Psychology
Exploring "Why" questions about Psychology
480 articles
Why do men feel sick when punched or kicked in the testicles?
A good rule of thumb for questions about why the body works in a particular way is to ask, "How would this trait benefit our caveman ancestors?" The ape-man who has 'numb nuts' isn't going to be parti
Why do people hate insurance companies?
It's pretty simple really. You pay them a lot of money to protect you should something happen like a car accident or you get sick. They are some of the richest companies on earth, and they gouge the c
Why is it so natural for us to laugh at other people getting accidentally hurt?
Not everyone does. There are some people who do not and cannot find humor in painful or embarrassing situations happening to others, even if they know they're fictional. There was an interesting artic
Why do people feel the urge to shake their leg, jiggle their foot, etc.?
Muscle contraction is the only way to squeeze blood back up from the lower legs. When sitting still, contracting the calf muscles allows the blood to be squeezed up and avoids pooling.
Why does being worried about laughing make it hard not to laugh?
Seems like the reasoning could be rooted in the "White Bear" problem or something called [ironic process theory](_URL_0_). Trying not to think of something causes you to think of it more. Basically, p
Why do we feel the urge to destroy stuff when feeling frustrated/angry?
Well, anger is one of the strongest emotions, and one of the emotions that get you into fight & flight mode. This releases a load of hormones, that make you pumped up and ready to fight, whatever
Why do smells have the power to instantly force memory and nostalgia into my mind?
My friend studied cognitive science and is now studying psychiatry and this is how she explained it to me. Smell is a very old sense, older than taste, vision or hearing. So the part of brains that ha
Why can we easily pour a lot of booze into ourselves during a party but two cups of tea/water/etc. in a row makes us feel full?
I think this is a little subjective? I mean, I can easily drink 2 liters of soda (the fizzy kind) in a sitting and I don't necessarily feel full. It depends on what you ate/drank before, I guess.
Why sometimes after taking pill it feels like it is stucked in my throat ?
It's usually just the effect of swallowing something dry, as you would feel swallowing anything without much water content within it. Pills are the worse because they are non-permeable (not like say p
Why can I remember something one day and then a different day not be able to? Like monday I study for a test and can fully understand everything I study, then the test comes tuesday and I cant reca…
From what I *recall* from some psychology classes I took: Memory has 3 stages: encoding, storage, and retrieval. Encoding is when you learn something and commit it to memory. Storage is obviously keep