Has This Happened To You?
Psychology is full of interesting and unusual phenomena that scientists are curious to figure out. You’re probably familiar with a lot of the cases on this list, or you might have experienced them without even realizing. Either way, here are 20 interesting psychological features that continue to fascinate us.
1. Bystander Effect
The Bystander Effect occurs when the presence of others discourages an individual from intervening in an emergency situation. It is attributed to a perceived diffusion of responsibility among the group of bystanders. A case study commonly used to illustrate the Bystander Effect is that of Kitty Genovese. Although the authenticity of this example has since been debunked, the case is still widely known.
2. Winter-Over Syndrome
Winter-Over Syndrome is a psychological condition that affects individuals who spend extended periods in isolated, cold, and dark environments, such as polar research stations. The extended duration and lack of environmental and social stimuli, as well as the experience of a long and cold winter in such conditions, can cause symptoms such as memory problems, difficulties concentrating, irritability, and sleep disturbances.
3. McGurk Effect
The McGurk effect is an illusion that occurs when your brain combines what you're seeing and what you're hearing. It'll make you hear a different sound entirely, usually when the audio signal you're getting is a little fuzzy and your brain compensates by using the speaker's lip movements to help make out the words. It's a trippy and disorienting experience for certain.
4. Attribution Theory
Attribution theory attempts to understand how people interpret events and how this relates to their thinking and behavior. Most basically, people try to attribute the causes of their behavior and its outcomes. We often take credit for our successes and blame our failures on external sources.
5. Psychology of Ravens
Ravens have impressed researchers with their ability to solve complex problems and use tools and strategy. A well-known instance involves them dropping nuts on a road so that passing vehicles will break them open. Amazingly, the birds have even been observed waiting for red lights to pick up the food safely, demonstrating a sophisticated grasp of cause and effect.
6. Alice in Wonderland
Alice in Wonderland Syndrome or Todd Syndrome is a neurological condition that affects a person's perception of size, sound, time, and one's self. Sufferers may see objects to be larger or smaller than they are, hear sounds inaccurately, or feel separated from their body and environment. The condition has been likened to an intense hallucinogenic episode.
7. Dunning-Kruger Effect
The Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias where people with low ability at a task overestimate their ability. This is because they lack the self-awareness to see their own incompetence. Scientists are interested in this effect as it can help explain the mismatch between confidence and ability.
8. Closed Eye Hallucinations
Closed Eye Hallucinations are images, shapes, colors, or complex fractal-like patterns a person perceives when closing their eyes. These hallucinations are experienced in a very dark and quiet environment, and their hallucinated visuals are not part of a dream, or any sort of memory recollection. The brain activity and mechanisms in which these hallucinations occur are an active area of scientific research as they provide an excellent source of information about the brain's image-generating functions.
9. Capgras Delusion
Capgras delusion is a psychological disorder in which a person believes that their friend, spouse, parent, or child has been replaced by a double. The idea is disturbing to most people, and only occurs in a small number of cases. Capgras delusion has captured the attention of the scientific community, as it suggests the complex workings of the human brain.
10. Placebo Effect
A placebo effect is the physical or psychological change that results from a treatment with no active ingredients, but which a person believes will help them. It's a demonstration of the link between the mind and the body. The placebo effect is interesting to scientists because it shows the importance of the mind in the healing process and because it challenges conventional notions of how treatments work.
11. Cryptomnesia
Cryptomnesia is a memory bias where people falsely recognize a new, original thought as old and familiar. This accounts for the sincerest form of lies, where a person honestly remembers an event which did not happen. It’s pretty common, but it’s hard to tell the difference between the condition and a lie.
12. Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive dissonance is the mental discomfort that happens when there's a contradiction between someone's thoughts and actions. Like when you skip sunscreen even though you know it’s good for you. Scientists are studying how people tend to reduce this discomfort by changing their attitudes or rationalizing their behaviors instead of changing the behavior itself.
13. Déjà vu
Déjà vu is the eerie sensation that a new person, place, or situation is familiar. It may be caused by our brains identifying objects or memories in a situation as cues that we recognize the entire situation. So when the other details are familiar but the context isn't, we experience this unsettling feeling that we've seen it all before.
14. Online Disinhibition Effect
The Online Disinhibition Effect is a tendency for individuals to disregard their usual social restrictions and act out online in ways they would not in person. Some people can become very aggressive when they are communicating on the internet. Others can take on entirely fabricated identities.
Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash
15. Charles Bonnet Syndrome
Charles Bonnet Syndrome occurs when people with vision loss experience visual hallucinations. To fill in vision gaps, the brain will use scenes from past events or substitute with other projects. The name derives from the 18th century Swiss naturalist Charles Bonnet, who first studied this syndrome.
16. The Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon
The Baader-Meinhof phenomenon, also called frequency illusion, refers to the tendency of newly noticed things seeming to crop up with improbable frequency. The illusion stems not from an objective increase in frequency but from a subjective perception of one. The phenomenon is intriguing to neuroscientists and psychologists because it shows the complex interaction between the objective world and cognitive factors like selective attention and cognitive biases.
17. Reverse Psychology
Reverse psychology is the practice of presenting a person with the opposite of what you want in order to encourage them to do what you want. It attempts to exploit the human response of reactance, which is the urge to resist authority, or at least not be seen to obey it. Reverse psychology is a favorite parenting tool, but is frequently found in other contexts, such as among family members, spouses, and co-workers.
18. Overview Effect
The Overview Effect is an elusive and powerful psychological shift experienced by a very small number of astronauts upon seeing Earth from space for the first time. When it occurs, it is often accompanied by a sudden and expanded awareness that the Earth is a small, borderless and finite "pale blue dot" that supports life. It is also characterized by feelings of awe, reverence, love and a desire to nurture and protect the planet.
19. Psychosomatic Symptoms
Psychosomatic symptoms are physical complaints or pain that a person experiences without there being a physiological cause. The symptoms are not fake, but rather a manifestation of a person’s mind. It is thought that stress and anxiety can cause the body to feel pain.
Road Trip with Raj on Unsplash
20. Childhood Amnesia
Childhood amnesia is the general term for the fact that almost everyone cannot recall events from their earliest years. The point at which people remember their first memory varies from as early as three to four years of age. There are usually two distinct types of first memory, one emotionally charged, fragmentary but persistent, and the other a "flashbulb" memory, appearing out of nowhere and fully formed.
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