In Milgram's baseline study, 65% of participants gave the maximum shock to a protesting learner. Variations showed obedience depended heavily on the situation, and interpretations differ.
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The original studies found strong links between waiting at age 4 and later outcomes. Replications found much weaker links that shrink or vanish once family background is controlled.
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The 1971 study was long said to show that ordinary people turn cruel in a prison role. Archival evidence suggests the guards were coached and pressured, so it shows less about human nature.
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The Dunning-Kruger effect is the finding that low scorers overestimate their performance. The pattern replicates, but its usual explanation is disputed, and some researchers call it a statistical artifact.
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The placebo effect is improvement after a treatment with no active ingredient, driven by expectation. Its measured strength is modest, mostly for pain and nausea, and varies widely.
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Confirmation bias skews how evidence is gathered, hindsight bias skews how the past is remembered, and motivated reasoning skews conclusions toward what people want to be true.
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Memory is reconstructive, not a recording. Gaps get filled in, suggestions and repetition get absorbed, and the brain can misjudge where a mental image came from.
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Stuck songs, or earworms, arise when a familiar, repetitive tune is cued by a memory, a mood or recent listening and then replays on a mental loop. Researchers still lack a full theory.
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It is an illusion: the Moon's size does not change. Scientists agree that perceived distance plays a part, but no single explanation has convinced everyone.
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The Flynn effect is the long-term rise in average IQ test scores, about 3 points per decade across the 20th century. Its causes and meaning are still debated.
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The MBTI shows decent internal consistency and some overlap with Big Five measures, but weaker test-retest stability and predictive power. Its publisher and many academics disagree about how valid it is.
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Cognitive dissonance is the uncomfortable mental state that arises when beliefs, attitudes or actions conflict. Leon Festinger's theory says people are motivated to reduce it.
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The bystander effect is the finding that people are less likely to help when others are present. The famous Genovese story of 38 passive witnesses is not supported by the evidence.
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Dunbar's number is the claim that humans have a natural social group size of about 150. Its originator defends it, while a 2021 reanalysis found the statistical basis too uncertain.
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No. Imaging, injury studies and metabolism show the whole brain is used. The 10 percent idea likely grew from self-help writing, and its exact origin is uncertain.
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The popular picture of alpha wolves battling for rank is largely a myth. Most wild packs are families led by parents, and David Mech withdrew his own book that popularized the term.
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Matching instruction to a preferred style such as visual or auditory has not been reliably shown to improve learning. One 2024 meta-analysis found a small average benefit, but its authors call it too small and inconsistent to adopt.
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