There's a Name for That: The Imp of the Perverse
Experiencing unpleasant intrusive thoughts is a common, and unthreatening, phenomenon, but how we deal with it can be dangerous.
There’s a Name for That
There's a Name for That: Invisibility Cloak Illusion
Stuck inside our heads, we all know how much we're watching others, but fail to grasp just how much everyone else is watching us.
Why We Assume Malevolence in the Intentions of Others
And it's called hostile attribution bias.
There's a Name for Why the Winners in an Auction Often Overpay
A phenomenon discovered by oil engineers after they spent too much on tracts of land in the Alaskan tundra also applies to all of those eBay bidding wars you've been participating in.
There's a Name for That Dance You Do With Strangers in the Elevator
You might also recognize it in the subway, library, restroom, and other public spaces where people aren't typically very social.
Why People Have So Much Trouble Recognizing Their Own Incompetence
There's a name for that: the Dunning-Kruger Effect.
Why We Prefer Smaller Rewards Today Over Larger Rewards Tomorrow
There's a name for that.
The Concept That Helps to Explain Why 'Tetris' Is So Addictive
There's a name for that.
There's a Name for That: The Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon
When a thing you just found out about suddenly seems to crop up everywhere.
There's a Name for That: Pluralistic Ignorance
Ever found yourself at odds with what you thought was the majority opinion? There's a name for that.
Hotelling's Law: Why Everything Starts to Look the Same
Why do Burger King and McDonald's start to sell the same salad? There's a name for that phenomenon.