10 Surprising and Common Myths in Psychology and the Real Science Behind Them
Most of what you know about psychology may be a lie. Over the past decades, folk psychology has given rise to dozens of myths that have given people a false sense of how their brains work and how to explain the behavior of those around them.
The aim of this article is to teach the real science that drives our thoughts and behaviors. So, we review the ten most common myths in psychology, with an explanation of why they are wrong:
1. Smiling is the secret of happiness:
Superstition:
Positive psychology promotes the idea that if you are having a bad day, all you have to do is smile and you will be happy. If it is easy to improve your mood, we can all be happy every day. But just as smiling cannot solve our problems, it also cannot remove the misery that comes from experiencing negative events and believing that they may negatively affect mental health.
Another problem with this myth is that it promotes the idea that we should be happy all the time, and this can make people feel bad. A fake smile is not enough to make people feel better.
However, there is some truth in this myth. If you are taking a day off without any negative emotions that you can define, such as sadness, anger, fear, etc., smiling can improve your mood. That is because you are not trying to force yourself to move on from a strong emotion to another. Instead, you choose to move from a relatively neutral state to a positive one. The key is to create a real smile, not a fake one.
True happiness can activate the muscles near the eyes. So, if you just move your lips up, your brain won't receive the signal to be happy.
The science behind the myth:
If you are experiencing negative emotions, such as anger, sadness, fear, etc, a fake smile to hide your emotions will only make you feel worse. Research shows that suppressing emotions increases your stress level and can cause you to think about negative emotions for longer than you would If you expressed your feelings at that moment.
Obviously, some circumstances, such as professional environments or other public places, may not be appropriate places to express your feelings. So, a fake smile may be necessary, but when you do so, check your feelings internally so that you don't face the negative effects of completely suppressing them.
2. Pretending to be strong increases your confidence:
Superstition:
In the most famous TED Talk, Harvard psychologist Amy Cuddy shared her research that pretending to be as physically strong as possible lowers your stress hormones, increases testosterone levels (which is the strength hormone) and makes you feel more confident.
This study has gone viral. Also, power poses become the thing to do before important meetings, interviews, and presentations to ensure your success.
The science behind the myth:
A group of researchers repeated the Emmy Caddy study using five times the number of participants. They found no indication that its results were correct. It is suspected that Cady and her fellow researchers either made a study error and/or manipulated their data to achieve a statistically significant result.
After people learned about Caddy's study, most of them asserted that being in power poses helped them feel more confident. It's possible that their feelings are a placebo effect of listening to an expert who tells them how effective a power pose is. However, there is no supporting research to suggest that faking strength has the biological effect that Cady claims to have.
3. Opposites attract and make better partners:
Superstition:
Some people think that people are attracted to people who are completely different from them. That's another myth. One of the main reasons for this myth's popularity is that people believe in the wrong logic that says we are attracted to partners who have traits that are different from ours because they are more interesting, and that will lead to a balanced relationship.
The science behind the myth:
There is a lot of research that shows that otherwise is true. We are attracted to partners who are similar to us. Not only that, but similarity is also an indicator of the long-term success of the relationship. That is because similar people usually agree on more things and share the same communication styles.
4. People get more creative when they brainstorm in groups:
Superstition:
Today's business world is more keen than ever to foster collaboration based on the popular belief that more opinions are better than one. While it is true that we benefit from getting feedback and learning from one another, it is a myth that groups can brainstorm better than individuals alone.
The science behind the myth:
According to the American Institute of Graphic Arts and other research, group brainstorming sessions have three characteristics that limit creativity:
1. Anchoring:
It is a cognitive bias that makes it difficult to consider other options once we hold on to an option we like. Group members often hear a good idea at the beginning of their session and fail to come up with more, and possibly better ideas afterward.
2. Group thinking:
Anchoring is enhanced through group thinking. Group thinking is when peer pressure, whether intentional or not, causes group members to think the same way, which prevents unique ideas from being heard or even spoken out loud.
3. Pressure:
Having to come up with good ideas immediately while surrounded by coworkers who might want to impress can be incredibly stressful for some people, limiting their abilities to think creatively.
So, instead of group brainstorming, give people the opportunity to talk individually or in small groups. So they can come up with as many creative ideas as possible. Then ask them to share their ideas with the team for feedback.
5. Venting helps you overcome anger:
Superstition:
As we said in the happiness myth, suppressing feelings is harmful. The same applies for venting. Many people think that the quickest way to deal with anger is to scream, get violent, and get everything out.
The science behind the myth:
Research shows that venting has the opposite effect of what is wanted. Instead of calming you down, it increases your anger. This makes you angrier for a longer period of time. So, instead of venting, express it in a more productive way, such as stepping away from the anger-inducing situation, identifying the causes of your anger, and seeing if you can fix any. Or you can turn your anger toward a specific activity, such as exercise or art.
6. Dominance of one of the right or left hemispheres of the brain:
Superstition:
You may have heard someone who is creative claiming to be dominated by the right hemisphere, or someone who thinks analytically and believes they are dominated by the left side of the brain. The idea that we have a dominant side in our brain that determines the level of our art or logic is based on how each hemisphere of our brain controls different activities.
The science behind the myth:
The idea that people have different dominant sides of their brains is completely wrong. Research shows that everyone uses both sides of their brain equally. While most abilities are based on different areas of the brain, they can be implemented through the connections that form between the different parts.
Depending on the individual's lifestyle, it is possible for certain parts of the brain to become stronger. That is because in this case the brain has adapted to be exposed to the same conditions for an extended period of time. However, it occurs in individual parts of the brain and not in an entire half of it.
7. Men and women have completely different ways of communication:
Superstition:
You must have heard a friend complain that they are having trouble communicating with the opposite sex, or understanding what the opposite sex is thinking. This superstition is based on the belief that men and women are completely different, as if they speak different languages.
The science behind the myth:
As our culture has become more accepting of people who do not act in accordance with specific gender roles, research has found that men and women are not as psychologically different as we might think.
In an article published by the American Psychological Association, people tend to communicate and act according to different gender roles in their environment. But when you remove your expectations of communication according to gender, you will see that men and women communicate in a very similar way.
8. Most people experience a midlife crisis:
Superstition:
People are in their forties and suddenly either realize that their lives aren't always going the way they wanted them to, or they are terrified that their younger years are ending. The next thing that happens is that they buy property for fun, make drastic changes to their career, dye their hair, file for divorce, or they make other impulsive changes to deal with aging.
The science behind the myth:
Researchers estimate that about 10 percent of the population suffers from a midlife crisis, and that the rest ages through their forties and fifties without losing their sanity. We will face many challenges and we may do some typical things to deal with a midlife crisis, but without losing ourselves in the process.
9. Your personality stabilizes when you become an adult:
Superstition:
Many people believe that by the age of 25, your brain is fully developed. Also, they believe that barring the effects of traumatic experiences, your adult personality remains relatively stable. A part of this myth's appeal is that by the age of 25, most people feel that they must progress towards stable goals. We don't like to think that we are inherently unstable as human beings.
The science behind the myth:
A study took personal data from 132,515 people and found that the following traits change over time:
- People become more accepting (willing to cooperate with others) as they get older.
- Women become less nervous (emotionally sensitive) as they age.
- Men and women become less open (that is, they become eager and ready for new experiences) as they age.
- Work ethics (and focusing on details) increase with age.
These changes may alter our desires and behaviors as we age, debunking the notion that our personalities fully mature in adulthood.
10. The average person uses 10% of their brain capacity:
Superstition:
This superstition began in the mid-to-late 19th century, when researchers compared the learning abilities and accomplishments of a child prodigy to the average person, who is less intellectually stimulated.
The myth expanded in the twentieth century when researchers who did not understand the functions of all parts of the brain noticed that many parts of people's brains seemed inactive, which led them to believe that people were using about 10% of the full capacity of the brain.
The science behind the myth:
Recent research shows that throughout the day, we use 100% of our brains. The key here is that it happens throughout the day, not all at once. Each part of our brain performs different functions.
So, while the sections that control basic processes like breathing and the senses remain active non-stop, the other parts responsible for activities like response to fear, problem solving, etc. activate only when necessary. Given that some people's lifestyles make their brains more active than others, but we all benefit from all the capabilities of our brains.