else tastes much better than when you use the same recipe.
Apart from the ingredients, sometimes the memories and emotions associated with the food play a major role. That’s why your grandmother’s food or anyone else’s food tastes so much better when you eat it from them!
A hug that is longer than twenty seconds will produce hormones into your body that will make you trust the individual who is hugging you.
Hugs are known to have a positive impact on individuals. Hugging a person for more than 20 seconds releases a chemical called oxytocin, which helps you reduce stress!
People are honest when they are tired.
When people are tired, they tend to have less grasp over their emotions and control. That’s why people mention things in late-night talks.
Being alone is not good for your health.
Human beings are social beings. Being alone can cause increased blood pressure, higher cholesterol levels, and other physical problems. In addition, it can decrease their cognitive skills, and make them depressed.
People tend to read quicker with longer lines but often prefer shorter lines.
People tend to read faster with longer line lengths, but psychology research shows that they prefer a short or medium line length (45 to 72 characters per line).
Chocolate releases the chemical Oxytocin, which is the same chemical your body produces when you are happy.
Chocolate is known to release endorphins and dopamine which is the hormones that make you happy and it can also help improve your memory.
People seem to be happy when they’re kept busy.
This is because it keeps them distracted from worrying about bad problems in life. They avoid overthinking and spend that time doing something productive.
Being happy around people makes you happier.
When you are surrounding yourself with happy people, you tend to be happier. This can energise other people you surround. This causes a chain reaction!
If you convince yourself that you slept well, this will trick your brain into believing you actually did!
If you wake up tired, just convince your brain you slept well. You will feel energised, and won’t feel tired for the rest of the day.
When you feel like you have less of something, you tend to be possessive of them.
You tend to be possessive of things that you don’t have a lot of. For example- a person with less money will want more and be cautious of the money they have. A child with few chocolates will be extremely possessive of them.
Hearing a single negative thing could damage positive memories.
Negative comments tend to stay with us more than positive comments. This is why we remember terrible and negative memories over positive ones.
People who speak two languages can unintentionally switch their personalities when they switch from one language to another.
Bilingual and Multilingual people tend to unintentionally switch their personalities. This happens naturally and language is usually the trigger for change. Although their personality might not be completely different, their talking style, tone, and voice modulation might be different.
People are more likely to blame others when something negative happens.
People often blame others for their mistakes. This is because they feel the need to maintain a good image of themselves. They might be in denial of whatever happened, and as a result, they blame others.
People between the ages of 18 and 33 are the highest percentage to have depression in the world.
People between 18-33 are prone to more stress, anxiety and other psychological issues. That’s why a majority of people in this age group are depressed.
People would rather change the truth than change their views about people.
Most people tend to align their reasoning with their beliefs. This helps them feel less stressed. This is why people don’t change their minds easily.
People are less likely to take responsibility for action when other bystanders or witnesses are present.
This is also known as Diffusion of responsibility. In this, the individual assumed that the others will take the responsibility.
We automatically second-guess ourselves when people do not agree with us.
We usually second guess our opinions or answers when someone disagrees with us. This is due to anxiety or lack of self-confidence in oneself.
Additional psychology facts
- Larger groups have a greater number of subjective choices than smaller groups of people.
- Studies also found that people who are in a position of influencing others and power are not very good at determining other people’s emotions.
- It is believed that the maximum number of close relationships/friendships you can maintain is between 50 and 150.
- Women can handle more pain despite having half as many pain receptors that men have.
- Memories that are stored in your brain are like pieces of images rather than precise snapshots.
- Your brain does more imaginative work when you’re sleepy.
- Happiness, rage, sorrow, anxiety, disgust, and surprise are the six primary that are experienced by people.
- We tend to be imaginative at night and less creative during the day.
- The type of music you listen to impacts the way you look at the world
- Emotional pain is remembered better than actual pain which has a greater influence on your behaviour.
What does psychology tell us about dreams?
The psychoanalytic theory believes that dreams represent unconscious desires, wish fulfilment, and conflicts.
You forget a huge part of your dream when you wake up
A few minutes after you wake up, you forget the majority of your dreams. This is quite normal and happens to almost everyone. Unless you recall the details of your dream when you wake up, you will forget it!
Remembering dreams is difficult but there are a couple of ways to remember. One way is by keeping a dream journal and writing down everything you saw the moment you wake up. By maintaining a dream journal, you can strengthen your memory and train your mind to remember your dreams better in the future.
Blind people can also dream
People who became blind after birth can see pictures in their dreams. People who are born blind do not see any visuals but have dreams which include other senses such as sound, smell, touch and emotion.
We only see faces of people that we have seen in our dreams
If you ever had a dream where you see someone unknown, don’t be worried. You might have seen their face somewhere, but never paid attention to it. Your brain unconsciously remembers the face, and that’s why you see them in your dream.
Not Everybody Dreams in Colour
You heard this right! Not everyone dreams in colour, some people dream in black and white. According to research, it is believed that you dream in black and white when you are emotionally detached, or emotionally drained.
You can have four to seven dreams in one night.
You might not remember every dream you have per night, but according to research, the average human has four to seven dreams per night.
Animals dream too
Animals dream too. Dreams are not restricted to humans! Almost every animal dreams and have nightmares too. Have you ever heard a dog whimper while sleeping? This is probably because they are having a nightmare!
What do your dreams mean?
All dreams are different from one another. Sometimes, they might be common to someone else. Here are what your dream might indicate. Although they might not indicate the exact thing, these symbolisms can be looked into-
- Death can signify the end of something in real life, and that doesn’t necessarily mean the end of life.
- Failing a test could mean that you might be stressed out
- Discovering money or anything valuable might mean that you feel confident and good about yourself
- Losing your teeth could indicate that you are insecure about the way people see you.
- Falling could mean that you feel unsupported by people around you or that you are losing control over something
- If you are naked in your dreams, it might be mean that you feel vulnerable.
- Walking into new rooms might mean that you are discovering something new about yourself, which could be interests, abilities or anything!
Colours in Psychology
Black
The colour black is often seen in two ways.
When the colour black is seen in a negative way, they are associated with feelings such as anger, aggression, sadness, and fear.
In the positive light, black is seen as elegant, authoritative, formal and sophisticated.
Red
The colour red is seen as a sign of danger. Think about all the signs that are in red- The traffic red light indicates danger, fire engines are red, traffic boards are in red, red signs in the car. Red is a bright colour that is often used to alert people.
Red also indicates increase energy, aggression, passion and power.
Green
Green is usually associated with nature. It is seen as calming colour and helps people compose themselves. It is also associated with good luck. The four-leafed clover is a representation of good luck and is very rare to find.
Yellow
Yellow is a bright warm colour that is associated with cheery behaviour. This colour is usually used for traffic signs. Due to its bright colour, it cannot be avoided.
Blue
The colour blue can be seen in two lights.
From a negative perspective, it is associated with feelings of sadness and loneliness. From a positive perspective, it is a colour that induces productivity and calmness.
Colour White
The colour white is usually associated with purity, cleanliness, and peacefulness. White can represent perfection due to its pureness. White also symbolises open-mindedness.
Psychology of colours used in Movies
In the Disney movie, Inside Out, each emotion is shown with one colour. Joy is shown with the colour yellow, Sadness is blue, Disgust is green, Anger is red, and Fear is purple.
This movie has helped children express their feelings and communicate their emotions well. This animated film teaches children that it is okay to embrace themselves as a whole and that it is alright to have negative emotions like sadness, anger and fear.
Psychology Facts and Tips for Students
Chunking
Chunking simply means “cutting down” the information into small chunks that make it easier to remember. The psychology theory states that people find it easier to remember information when it is divided into smaller chunks, than as a whole.
An easy way to remember this is by breaking it down.
Let us assume the phone number given to us is 1237894560. By using the theory of chunking, we would divide the number as 123-789-4560. This makes it easier to remember. Similarly, you can divide the number as 12-37-89-45-60 or 1237-8945-60, whichever works best!
Take Breaks In-Between Long Study Sessions
It is important to take breaks while studying. If our brain is tired, we might not understand what we are learning. This could be a waste of time.
Studies have shown that when we try to focus on a single task for a long time, our minds might wander around. Sometimes the same applies when you are trying to focus on a specific task. Taking short breaks can help you regain your focus and make proper use of your study time.
Try this out by setting a 5-minute timer when you are tired. During this 5-minute break, you can either rest your eyes, grab a cup of coffee, stretch or do whatever relaxes you! After the five minutes are up, you will feel much fresh, and ready to continue your studying.
Test Yourself
Taking a test after a study session is more helpful than a studying session alone. This will help you retain more information and allow you to recall information for a longer time.
Pick a suitable time for you to study
What is the best time to study for you? Even though it is believed that morning time is the best, that might not be true for everyone. For some individual’s mid-day might be perfect, while for others, late night is the best. It is up to you to decide what time suits you best.
If you have no idea, you can start by experimenting, and decide which time suits you best!
Sleep
Sleep is a basic human need that is very important. Having good rest is the best way to be your best self and be productive. Lack of sleep can affect your ability to listen, remember, visualize, and write.
Students are advised to get between 8-10 hours of sleep on a daily basis.
Don’t stick to the usual notes
Add some colour and sticky notes to your notes to help you recall important details. In addition, you can try making mind maps, or write a short summary at the bottom of the page etc!
Make use of Memory aids
It could be useful to try using different memory aids like notecards, etc. These aids come in hand, and works as effective memorization techniques. It might be helpful to repetitively quiz yourself on the major aspects, facts or data you’re trying to memorize. Mnemonics is a useful psychology memory tool to make use of.
Try organizing your study materials
By organising your studies into chapters, topics, and sub-topics, you can have a clear idea of what you are learning. In addition, this will make it easier for making a study timetable!
This will help you remember, and help you with your studies in the long run.
Listen to music.
This is not a suggestion for everyone but works very well for some people. It is important to choose the right type of music to listen to while studying to enhance your productivity, motivation and focus levels. You can listen to instrumental music or slow music, whichever works best!
Sum up notes
This is a useful method to remember and works as a summary before tests and exams. You can divide your page into two sections- The upper half and the lower half. The lower section of the page should be smaller than the upper half. Use this section to summarise the points of the entire page. You can also use sticky notes instead of dividing the sheet.
Switch your study settings.
Studies show having a dedicated study might not work for everyone. It is advised to switch places when you can no longer concentrate. Switching places might help you feel fresh, and you might be able to concentrate.
Teach.
Try teaching someone else the material you’re trying to learn. This can be an effective way for you to understand the material, and you might be able to help someone in need! If you don’t have anyone, you can pretend to teach an imaginary person in need of help!
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ’s)
Top ten interesting facts you know in psychology?
- Larger groups have a greater number of subjective choices than smaller groups of people.
- Studies also found that people who are in a position of influencing others and power are not very good at determining other people’s emotions.
- It is believed that the maximum number of close relationships/friendships you can maintain is between 50 and 150.
- Women can handle more pain despite having half as many pain receptors that men have.
- Memories that are stored in your brain are like pieces of images rather than precise snapshots.
- Your brain does more imaginative work when you’re sleepy.
- Happiness, rage, sorrow, anxiety, disgust, and surprise are the six primary that are experienced by people.
- We tend to be imaginative at night and less creative during the day.
- The type of music you listen to impacts the way you look at the world
- Emotional pain is remembered better than actual pain which has a greater influence on your behaviour.
fact in psychology?
A hug that is longer than twenty seconds will produce hormones into your body that will make you trust the individual who is hugging you. Hugs are known to have a positive impact on individuals. When you hug, you release a chemical called oxytocin, which helps you reduce stress!
Psychology tell you about dreams?
The psychoanalytic theory believes that dreams represent unconscious desires, wish fulfilment, and conflicts. Death can signify the end of something in real life, and that doesn’t necessarily mean the end of life. Each type of dream symbolism has a meaning. Some of them are as follows-
- Failing a test could mean that you might be stressed out
- Discovering money or anything valuable might mean that you feel confident and good about yourself
- Falling could mean that you feel unsupported by people around you or that you are losing control over something
- If you are naked in your dreams, it might be mean that you feel vulnerable.
colour black mean according to psychology?
The colour black is often seen in two ways.
When the colour black is seen in a negative way, they are associated with feelings such as anger, aggression, sadness and fear. In the positive light, black is seen as elegant, authoritative, formal and sophisticated.
Some psychology facts for students?
It is important for you to pick a suitable time for you to study. You can remember better when you teach someone else, take quizzes, and make use of memory aids.
Bottomline
Psychology is an interesting field. Psychology will continue to provide new facts on a regular basis. Don’t forget to keep checking for new facts, and learn something new every day!
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