Psychology Awareness

In this era of technology, popular culture has taken off like a contagion spreading information that can vary from useful to downright misleading. Psychology is no exception to this, and the masses who are fascinated by the study of our minds and how we think have unsurprisingly made (and shared) their theories. Today, I focus on 4 such “Pop Psychology” myths:

1. We Only Use 10% of our Brains

As humans, we love to boast the extent of our potential as intelligent organisms. Unfortunately, we do indeed need to use our entire brains.

2. Opposites Attract

Ah, the classic rom-com trope. Unfortunately for you and your dreams of finding your opposite match, sources suggest that we look for familiarity in potential partners. However, this isn’t to say that opposites can’t attract. And, it’s not to say opposites can’t be happy together either. (Link to interesting read about this)

3. People with Psychological Disorders are Dangerous

This is perhaps the most serious and grim pop-psych myth. Films and other media propagate negative representations of people who have mental disorders, which have built up stereotypes that cause prejudice. What’s more, we are quick to fear those who act differently than the norm. Let us not make fundamental attribution errors in judging other people.

4. Lie Detectors are Accurate

The polygraph test is a seemingly revolutionary tool that we use to dive into the mind of man. As they say, it’s too good to be true. There are simply too many factors that can potentially affect the physiology that the lie detectors monitor for us to definitively have a green and red button for truth or lie.