There’s a Name for That

Experiencing unpleasant intrusive thoughts is a common, and unthreatening, phenomenon, but how we deal with it can be dangerous.

• By Chinelo Nkechi Ikem

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.

• By Peter C. Baker

And it's called hostile attribution bias.

• By Pacific Standard Staff

And it's called Campbell's Law.

• By Pacific Standard Staff

And it's called the Diderot effect.

• By Pacific Standard Staff

And it's called stereotype threat.

• By Pacific Standard Staff

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.

• By Pacific Standard Staff

You might also recognize it in the subway, library, restroom, and other public spaces where people aren't typically very social.

• By Pacific Standard Staff

There's a name for that: the Dunning-Kruger Effect.

• By Pacific Standard Staff

There's a name for that.

• By Pacific Standard Staff

There's a name for that.

• By Pacific Standard Staff

When a thing you just found out about suddenly seems to crop up everywhere.

• By Pacific Standard Staff

Ever found yourself at odds with what you thought was the majority opinion? There's a name for that.

• By Vince Beiser

Why do Burger King and McDonald's start to sell the same salad? There's a name for that phenomenon.

• By Vince Beiser