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Psychology · 230 lessons in the app

Psychology facts, one short lesson at a time

Why you remember unfinished tasks, why the first number in a negotiation sticks, why other people notice your mistakes less than you think. Each lesson takes about a minute and names the study it comes from, so you can check it.

Try 4 lessons exactly as they appear in the app

Psychology45s read

Lesson 1 of 4

The Zeigarnik Effect

People remember unfinished tasks better than completed ones. Soviet psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik noticed this while watching waiters. They effortlessly recalled unpaid orders but forgot them the moment the bill was settled. Your brain keeps incomplete loops open, which is why unfinished to-do items stay on your mind.

Source Zeigarnik, B. (1927). Über das Behalten von erledigten und unerledigten Handlungen.

Quick quiz

What did Bluma Zeigarnik discover about unfinished tasks and memory?

Psychology35s read

Lesson 2 of 4

The Spotlight Effect

You think people notice your mistakes far more than they actually do. This is the spotlight effect, we overestimate how much others observe and judge us. That food stain on your shirt? Most people didn't see it. That awkward comment? They forgot it in 30 seconds.

Source Gilovich, T., Medvec, V.H., & Savitsky, K. (2000). The spotlight effect in social judgment.

Quick quiz

What does the spotlight effect describe?

Psychology40s read

Lesson 3 of 4

Anchoring Bias

The first number you hear sets an invisible anchor. In negotiations, whoever names a price first shapes the entire conversation. Judges given random numbers before sentencing give harsher or lighter sentences accordingly. Your brain uses the anchor as a reference point even when it is completely irrelevant.

Source Tversky, A., & Kahneman, D. (1974). Judgment under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases.

Quick quiz

In a salary negotiation, who benefits most from the anchoring effect?

Psychology40s read

Lesson 4 of 4

The Sunk Cost Fallacy

You stay in a bad movie because you paid for the ticket. You keep a failing project alive because you invested years. The money or time is gone regardless. It is a sunk cost. Rational decisions look forward, not backward. But our brains hate "wasting" past investments, even when continuing wastes more.

Source Arkes, H.R., & Blumer, C. (1985). The psychology of sunk cost.

Quick quiz

You have invested two years in a project that is clearly failing. The rational decision is to:

226 more psychology lessons in the app

Every title here is a lesson in Scroll, with its own quiz. Five a day are free; Premium has no daily limit.

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  1. Confirmation Bias
  2. The Dunning-Kruger Effect
  3. Classical Conditioning
  4. Loss Aversion
  5. Cognitive Dissonance
  6. The Halo Effect
  7. The Bystander Effect
  8. The Mere Exposure Effect
  9. The Frequency Illusion
  10. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
  11. The Milgram Experiment
  12. The Stanford Prison Experiment, Revisited
  13. The Pygmalion Effect
  14. The Marshmallow Test
  15. The Peak-End Rule
  16. Negativity Bias
  17. The Availability Heuristic
  18. The Bandwagon Effect
  19. Impostor Syndrome
  20. The Ben Franklin Effect
  21. Groupthink
  22. The Framing Effect
  23. Learned Helplessness
  24. Social Proof
  25. The Endowment Effect
  26. The Paradox of Choice
  27. The Primacy and Recency Effects
  28. Hedonic Adaptation
  29. Fundamental Attribution Error
  30. The Actor-Observer Bias
Show all 226 titles
  1. Self-Serving Bias
  2. The Pratfall Effect
  3. The Reciprocity Principle
  4. The IKEA Effect
  5. Status Quo Bias
  6. The Barnum Effect
  7. Door-in-the-Face Technique
  8. Foot-in-the-Door Technique
  9. Cognitive Load Theory
  10. Change Blindness
  11. Inattentional Blindness
  12. Flow State
  13. The Nocebo Effect
  14. Emotional Contagion
  15. The Contrast Effect
  16. Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
  17. The Decoy Effect
  18. Psychological Reactance
  19. Hindsight Bias
  20. The Just-World Hypothesis
  21. Affective Forecasting
  22. The Planning Fallacy
  23. Moral Licensing
  24. The Ostrich Effect
  25. The Narrative Fallacy
  26. The Curse of Knowledge
  27. Ego Depletion: A Theory in Doubt
  28. The Identifiable Victim Effect
  29. Normalcy Bias
  30. Selective Attention
  31. The Testing Effect
  32. The Spacing Effect
  33. Dual Process Theory
  34. The Empathy Gap
  35. Temporal Discounting
  36. The Diderot Effect
  37. The Overjustification Effect
  38. The Doorway Effect
  39. Tip-of-the-Tongue Phenomenon
  40. The Cocktail Party Effect
  41. Semantic Satiation
  42. Digital Amnesia
  43. Phantom Vibration Syndrome
  44. The Tetris Effect
  45. Pareidolia
  46. Mirror Neurons
  47. The Uncanny Valley
  48. Cryptomnesia
  49. Déjà Vu
  50. The Mandela Effect
  51. Attachment Theory
  52. Operant Conditioning
  53. The Hawthorne Effect
  54. Defense Mechanisms
  55. The Psychology of Color
  56. The Dunbar Number
  57. Pluralistic Ignorance
  58. The Illusion of Transparency
  59. The Zeigarnik Effect in Advertising
  60. Deindividuation
  61. The Spotlight Effect in Social Media
  62. The Generation Effect
  63. Motivation Crowding
  64. The ELIZA Effect
  65. Choice-Supportive Bias
  66. The Peltzman Effect
  67. What Psychology Actually Studies
  68. Freud and the Unconscious
  69. How Working Memory Works
  70. How Emotions Are Made
  71. The James-Lange Theory of Emotion
  72. Emotional Intelligence: The Four Domains
  73. The Big Five Personality Traits
  74. Introversion vs. Extraversion
  75. Narcissism: More Than Vanity
  76. The Dark Triad
  77. Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development
  78. Vygotsky and the Zone of Proximal Development
  79. Erikson's Eight Stages of Life
  80. Adolescent Brain Development
  81. How the Brain Constructs Reality
  82. Sleep and Memory Consolidation
  83. Dreams: What Neuroscience Knows
  84. Commitment and Consistency
  85. Scarcity and Urgency
  86. What Is Anxiety, and Why It Exists
  87. The Neuroscience of Depression
  88. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: The Evidence
  89. Post-Traumatic Growth
  90. The Psychology of Grief
  91. What Makes Relationships Last
  92. The Psychology of Loneliness
  93. Empathy: Affective vs. Cognitive
  94. Stereotype Threat
  95. In-Group Bias and Out-Group Hostility
  96. Multiple Intelligences: Still Debated
  97. The Amygdala and Emotional Memory
  98. The Prefrontal Cortex: CEO of the Brain
  99. The Default Mode Network
  100. The Science of Happiness
  101. Gratitude Works
  102. Self-Determination Theory
  103. Character Strengths and Virtues
  104. The Stress Response: Useful Until It Isn't
  105. Rethinking Stress: Kelly McGonigal
  106. Resilience: What It Actually Is
  107. Locus of Control
  108. Priming: How Context Shapes Thought
  109. Terror Management Theory
  110. The Psychology of Money and Happiness
  111. The Psychology of Persuasive Technology
  112. Implicit Bias: The Unconscious Prejudice
  113. Mindfulness: What Research Shows
  114. The Psychology of Creativity
  115. Social Comparison Theory
  116. The Psychology of Power
  117. Psychology's Replication Crisis and What It Means
  118. Evolutionary Psychology: Why We Are the Way We Are
  119. Mate Selection: What Men and Women Prioritize
  120. Kin Selection and Altruism
  121. Reciprocal Altruism: Cooperation Among Non-Kin
  122. Status, Dominance, and Prestige
  123. OCD: Obsessions, Compulsions, and the Loop
  124. Specific Phobias: Fear That Exceeds the Threat
  125. PTSD: When the Brain Gets Stuck in Danger
  126. Bipolar Disorder: The Texture of Mania
  127. Schizophrenia: Misunderstood and Mischaracterized
  128. Individualism vs. Collectivism
  129. The WEIRD Problem in Psychology
  130. Cultural Display Rules for Emotion
  131. Honor Cultures and the Psychology of Reputation
  132. Linguistic Relativity: Does Language Shape Thought?
  133. Psychoneuroimmunology: Mind, Brain, and Immune System
  134. The Psychology of Pain
  135. Health Behavior Change: Why People Don't Do What They Know
  136. Exercise and the Brain
  137. Job Satisfaction: What Actually Drives It
  138. Leadership Styles and Their Effects
  139. Peak Performance and the Pre-Competition Mind
  140. Choking Under Pressure
  141. Mental Imagery and Motor Learning
  142. Self-Talk: The Inner Coach
  143. Grit: Passion and Perseverance Over Time
  144. False Memories: The Malleability of the Past
  145. Eyewitness Testimony: Unreliable by Design
  146. Source Monitoring Errors
  147. Jonathan Haidt and Moral Intuitions
  148. Moral Foundations Theory
  149. The Psychology of Cheating
  150. Dehumanization and Moral Exclusion
  151. Free Will and Psychology
  152. Theory of Mind: Understanding Other Minds
  153. Language Acquisition: How Children Learn to Speak
  154. The Role of Play in Development
  155. Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)
  156. Parenting Styles and Outcomes
  157. ADHD: A Different Attention System
  158. Attention Restoration Theory
  159. Mind-Wandering: The Wandering Mind is Unhappy
  160. Hunger, Satiety, and Why We Overeat
  161. Emotional Eating and Food as Regulation
  162. Body Image and Psychological Wellbeing
  163. Criminal Profiling: Science vs. Myth
  164. The Psychology of False Confessions
  165. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
  166. Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
  167. EMDR: Reprocessing Trauma Through Eye Movements
  168. Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy
  169. Motivational Interviewing
  170. The Psychology of Awe
  171. Meaning and Purpose: Beyond Happiness
  172. The Benefits of Self-Compassion
  173. Acts of Kindness and Wellbeing
  174. Forgiveness: Psychological, Not Moral
  175. The Psychology of Aging Well
  176. Wisdom: What It Is and How It Grows
  177. The Psychology of Death Acceptance
  178. Social Media and Mental Health
  179. Digital Distraction and Attention Spans
  180. Online Disinhibition: Why People Behave Differently Online
  181. Metacognition: Thinking About Thinking
  182. Incubation and Creative Insight
  183. Confabulation: The Brain's Auto-Complete
  184. Triangular Theory of Love
  185. Parasocial Relationships
  186. Proprioception: The Sense You Never Think About
  187. Interoception: Reading Your Body's Signals
  188. The Rubber Hand Illusion
  189. Stereotype Formation and Maintenance
  190. Persuasion and the Elaboration Likelihood Model
  191. Optimism: Realistic vs. Unrealistic
  192. Experience vs. Memory: The Two Selves
  193. Nostalgia: The Bittersweet Emotion
  194. Thin-Slicing: Accurate Judgments from Minimal Information
  195. Psychological Entropy: The Cost of Uncertainty
  196. The Future of Psychology

About the psychology lessons

What do the psychology lessons cover?

Cognitive biases such as anchoring and the sunk cost fallacy, memory effects, persuasion, social psychology and classic experiments such as Milgram's. Each lesson cites the paper or book it is based on.

Are these psychology facts sourced?

Yes. Every lesson in the app names its source, and this page prints it under each lesson. Where a famous finding has been questioned since, the lesson is only as good as its source, so check the reference if a fact matters to you.

How many psychology lessons are in the app?

The app has 230 psychology lessons, each with a quiz and its source. The free plan gives you 5 lessons a day across every topic, and Premium has no daily limit.

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