Do you ever find yourself obsessing over something you didn’t finish, even long after you stopped working on it? The Zeigarnik Effect is a psychological phenomenon where people tend to remember incomplete or interrupted tasks better than tasks that are finished. Named...

Have you ever been “lost in a good book”? That feeling of leaving the real world behind and entering the one created by the author is known as “narrative transportation.” Do you think that could happen when reading a book written by AI? See...

Why do we lie? Is it simply to avoid consequences, or are there deeper psychological and evolutionary reasons? Whether it’s a small white lie to spare someone’s feelings or a grand deception to achieve personal gain, lying is both fascinating and...

Navigating through the uncertainties of everyday life can be challenging, and this holds true even when faced with the task of selecting a topic for a college research assignment. But, did you ever consider uncertainty as a topic? Uncertainty appears to be a common...

Have you ever found yourself having to resist the urge to give a cute animal or even a baby an overly tight squeeze because their overwhelming adorableness was too hard to resist? Referred to as “cute aggression” by scientists, recent decades of research...

First introduced in 1985 by Stanford University researchers Robert P. Vallone, Lee Ross, and Mark R. Lepper, the Hostile Media Effect describes a phenomenon in which individuals from opposing ends of the political spectrum perceive an identical news media as biased...

The “Broken Window Theory” was first proposed by political scientist James Q. Wilson and criminologist George Kelling in a March 1982 article that appeared in The Atlantic Monthly. They suggested that neighborhoods with broken windows, abandoned...

Why do people help each other? When you voluntarily do something to help someone else, you are engaging in prosocial behavior. Is prosocial behavior the same as altruism? Is prosocial behavioral universal? Does stress increase or decrease prosocial behavior?...

Are you morbidly curious about natural catastrophes, disaster, or serial killers? Take a look at the following websites for ideas on how you could approach researching this idea: The Science Behind Why We Can’t Look Away From Tragedy The Science Behind...

Most likely, you know someone who has been ghosted – it may have even happened to you. But, did you realize that researchers have been studying this experience? Take a look at this article on the ScienceDaily website, discussing recent research published on the...

QUICK QUIZ Would you rather watch a TV show uninterrupted or one with commercials? Take a look at the following article. Researchers found that commercials actually made the programs more enjoyable! This is an example of a finding that is counterintuitive. Nelson, L.,...

Here’s an interesting book title: Would You Kill the Fat Man? The Trolley Problem and What Your Answer Tells Us about Right and Wrong. We have a copy in the library at Penn State York; here’s the call number so you can check it out: BJ1012.E34 2014 You can...

Could someone travel back in time and kill their grandfather? If they kill their grandfather before their parents are born, then hypothetically, they will never be born . . . and if they are never born, they can’t go back in time to kill their grandfather. This...

What do you get when you combine enjoyment (a positive emotion) with fear (a negative emotion)? Recreational fear! This phenomenon, also referred to as “the paradox of horror,” occurs when you voluntarily do something that you know will frighten you. You...

It doesn’t take long to form first impressions, but how reliable do they turn out to be? You’ve heard the expression “You can’t judge a book by its cover,” but we do it all the time. First impressions are powerful. For a fascinating...

Could it be possible to eventually take a pill to gain the same benefits that exercise provides? Researchers are trying to better understand the mechanism behind these benefits and exploring connections between exercise and hunger. Findings could eventually help...

You can research the topic of friendship countless ways. One place to start would be to read some interesting articles researching a particular aspect of friendship, such as the “friendship paradox.” An article on the Science Direct website defines the...

Remember Tamagotchi digital pets? There’s an interesting article from Wired, “The Tamagotchi Was Tiny, but Its Impact Was Huge,” reflecting on the surprisingly popular social phenomenon of this 90’s toy. The impact of Tamagotchi isn’t...

Does this beach look “normal” to you? What we look at as polluted now, could be considered normal in future generations. Without any memory of a pristine beach to compare this scene to, how could anyone perceive how much their environment has changed? The...

“Come on down!” The Price is Right is the longest-running game show in television history, so it probably shouldn’t be surprising to find there are research articles about it. The article “The Wisdom of the Crowd Playing the Price is...

The Einstellung Effect refers to a type of mindset in which your method of solving a problem in a certain way can interfere with your ability to think of a different way to solve a new problem. You are so set on what worked for you before, you can fail to think of...

If you’ve ever taken a physics course that covered elementary particle physics, you’re probably familiar with the Standard Model – the theory that best describes three of the four fundamental forces at work in the universe and explains how these...

Are you a morning person or a night owl? Your natural inclination toward one or the other is known as your chronotype. Some peope feel more energtic in the morning and others prefer to sleep late. But, what could it mean, in terms of depression, if you were to wake up...

Marketers use a lot of strategies to get you to buy a product and you probably don’t even realize that you are being manipulated by many of them. Take for example the phenomenon known as the “decoy effect.” It turns out that consumers will often...

Underwater confirmation is going to be needed to see if the newly-named Bering Transitory Archipelago could provide answers to how, when, and where the first people may have crossed from Asia to North America. The authors proposed their “stepping-stones...

What challenges do engineers face when designing systems that involve human interaction? Think about driving a car and the number of interactions that occur between the driver and the automobile. You have outside stimuli (stop signs, traffic lights, other vehicles)...

Over a decade ago, blogger Fiona Broome coined the term “Mandela Effect” to refer to events that are misremembered by a number of people. Broome, and apparently many others, believed that Nelson Mandela, human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner,...

Interesting questions are raised in Ellen Winner’s article “Changed by Art” such as “Why are we so drawn to works of art?” and “What kinds of demonstrable beneficial effects, if any, can engagement in the arts have on us?”...

If you took the advice in the FAKE NEWS: REAL JOKES post, you would have discovered this article in the Table of Contents: “Why the Backfire Effect Does Not Explain the Durability of Political Misconceptions.” The author states in his abstract that...

Can funny fight fake? Try a different spin on the topic of fake news. “In an era of misinformation, humor has the potential to be a defense against fake news, but . . . there needs to be a better understanding of how humor influences attitudes toward...

You can take this idea in a lot of directions. The term “wisdom of the crowd” refers to the idea that a large group of people are better than an individual when it comes to solving problems and making decisions. Here are a few suggestions to get you...

Can you really improve your sense of well-being by taking an online course that includes assignments such as nurturing social connections, compiling a gratitude list, and meditation? Two new studies say that the answer is yes. Free online courses that teach principles...

Have you ever seen faces in everyday objects? Evolutionary psychology gives us one explanation for why we do this. Take a look at Evolutionary Psychology: The New Science of the Mind. BF698.95.B87 2012. The article “Face to Face: The Perception of Automotive...

Are you part of the culture of showrooming? Probably. Showrooming occurs when “consumers . . . visit a retailer’s brick-and-mortar store to see a product, only to buy it from an online retailer” since they could often buy it at a lower price. You could...

How prevalent is the phenomenon known as suicide by cop? A 2016 critical review of the literature in the journal Aggression and Violent Behavior might be a good place to begin your research The authors state “Recent research attention has begun to focus on the...

In a room of just 23 people, what is the chance that at least two will have the same birthday? (See below if you want to know the answer!). Most of us probably think the probability of this happening will be pretty low. But, that’s because we’re not...

55 cards, 8 symbols on each card, 57 different symbols. Every time I play this game I wonder, how is it possible that every card has a symbol that matches a only a single symbol on another card? If you think there has to be some mathematics behind the scenes of this...

“How Selective Hearing Works in the Brain: ‘Cocktail Party Effect’ Explained” How are we able to tune into one voice in a large crowd, while tuning out all the other background noise? A similar effect is the ability in the same situation to shift your attention to...