Your mind is quicker to agree, believe and choose than you might expect. These curations look at how groups pull us into conformity, why a sugar pill can ease real pain, how we justify our past decisions, and how a good story can change what we believe.
Social influence is the ways people adjust their behavior to meet the demands of their social environment. What leads people to conform to others, and how can you understand the pressures that shape their behavior? The lessons consider how group expectations, requests, and cultural context influence people's choices.
The placebo effect is relief that can sometimes result from placebos, medicines or treatments intended to appear genuine but having no pharmaceutical effect. These lessons explore how expectations and social context, including relationships with doctors, may shape symptoms, helping readers understand how what people anticipate can influence their experience.
Cognitive dissonance is psychological stress that can surface when actions, beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors conflict, or new information challenges existing beliefs. According to this theory, people automatically try to resolve the inconsistency, usually by reframing a side; the lessons explore some examples in choices, moral conflict, and changing attitudes.
The psychology of audience engagement includes narrative transportation, a model in which readers become immersed in a story through focused attention, emotional engagement, mental imagery, and detachment from reality. Van Laer, de Ruyter, Visconti, and Wetzels describe this immersion as feeling as if one has entered the story's world, driven by empathy for characters and imagination of the plot.
Curiate turns what you are curious about into a short path — a quick lesson on an article, something to watch, and a book to go deep on. Free to browse.
