466 studies · 1913-2018

Every study behind every claim.

Nothing on this site is published without a named source. This is the full list — authors, year, journal — with the finding each one supports. If a claim is contested, its page says so.

Boothby et al., 2018, Psychological Science
We assume new acquaintances like us less than they do.
Fazio et al. (2015)
If it sounds familiar, you assume it is true.
Fazio et al., 2015, Journal of Experimental Psychology: General (Illusory Truth Effect)
Repetition bypasses our ability to spot lies.
Fazio, Brashier, Payne, and Marsh, 2015, Journal of Experimental Psychology
A repeated claim eventually feels like a known truth.
Dai, Milkman, and Riis, 2014, Management Science
You are more motivated on the first of January.
Walker and Vul, 2014
Individuals appear more attractive when surrounded by a group.
Quoidbach, Gilbert, and Wilson, 2013
You wrongly believe you have reached your final self.
Quoidbach, Gilbert, and Wilson, 2013
Your past self is a stranger you judge harshly.
Quoidbach, Gilbert, and Wilson, 2013
You believe you have finally finished changing your personality.
Walker and Vul, 2013, Psychological Science
You look more attractive in a group than alone.
Norton, Mochon, and Ariely (2012)
You rate your own work better than the same work.
Norton, Mochon, and Ariely, 2012, Journal of Consumer Psychology
You rate an object higher because you built it.
Betsy Sparrow et al., 2011, Science (Google Effects on Memory)
Knowing where to find information makes us forget it.
Buell and Norton, 2011
You value a service more when you see the work.
Danziger et al. (2011)
Your ability to make sound decisions erodes throughout the day.
Danziger, Levav, and Avnaim-Pesso, 2011
Your ability to make sound choices depletes throughout the day.
Danziger, Levav, and Avnaim-Pesso, 2011
Your ability to make good choices erodes all day.
Norton, Mochon, & Ariely, 2011, Journal of Consumer Psychology
We overvalue things simply because we helped build them.
Sparrow, Liu, and Wegner (2011)
You stop remembering facts you know are stored digitally.
Sparrow, Liu, and Wegner, 2011
You outsource your memory to a search engine.
Sparrow, Liu, and Wegner, 2011
You no longer remember information, only where to find it.
Sparrow, Liu, and Wegner, 2011, Science
Your brain is outsourcing your memory to technology.
Killingsworth & Gilbert, 2010
You spend 47% of your day thinking about nothing.
Mazar & Zhong, 2010, Psychological Science
Doing a good deed makes us more likely to cheat later.
McGraw and Warren (2010)
Your sense of humor relies on feeling safe.
Nyhan and Reifler, 2010
You defend your beliefs after seeing contrary data.
Trope and Liberman, 2010, Construal Level Theory
You think of future plans in impossible terms.
Nordgren et al., 2009
You overestimate your ability to control your impulses.
Nordgren et al., 2009, Psychological Science
You consistently overestimate your ability to handle immediate temptation.
Mazar, Amir, and Ariely (2008), Journal of Marketing Research
You only cheat when you can justify it to yourself.
Song and Schwarz, 2008
You trust information more when it is easier read.
Vaish, Grossmann, and Woodward, 2008, Negativity Bias
Bad news is heavier than good news.
Vohs et al., 2008
Your ability to make good choices erodes by evening.
Bar-Eli et al., 2007
You take action even when it is useless.
Bar-Eli et al., 2007
You feel a frantic urge to act during uncertainty.
Bar-Eli, 2007
You feel a frantic need to move during static crises.
Henkel and Mather, 2007, Choice-Supportive Bias
You retroactively invent reasons to prefer your choice.
Sharot, 2007, Nature
You believe your future is better than your present.
Slovic et al., 2007
Your feelings dictate your risk assessment before logic starts.
Slovic et al., 2007
You judge an idea by how it makes you feel.
Arnold Zwicky, 2006
You notice things more frequently after learning about them.
Geier, Wansink, & Rozin, 2006, Psychological Science
The size of a serving unit changes how much we eat.
Geier, Wansink, and Rozin, 2006, Psychological Science
You consume more when portion sizes are labeled as units.
Kivetz, Urminsky, and Zheng, 2006
You work faster as the finish line appears.
Kivetz, Urminsky, and Zheng, 2006, Journal of Marketing Research
You work harder as you approach a goal.
Kivetz, Urminsky, and Zheng, 2006, The Goal Gradient Effect
You work significantly faster as you approach a goal.
Oppenheimer (2006)
You automatically assume that fluent speech equals high intelligence.
George Loewenstein, 2005
You cannot accurately predict your own emotional responses.
Hall and Johansson, 2005
You will invent reasons for choices you never made.
Johansson et al., 2005
You are blind to the reasons for your own choices.
Johansson et al., 2005, Science
You can be convinced you chose the rejected option.
Johansson, Hall, Sikström, and Olsson (2005)
You would not notice if your life changed suddenly.
Johansson, Hall, Sikström, and Olsson, 2005
You become blind to your own bad decisions.
Morwitz and Fitzsimons, 2004, The Mere Measurement Effect
Asking for your plan makes you likely to follow it.
Tse, Intriligator, Rivest, and Cavanagh, 2004
New experiences make time feel like it's slowing.
George Loewenstein, 2003
You assume your future self will have your current desires.
Gilovich et al. (2003)
Your presence in a room matters less than you feel.
Johnson and Goldstein, 2003
You stick to the status quo to avoid making a choice.
Johnson and Goldstein, 2003
You accept the status quo because it was chosen.
Johnson and Goldstein, 2003, Science
You accept the pre-selected option far too often.
Johnson and Goldstein, 2003, Science
The default choice shapes your entire life's direction.
Johnson and Goldstein, 2003, Science
You are statistically likely to choose the pre-selected option.
Loewenstein et al., 2003
You overestimate how your future self will feel.
Loewenstein et al., 2003
You judge your future self by your current needs.
Loewenstein, O'Donoghue, and Rabin (2003)
You think your future self will share your current tastes.
Loewenstein, O'Donoghue, and Rabin, 2003
You assume your future self will share your current desires.
Loewenstein, O'Donoghue, and Rabin, 2003, Quarterly Journal of Economics
You are a terrible judge of your future self.
Loewenstein, O'Donoghue, and Rabin, 2003, Quarterly Journal of Economics
You assume your future self wants what you want now.
Savitsky & Gilovich, 2003
You think your nerves are obvious to everyone around.
Walker et al., 2003
You forget the negative emotions of past events faster.
Wilson and Gilbert, 2003
You fixate on one detail while ignoring the context.
Wilson and Gilbert, 2003
You ignore the context while fixating on the outcome.
Pelham, Mirenberg, and Jones (2002)
You unconsciously prefer items that share your own initials.
Pelham, Mirenberg, and Jones, 2002, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
You subconsciously prefer the letters in your own name.
Rozenblit and Keil, 2002, Cognitive Science
You assume you understand everyday objects better than you do.
Rozenblit and Keil, 2002, Cognitive Science
You understand your own car less than you think.
Rozenblit and Keil, 2002, Cognitive Science
You believe you understand how a simple zipper works.
Baumeister et al. (2001), negativity bias
Negative feedback has twice the impact of positive praise.
Baumeister et al., 2001
Your brain prioritizes negative news over positive feedback.
Baumeister et al., 2001
Your brain prioritizes threatening information over positive feedback.
Baumeister et al., 2001, Review of General Psychology
Your brain prioritizes bad news over good news.
Baumeister et al., 2001, Review of General Psychology
We spend more mental energy processing bad news than good.
Pronin et al., 2001, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
You believe you understand others better than they understand you.
Pronin, Kruger, Savitsky, and Ross, 2001
You believe you know others better than they you.
Rozin and Royzman, 2001
Your brain weighs bad experiences more than good ones.
Gilovich, Medvec, & Savitsky, 2000, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
People notice your mistakes far less than you think.
Gilovich, Medvec, and Savitsky, 2000
You overestimate how much the world focuses on you.
Iyengar & Lepper, 2000, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
Having too many choices makes us buy nothing.
McGlone and Tofighbakhsh, 2000
You find statements more true if they simply rhyme.
Slovic, Finucane, Peters, and MacGregor, 2000, Journal of Behavioral Decision Making
You assess risks as lower because you feel good.
Wilson et al., 2000
You think your happiness depends on one specific circumstance.
Wilson et al., 2000, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
You focus on one event while ignoring context.
Chartrand and Bargh, 1999, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
You mirror the physical behaviors of the person you like.
Kahneman, 1999
You ignore the length of an experience in your memory.
Kruger and Dunning, 1999
You are most confident when you know the least.
Kuran & Sunstein, 1999
Frequent repetition turns a perceived fact into public truth.
Kuran and Sunstein, 1999
A rumor becomes truth if it is repeated enough.
Pronin, Lin, and Ross (1999), Stanford University
You believe you see the world exactly as it is.
Reber and Schwarz, 1999, Journal of Experimental Psychology
Your brain confuses ease of processing with actual truth.
Shiv and Fedorikhin, 1999
Your self-control is exhausted by simple mental math.
Simons and Chabris, 1999
You are physically unable to see what you ignore.
Simons and Chabris, 1999
You are blind to things right before your eyes.
Simons and Chabris, 1999
You are blind to the obvious when focused elsewhere.
Simons and Chabris, 1999
You miss the obvious when your focus is occupied.
Simons and Chabris, 1999, Perception
You are blind to obvious changes in your environment.
Daniel Simons, 1998
You are blind to dramatic changes in your environment.
Gilbert et al., 1998
You consistently mispredict how long your emotional reactions will last.
Gilbert et al., 1998, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
You are remarkably poor at predicting your future emotions.
Gilbert, Pinel, Wilson, Blumberg, and Wheatley (1998)
You consistently overestimate how long you will feel hurt.
Gilovich, Savitsky, & Medvec, 1998, Illusion of Transparency
Others cannot see your internal emotions as clearly as you.
Gilovich, Savitsky, and Medvec, 1998
You think your inner state is visible to everyone.
Gilovich, Savitsky, and Medvec, 1998
You believe your inner emotions are visible to others.
Nickerson, 1998, Review of General Psychology
You ignore information that contradicts your existing world view.
Rubin, Rahhal, and Poon, 1998
Most of your core identity formed in late adolescence.
Schkade & Kahneman, 1998, Psychological Science
Moving to a warmer climate rarely improves long-term happiness.
Schkade and Kahneman (1998)
Nothing is as important as you think it is.
Schkade and Kahneman, 1998
You overvalue the impact of one life change.
Schkade and Kahneman, 1998
You focus on one problem and ignore the broader reality.
Schkade and Kahneman, 1998
Nothing is as important as you think it is.
Schkade and Kahneman, 1998
Your mood depends entirely on what you track.
Schkade and Kahneman, 1998, Journal of Behavioral Decision Making
Thinking about an object makes its importance grow.
Simons and Levin (1998)
You believe you are more observant than you are.
Simons and Levin, 1998, Trends in Cognitive Sciences
You are blind to changes happening right before you.
Thomas Gilovich, 1998
You assume people notice your mood more than they do.
Mitchell et al., 1997
You remember events as better than they were.
Mitchell, Thompson, Peterson, and Cronk, 1997
You remember the vacation better than the experience.
Mitchell, Thompson, and Peterson, 1997
Your brain actively edits your past to be more pleasant.
Garry, Manning, Loftus, and Sherman, 1996
Your brain fills in gaps with events that never happened.
Redelmeier & Kahneman, 1996, Pain (Peak-End Rule)
Your memory of an event ignores its duration.
Redelmeier and Kahneman, 1996
You do not remember an experience by its total duration.
Redelmeier and Kahneman, 1996, Pain
You ignore how long an ordeal actually lasted.
Ross and Ward, 1996, 'Naive Realism in Everyday Life'
You believe you see the world exactly as it is.
Ross and Ward, 1996, The Stanford Series on Community
You mistake your own point of view for objective reality.
Loftus, 1995, Journal of Experimental Psychology
You invent memories to fill missing gaps.
Medvec, Madey, and Gilovich (1995)
You feel more regret for things that nearly happened.
Medvec, Madey, and Gilovich, 1995
You are more troubled by almost winning than losing.
Medvec, Madey, and Gilovich, 1995
The silver medalist is sadder than the bronze.
Roediger and McDermott, 1995
Your memory will invent details that were never there.
Steele & Aronson, 1995
Your performance drops when you fear confirming a stereotype.
Steele and Aronson, 1995, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
Anxiety about performance can lower your actual results.
Baron, 1994, Thinking and Deciding
You over-allocate resources to eliminate a minor, symbolic risk.
Buehler, Griffin, and Ross (1994)
You are biologically wired to miss your own deadlines.
Buehler, Griffin, and Ross, 1994
You are systematically wrong about your own schedule.
Buehler, Griffin, and Ross, 1994
You will always underestimate the time a task takes.
Buehler, Griffin, and Ross, 1994
You ignore past evidence when predicting your future speed.
Buehler, Griffin, and Ross, 1994
You consistently underestimate the time tasks will take.
Buehler, Griffin, and Ross, 1994
You assume your current project will finish on time.
Buehler, Griffin, and Ross, 1994
You believe your future work will be faster today.
Buehler, Griffin, and Ross, 1994, Planning Fallacy
You expect your future self to work perfectly.
Daniel Wegner, 1994
You try to suppress thoughts and make them louder.
Hatfield, Cacioppo, and Rapson, 1994
You adopt the mood of the room without choosing.
Wegner, 1994
The more you try not to think, the more.
Daniel Kahneman, 1993
You remember the intensity of an experience, not duration.
Fredrickson & Kahneman, 1993, Psychological Science
Your memories ignore the duration of your past experiences.
Johnson, Hashtroudi, and Lindsay, 1993
You think your personal memories are objectively accurate.
Kahneman, 1993
Your memory of an experience ignores the average duration.
Kahneman, 1993
Your memory of an event ignores most of its duration.
Kahneman, Fredrickson, et al., 1993, Peak-End Rule
Your memory of an event is not a summary.
Morwitz, Johnson, and Schmittlein, 1993
Being asked about a behavior makes you more likely to do it.
Prentice and Miller, 1993
Everyone follows a rule that no one actually likes.
Redelmeier and Kahneman, 1993, Pain
Your brain ignores most of an experience to save energy.
Vicki Morwitz, 1993, Journal of Consumer Research
Asking if you will do a task makes it likelier.
Wilson and Schooler, 1993
Asking yourself why you like something makes you like it less.
Cosmides and Tooby, 1992
You are biologically tuned to catch social cheaters.
Raymond et al. (1992), attentional blink
You are functionally blind for half a second.
Raymond, Shapiro, & Arnell, 1992
Your brain misses information for a split second daily.
Raymond, Shapiro, and Arnell, 1992
You cannot process two rapid events as separate occurrences.
Raymond, Shapiro, and Arnell, 1992
Your brain goes blind for a moment after noticing something.
Raymond, Shapiro, and Arnell, 1992, Journal of Experimental Psychology
Your brain shuts down for half a second after focusing.
Ritov and Baron (1992)
You feel less guilty when you choose inaction.
Ritov and Baron, 1992
You judge harmful inaction as less severe than action.
Ritov and Baron, 1992, Omission Bias
You judge inaction more leniently than harmful action.
Elizabeth Newton, 1990 study on tapping melodies
You find it impossible to ignore what you already know.
Elizabeth Newton, 1990, Stanford University
You cannot imagine what it is like not knowing.
Elizabeth Newton, 1990, Stanford University Dissertation
You find it impossible to ignore what you know.
Kahneman et al., 1990
You value an object more because you own it.
Kahneman, Knetsch, & Thaler, 1990
You value your possessions simply because you own them.
Kahneman, Knetsch, and Thaler (1990)
You value the things you own more than identical objects.
Kahneman, Knetsch, and Thaler (1990)
You value your own possessions more than others do.
Kahneman, Knetsch, and Thaler (1990), Journal of Political Economy
You value things more simply because you own them.
Kahneman, Knetsch, and Thaler, 1990
You value your possessions more than they are worth.
Kahneman, Knetsch, and Thaler, 1990, Journal of Political Economy
You overvalue things just because you own them.
Newton, 1990
You lose the ability to teach once you learn.
Newton, 1990
You are physically unable to forget what you already know.
Camerer, Loewenstein, & Weber, 1989, Journal of Political Economy
You find it impossible to imagine not knowing something.
Camerer, Loewenstein, and Weber, 1989
You cannot imagine a world where you do not know this.
Colin Camerer, 1989, Curse of Knowledge
You find it impossible to remember what it is like to be ignorant.
Intraub and Richardson (1989), boundary extension
Your brain fills in the edges of your vision.
Baron and Hershey, 1988, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
You judge the quality of a choice by its outcome.
Baron and Hershey, 1988, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
You judge past decisions by their results, not their logic.
Baron and Hershey, 1988, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
You judge decisions by the result, not the process.
Grant McCracken, 1988
One new purchase triggers a cycle of constant upgrades.
Hansen and Hansen (1988)
Your brain gives more weight to bad news.
Jonathan Baron, 1988, Thinking and Deciding
You seek useless information just to feel more certain.
McCracken, 1988, Culture and Consumption
A single new possession creates a spiral of forced consumption.
Samuelson and Zeckhauser, 1988, Journal of Risk and Uncertainty
You prefer things to stay exactly as they are.
Suls and Wan, 1988
You believe your virtues are rarer than they actually are.
Mazur, 1987, Quantitative Analyses of Behavior
You value a small reward today over a larger one.
Suls and Wan, 1987
You believe you are more unique than you are.
Suls and Wan, 1987, False Uniqueness Effect
You think your virtues are unique, but your vices are normal.
Arkes & Blumer, 1985
You keep finishing the book you dislike reading.
Arkes & Blumer, 1985
You persist in bad decisions because of past costs.
Arkes and Blumer, 1985
You finish books you hate because you started them.
Arkes and Blumer, 1985
You continue painful projects to avoid admitting loss.
Arkes and Blumer, 1985, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes
You keep reading this book because you started.
Arkes and Blumer, 1985, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes
You continue losing ventures because of the investment already made.
Richard Thaler, 1985
You treat the same amount of money differently.
Richard Thaler, 1985, Marketing Science
You value money differently depending on where it came from.
Shefrin and Statman, 1985, Journal of Finance
You hold losing investments far longer than winning ones.
Davison, 1983
You believe media influences others far more than you.
Evans, Barston, and Pollard, 1983, British Journal of Psychology
You accept illogical arguments if the conclusion feels true.
Swann, 1983
You prefer being accurately judged over being falsely praised.
W. Phillips Davison, 1983, Public Opinion Quarterly
You believe media affects everyone but you.
William Swann, 1983, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
You seek out people who confirm your negative traits.
Huber, Payne, and Puto (1982)
You choose the middle option to avoid extremes.
Huber, Payne, and Puto, 1982
A third option changes what you choose entirely.
Huber, Payne, and Puto, 1982, Journal of Consumer Research
A third option changes which of two items you prefer.
Joel Huber and Christopher Puto, 1982
Your choice changes when an irrelevant option appears.
Joel Huber, 1982
You can be nudged into expensive choices by irrelevant options.
Katz and Allen, 1982, Not Invented Here Bias
You reject good ideas because you did not create them.
Bower, 1981
You struggle to remember joyful moments while feeling sad.
Bower, 1981
Your mood acts as a filter for your memory.
Bower, 1981, American Psychologist
Your recall improves when you return to your original mood.
Ola Svenson (1981)
You are not as good a driver as you think.
Ola Svenson, 1981, Acta Psychologica
You believe you possess more talent than the average.
Ola Svenson, 1981, Illusory Superiority
You are convinced you are a better driver than most.
Tversky & Kahneman, 1981
You reach different conclusions depending on how options are presented.
Tversky and Kahneman, 1981
You decide based on how data is phrased.
Tversky and Kahneman, 1981
You fear risk more when the outlook is positive.
Tversky and Kahneman, 1981, Science
You choose the option based on how it is described.
Tversky and Kahneman, 1981, Science
Your choice depends entirely on how options are phrased.
Tversky and Kahneman, 1981, Science
You react to the same information differently based on labels.
Kenneth Dodge, 1980
You interpret neutral social interactions as deliberate attacks.
Kenrick & Gutierres, 1980
Your opinion of quality depends on what you saw first.
Kenrick & Gutierres, 1980, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
Your perception of beauty shifts based on recent comparisons.
Kenrick and Gutierres (1980)
Your judgment of quality is anchored to recent experience.
Kenrick and Gutierres, 1980
You judge objects differently based on what they are near.
Lerner, 1980
You blame the victim to feel safer yourself.
Neil Weinstein, 1980, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
You believe you are safer than the average person.
Quattrone & Jones, 1980
You view strangers as more similar than they are.
Quattrone and Jones, 1980
You think others are more similar than they are.
Quattrone and Jones, 1980
You perceive members of other groups as all identical.
Sherman (1980), mere-measurement effect
Simply predicting your behavior makes you more likely to act.
Steven J. Sherman, 1980
Simply stating your intent makes you act more often.
Thaler, 1980, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization
You value your own possessions more than the market does.
Weinstein, 1980
You believe bad things only happen to others.
Weinstein, 1980
You believe you are safer than the average person.
Weinstein, 1980, Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology
You assume you are safer than everyone else.
Kahneman and Tversky, 1979
Losing ten dollars feels worse than winning ten feels.
Kahneman and Tversky, 1979, Econometrica
You prefer a sure gain, even when a gamble pays more.
Lord, Ross, and Lepper (1979)
You filter reality to fit what you already know.
Lord, Ross, and Lepper, 1979
You ignore information that challenges your existing beliefs.
Lord, Ross, and Lepper, 1979
Your brain ignores facts that contradict your beliefs.
Lord, Ross, and Lepper, 1979, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
You filter out information that challenges your beliefs.
Lord, Ross, and Lepper, 1979, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
You selectively interpret facts to protect your existing worldview.
Pettigrew (1979), ultimate attribution error
You judge the actions of your group more leniently.
Ross and Sicoly, 1979
You naturally remember yourself doing more work than others.
Ross and Sicoly, 1979
You only notice your own effort in group work.
Tversky and Kahneman (1979)
The pain of losing is stronger than the joy of winning.
Berglas & Jones, 1978
You create your own barriers to protect your pride.
Berglas and Jones, 1978
You create obstacles to explain your potential failure.
Berglas and Jones, 1978
You create your own excuses before you even start.
Berglas and Jones, 1978
You sabotage yourself to protect your ego.
Berglas and Jones, 1978, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
You create obstacles to explain your potential failure.
Jones and Berglas, 1978
You sabotage your own work to protect your ego.
Jones and Berglas, 1978, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
You create obstacles to explain away your future failures.
Lichtenstein et al., 1978, Journal of Experimental Psychology
You believe common causes of death are much rarer.
Matlin and Stang, 1978
Your brain processes positive concepts faster than negative ones.
Slamecka and Graf (1978), generation effect
You retain information better when you create it yourself.
Slamecka and Graf, 1978
You remember information better if you create it yourself.
Slamecka and Graf, 1978, Journal of Experimental Psychology
You remember facts better if you explain them yourself.
Fischhoff, Slovic, & Lichtenstein, 1977
Confidence is often a poor proxy for actual competence.
Lee Ross, 1977
You attribute your own poor choices to the situation.
Lichtenstein and Fischhoff, 1977
You consistently believe you are more capable than you are.
Lichtenstein and Fischhoff, 1977
You overestimate your ability on tasks you find difficult.
Mita, Dermer, and Knight, 1977, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
You prefer images of yourself when they are reversed.
Nisbett and Wilson, 1977
You do not know why you reached that conclusion.
Rogers et al., 1977
You remember things better when they relate to you.
Rogers et al., 1977, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
You remember information best when you connect it to yourself.
Rogers, Kuiper, and Kirker, 1977
You remember information best when it relates to you.
Rogers, Kuiper, and Kirker, 1977
You remember information better when it relates to yourself.
Rogers, Kuiper, and Kirker, 1977
You remember information better when it relates to you.
Ross et al., 1977, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
You mistakenly believe others think exactly like you do.
Ross, Amabile, and Steinmetz, 1977
You rate people as smarter based on their role.
Ross, Greene, & House, 1977, False Consensus Effect
We consistently assume that others think like we do.
Ross, Greene, & House, 1977, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
You judge other people using your own internal state.
Ross, Greene, and House (1977)
You assume your private opinions are the majority view.
Ross, Greene, and House (1977)
You assume your opinions are more common than they are.
Ross, Greene, and House, 1977, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
You assume everyone shares your private opinions.
Cialdini et al. (1976)
You feel more successful when your group achieves a win.
Cialdini et al., 1976
You claim success for a team you barely know.
Cialdini et al., 1976
You feel an ownership for groups you did not join.
Cialdini et al., 1976
You prefer associating with winners to signal your status.
Cialdini et al., 1976
You claim credit for things you did not do.
Baruch Fischhoff, 1975
You think your past self knew more than it did.
Baruch Fischhoff, 1975
You believe past events were more predictable than they were.
Baruch Fischhoff, 1975, Journal of Experimental Psychology
You are convinced the outcome was predictable all along.
Cialdini et al., 1975, Door-in-the-Face Technique
Your chances of success rise after a blatant refusal.
Ellen Langer, 1975
You interpret luck as evidence of your own skill.
Ellen Langer, 1975, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
You feel more in control when you participate in luck.
Fischhoff (1975)
You think you knew the outcome all along.
Fischhoff, 1975
You falsely believe you predicted the outcome.
Fischhoff, 1975
You confuse your current opinion with your past beliefs.
Fischhoff, 1975
You believe your past predictions were more accurate than reality.
Fischhoff, 1975
You rewrite your history to appear prescient.
Fischhoff, 1975
You rewrite your own history to match current outcomes.
Fischhoff, 1975, Journal of Experimental Psychology
You reshape your own memory to justify your past decisions.
George Ainslie, 1975
You value a small reward today over more tomorrow.
George Ainslie, 1975
You value immediate satisfaction more than future success.
Langer (1975), Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
You feel more capable when you believe you have control.
Langer (1975), illusion of control
You believe you influenced an outcome that was random.
Langer, 1975
You believe your effort influences random outcomes.
Langer, 1975
You believe you control events that are entirely random.
Langer, 1975
You roll dice harder to influence the outcome.
Miller and Ross (1975)
You take personal credit for wins but blame external luck.
Miller and Ross, 1975
You take the credit and blame the world.
Miller and Ross, 1975, Psychological Bulletin
You claim your successes but blame the environment for failures.
Peltzman, 1975
You become less careful when you feel safer.
Ross, Lepper, and Hubbard, 1975, Belief Perseverance
Evidence against your belief makes you hold tighter.
Ross, Lepper, and Hubbard, 1975, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
You hold onto opinions even after being disproven.
Worchel, Lee, and Adewole, 1975
You value items more just because they are rare.
Worchel, Lee, and Adewole, 1975
You value items more simply because they are scarce.
Dutton and Aron (1974)
You often misinterpret your own physical anxiety as attraction.
Dutton and Aron, 1974
You feel more attraction when your heart rate is high.
Dutton and Aron, 1974
You confuse high physiological arousal for romantic attraction.
Dutton and Aron, 1974, Misattribution of Arousal
Fear and attraction often feel exactly the same.
Dutton and Aron, 1974, The Bridge Study
You might be misreading your fear as attraction.
Elizabeth Loftus, 1974
Your memory is not a recording, it is a draft.
George Ainslie, 1974
You prioritize immediate satisfaction over long-term gain every time.
Loftus and Palmer (1974)
You can remember events that never actually happened.
Loftus and Palmer, 1974
A leading question can plant a false memory.
Loftus and Palmer, 1974, Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior
Your memories are rewritten by questions asked after the event.
Snyder (1974), Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
You adapt your behavior to fit what others expect.
Tversky and Kahneman (1974)
The first number you hear dictates your future estimates.
Tversky and Kahneman, 1974
Your mind is trapped by the first number you hear.
Tversky and Kahneman, 1974
You interpret early information as a fixed anchor.
Tversky and Kahneman, 1974, Anchoring Bias
Your initial estimate is a trap you set.
Tversky and Kahneman, 1974, Science
A random number changes what you pay today.
Tversky and Kahneman, 1974, Science
A random number drastically alters your next choice.
Tversky and Kahneman, 1974, Science
Random numbers influence your estimate of an unknown value.
Kahneman and Tversky (1973)
You ignore the statistics to focus on the story.
Lepper, Greene, & Nisbett, 1973
Rewards can turn your favorite hobby into a chore.
Lepper, Greene, and Nisbett (1973)
Rewarding a task you enjoy kills your intrinsic motivation.
Lepper, Greene, and Nisbett, 1973
You stop loving things when you are paid.
Lepper, Greene, and Nisbett, 1973
Rewards can destroy your love for a hobby.
Lepper, Greene, and Nisbett, 1973, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
Rewarding a behavior you enjoy will make you quit.
Tversky & Kahneman, 1973, Availability Heuristic
Ease of memory leads us to overestimate rare events.
Tversky & Kahneman, 1973, Cognitive Psychology
You judge how common a risk is by how easily you recall it.
Tversky and Kahneman (1973)
You gauge risk by the news, not logic.
Tversky and Kahneman (1973)
You make decisions based on the most easily recalled examples.
Tversky and Kahneman, 1973
You judge how likely something is by your memory.
Dion et al. (1972)
You judge a person's intelligence by their physical beauty.
Dion et al., 1972
You assume attractive people possess other positive traits.
Irving Janis, 1972
You align your views to minimize conflict within groups.
Jones and Nisbett, 1971
You judge your actions by intent but others by outcomes.
Jones and Nisbett, 1971
You judge your own actions by intent, but others' by outcomes.
Jones and Nisbett, 1971
You judge your behavior by your circumstances, not character.
Jones and Nisbett, 1971
You judge your actions by circumstances but others by character.
Tversky and Kahneman, 1971
You expect patterns where there is only randomness.
Tversky and Kahneman, 1971, Gambler's Fallacy
You believe that luck is a balancing force.
Tajfel (1970), Scientific American
You are a member of a group just by existing.
Tajfel, 1970
You prefer strangers just because they are like you.
Crowder and Morton, 1969
A final sound can wipe out your last memory.
Jecker & Landy, 1969
Doing a favor for someone makes you like them.
Jecker & Landy, 1969, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
Asking for a favor can increase someone's affection.
Bibb Latané, 1968
The presence of others decreases your urgency to help.
Darley and Latané, 1968
The presence of others makes you less likely to act.
Latane and Darley, 1968
The presence of others changes your moral compass.
Latané and Darley, 1968
You stop helping the moment a witness appears.
Latané and Darley, 1968, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
You help less when others are present.
Robert Zajonc (1968)
You like things more simply because you have seen them.
Robert Zajonc, 1968
You like things more simply because you saw them.
Robert Zajonc, 1968, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
You prefer things just because they are familiar.
Robert Zajonc, 1968, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
You like things more simply because you saw them before.
Robert Zajonc, 1968, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
You prefer things simply because you see them often.
Rosenthal & Jacobson, 1968, Pygmalion in the Classroom
People perform better when you expect them to succeed.
Rosenthal and Jacobson (1968), Pygmalion in the Classroom
You treat people based on your expectations of them.
Rosenthal and Jacobson, 1968
People perform better because you expect them to.
Rosenthal and Jacobson, 1968, Pygmalion in the Classroom
Your expectations of others physically alter their actual performance.
Zajonc (1968)
You like something simply because you see it often.
Zajonc (1968)
You prefer things just because you have seen them.
Zajonc, 1968
Simply seeing something repeatedly makes you like it more.
Bem, 1967
You change your attitude to match your behavior.
Chapman and Chapman, 1967
You see patterns that do not actually exist.
Jones and Harris, 1967
You judge people's actions based on their internal character.
Jones and Harris, 1967
You judge others by character and yourself by circumstance.
Jones and Harris, 1967
You judge others by their character, not their context.
Sachs, 1967, Perception & Psychophysics
You remember the core meaning but lose the exact words.
Aronson, Willerman, and Floyd (1966)
You are more likeable when you make a mistake.
Aronson, Willerman, and Floyd (1966)
A small mistake can make you more likable.
Aronson, Willerman, and Floyd, 1966
Small mistakes actually make you more likable.
Aronson, Willerman, and Floyd, 1966, The Pratfall Effect
Competence is more likeable when it is slightly flawed.
Brehm, 1966
You want what you are told you cannot have.
Brehm, 1966
You feel compelled to restore your lost freedom.
Brehm, 1966, A Theory of Psychological Reactance
You will choose the forbidden option just to feel free.
Elliot Aronson, 1966
A small blunder makes you more likable, not less.
Elliot Aronson, 1966, The Pratfall Effect
You are more likable when you make small mistakes.
Freedman and Fraser, 1966
You agree to big requests to stay consistent.
Freedman and Fraser, 1966, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
A small request makes you agree to more.
Freedman and Fraser, 1966, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
A small favor makes a large request more likely.
Jack Brehm, 1966, A Theory of Psychological Reactance
Telling you not to do it makes it attractive.
Melvin Lerner, 1966
You want to believe that bad things are deserved.
Pratfall effect, Elliot Aronson, 1966
You become more likeable when you commit a blunder.
Lerner (1965), Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
You want to believe the world is inherently fair.
Melvin Lerner, 1965
You subconsciously blame victims to preserve your sense of order.
Melvin Lerner, 1965, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
You believe the world is fundamentally fair to everyone.
Robert Zajonc, 1965
The presence of others changes how you perform tasks.
Robert Zajonc, 1965
You are harder on yourself during simple tasks.
Robert Zajonc, 1965, Science
An audience changes your performance depending on the task difficulty.
Social facilitation, Zajonc, 1965
You perform better around others on simple tasks.
Zajonc (1965)
You perform better at simple tasks when others watch.
Bennet Murdock, 1962, Journal of Experimental Psychology
You only vividly remember the beginning and the end.
Serial position effect, 1962
Your brain is programmed to ignore the middle.
Daniel Ellsberg, 1961
You avoid the unknown even when it offers rewards.
Ellsberg, 1961
You choose a known risk over an unknown one.
Aronson & Mills, 1959, Effort Justification
You value a goal more when it requires significant effort.
Festinger and Carlsmith (1959)
You are more likely to lie for a small reward.
Brehm (1956), Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology
You like the things you choose more than you did.
Jack Brehm, 1956
Your confidence in a decision increases after you act.
Parkinson, 1955, The Economist
You complete tasks in the time you allocate, regardless of complexity.
Festinger (1954)
Your sense of self-worth is tethered to others' success.
Festinger, 1954
You judge your current life against those performing better.
Colin Cherry, 1953
You are constantly filtering conversations you are not hearing.
Asch, 1951
You ignore your own senses to match the group.
Asch, 1951
You will change your answer to fit the group.
Asch, 1951, Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology
Your opinion shifts to match the perceived group consensus.
Hovland & Weiss, 1951
You eventually believe the lies you heard before.
Hovland and Weiss, 1951
You eventually believe a claim you once knew was false.
Hovland and Weiss, 1951, Sleeper Effect
You eventually trust a source you once thought was lying.
Solomon Asch, 1951
You conform to the group to avoid social discomfort.
Festinger et al., 1950, Social Pressures in Informal Groups
You like people more when you live near them.
Festinger, Schachter, & Back, 1950
You like the people you encounter most frequently.
Festinger, Schachter, and Back, 1950, Propinquity Effect
You like people just because you see them often.
Forer, 1949
You find personal meaning in descriptions written for everyone.
Hovland, Lumsdaine, and Sheffield (1949)
You remember the message but forget the unreliable source.
Hovland, Lumsdaine, and Sheffield, 1949
A message you reject today can change your mind later.
Bertram Forer (1948)
You assume generic descriptions apply specifically to you.
Bertram Forer, 1948, Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology
You trust vague descriptions that seem specifically about you.
Bertram Forer, 1948, Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology
You accept generic personality descriptions as uniquely accurate.
Bertram Forer, 1948, Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology
You believe generic personality descriptions are uniquely about you.
Forer, 1948
You accept vague personality descriptions as deeply personal.
Asch, 1946
You only remember the very first impression you formed.
Karl Duncker, 1945
You struggle to solve problems you have used before.
Karl Duncker, 1945, Functional Fixedness
Common tools often become invisible when you need new uses.
Heider and Simmel, 1944, The American Journal of Psychology
You assign human traits to inanimate geometry.
Von Restorff (1933)
You only remember the one thing that stood out.
Von Restorff, 1933
Your brain ignores uniform items but highlights the oddity.
Von Restorff, 1933, Psychologische Forschung
You only remember the item that stands out.
Bluma Zeigarnik, 1927, Psychologische Forschung
Unfinished tasks linger in your memory much longer.
Edward Thorndike, 1920
You judge a stranger's intelligence by their physical attractiveness.
Edward Thorndike, 1920
You assign positive character traits based on physical appearance.
Edward Thorndike, 1920
You assume a person's appearance reveals their inner character.
Thorndike, 1920
You assume attractive people are also morally good.
Thorndike, 1920
One positive trait blinds you to every other defect.
Thorndike, 1920, The Horns Effect
One visible flaw blinds you to everything else.
Max Ringelmann, 1913, though replicated extensively in later group dynamics research
You exert less individual effort when working in groups.
Maximilian Ringelmann, 1913
You exert less effort when working in a group.
Ringelmann, 1913
Your personal effort drops when you join a group.
Ringelmann, 1913
You work less hard when you think you are in a team.
Ringelmann, 1913
You exert less effort when you are not alone.
Ebbinghaus, 1885
You learn more by studying in intervals than in blocks.
Ebbinghaus, 1885
You only remember the beginning and the end.
Hawthorne effect, 1920s
You change your own behavior when being watched.
Hermann Ebbinghaus, 1885
You only clearly remember the beginning and the end.
Janet Polivy and C. Peter Herman
A minor lapse leads you to abandon all progress.
Lee Ross, 1990s research on naive realism
You believe you see the world objectively as it is.