Skip to content

Tag

psychology

Entries tagged with psychology - exploring this theme across cognitive biases, logical fallacies, mental models, and more.

20 concepts

Psychological Phenomenon

Apophenia 

The tendency to perceive meaningful connections, patterns, or intentions in random or unrelated information.

Psychological Phenomenon

Arrival Fallacy 

The belief that achieving a particular goal will make you permanently happy - followed by the discovery that it doesn't.

Psychological Phenomenon

Aversive Racism 

When people who genuinely believe they are not prejudiced still harbour unconscious biases that shape their behaviour in subtle ways.

Psychological Phenomenon

Decision Fatigue 

The deterioration in the quality of decisions made by a person after a long session of decision-making, as mental energy depletes.

Psychological Defence

Displacement 

Redirecting an emotional response - usually anger or frustration - away from its real source and onto a safer, less threatening target.

Cognitive Bias

Effort Justification 

The harder we work for something, the more we convince ourselves it was worth it - regardless of whether it was.

Manipulation Tactic

FOG (Fear, Obligation, Guilt) 

A manipulation pattern that uses fear, obligation, and guilt to control another person's behaviour and override their independent decision-making.

Manipulation Tactic

Gaslighting 

Manipulating someone into doubting their own perception, memory, or sanity.

Psychological Phenomenon

Implicit Association 

The automatic, unconscious mental connections between concepts, groups, and attributes that shape perception and behaviour without conscious awareness.

Logical Fallacy

Just-World Fallacy 

The belief that people get what they deserve - that good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people.

Cognitive Bias

Loss Aversion 

Losses feel roughly twice as painful as equivalent gains feel good.

Manipulation Tactic

Love Bombing 

Overwhelming someone with excessive affection, attention, and praise early in a relationship to create emotional dependency and control.

Cultural Influence

Manufacturing Desire 

The systematic creation of wants that didn't previously exist, turning luxuries into perceived necessities.

Psychological Defence

Motivated Reasoning 

When we use reasoning not to find the truth, but to defend what we already believe.

Psychological Phenomenon

Obedience to Authority 

The tendency for people to comply with instructions from a perceived authority figure, even when those instructions conflict with their own conscience.

Psychological Phenomenon

Pareidolia 

The tendency to see recognisable shapes - especially faces - in random patterns, clouds, textures, and noise.

Cognitive Bias

Reactance 

The instinct to resist or do the opposite when you feel your freedom of choice is being threatened or taken away.

Psychological Defence

Reaction Formation 

Unconsciously expressing the opposite of what you truly feel, turning unacceptable impulses into exaggerated displays of the reverse.

Cognitive Bias

Spotlight Effect 

The tendency to overestimate how much other people notice your appearance, behaviour, and mistakes.

Psychological Phenomenon

Streisand Effect 

When attempting to suppress, censor, or hide information backfires by drawing far more attention to it than it would have received otherwise.