“Since our brains are adept at finding and drawing conclusions from patterns, it's not surprising that coincidences captivate our attention.” — David DiSalvo Coincidences Copy Share Image
“The study authors believe that when high achievers are primed to achieve excellence, the idea that a task is “fun” undercuts their… — David DiSalvo Achievers Copy Share Image
“The best way to think of how our brains frame information is to imagine a picture frame, except unlike a normal frame,… — David DiSalvo Focus Copy Share Image
“appears that our first instinct is for idleness, but when given an excuse to be busy (even a meaningless one), we're liable… — David DiSalvo Happiness Copy Share Image
“heuristics are simple, efficient rules—either hard-wired in our brains or learned—that kick in especially when we're facing problems with incomplete information.” — David DiSalvo Facing problems Copy Share Image
“Neuroscience research is revealing that the state of not being certain is an extremely uncomfortable place for our brains to live: The… — David DiSalvo Discomfort Copy Share Image
“The second point is that the lives we lead are much more automated than we imagine—or like to concede—and that this is… — David DiSalvo Copy Share Image
“The second category is long-term memory—the place where everything “remembered” resides. Long-term memory is engaged in the short term (e.g., word memorization)… — David DiSalvo Childhood memories Copy Share Image
“The results showed that the more times people were exposed to a photo of a completed action, the more often they thought… — David DiSalvo Photography Copy Share Image
“the amPFC and PCC were shown to play a large role in self-referential thinking and autobiographical memory (essentially, the “me” part of… — David DiSalvo Memory Copy Share Image
“We have to appreciate that our brains weren't born yesterday. We have mechanisms to warn of threats and guard against instability because… — David DiSalvo Brains Copy Share Image
“Cognitive fluency refers to our brains’ tendency to accept messages that are easy to understand and effortlessly fit into existing schemata (referring… — David DiSalvo Copy Share Image
“most views, short-term memory has extremely limited capacity—about seven items at a time. Long-term memory includes anything that is not currently active… — David DiSalvo Memory Copy Share Image
“The flip side of this reality is that our big brains, advanced as they are, come with an array of complex shortcomings… — David DiSalvo Shortcomings Copy Share Image
“humans are born with brains structured to make sense of the world, and that often leads to beliefs that go beyond any… — David DiSalvo Brains Copy Share Image
“Research indicates that those who obsessively ruminate tend to dwell on negative thoughts and emotions. There is, in fact, a strong correlation… — David DiSalvo Depression Copy Share Image
“when we get the thing we wanted, the game is over. On top of this, something psychologists call habituation begins to set… — David DiSalvo Habituation Copy Share Image
“For certainly, at the level of social life, what is called the adjustment of man to his environment takes place through the… — David DiSalvo Life Copy Share Image
“selective attention,” also called “selectivity bias”—the tendency to orient oneself toward and process information from only one part of our environment to… — David DiSalvo Focus Copy Share Image
“framing bias), defining it as the decision maker's conception of acts, outcomes, and contingencies associated with a particular choice.” — David DiSalvo Bias Copy Share Image
“your brain is structured to make sense of stimuli and patterns in any environment you step into, and it's finding patterns in… — David DiSalvo Brain Copy Share Image
“The results again showed that people holding heavy clipboards assumed stronger, more polarized positions than those holding light clipboards, and made significantly… — David DiSalvo Copy Share Image
“tendency to seek confirming evidence and ignore disconfirming evidence as “confirmation bias,” and it's as human as sex, sleep, and barbeque.” — David DiSalvo Copy Share Image
“social surrogacy hypothesis,” which holds that humans can use technologies, like television, to feel a sense of belonging that they're lacking in… — David DiSalvo Life Copy Share Image
“Children who observe an adult intentionally manipulating an object have a strong tendency to encode all of the adult's actions as meaningful.” — David DiSalvo Child Copy Share Image
“great deal of “green” marketing is predicated on the assumption that people will buy a green product to make themselves feel better… — David DiSalvo Copy Share Image
“Our expectations for what we should be able to recall are hardly in line with what our brains are capable of processing—which,… — David DiSalvo Brains Copy Share Image
“What this tells us is that the brain doesn't merely prefer certainty over ambiguity—it craves it. Our need to be right is… — David DiSalvo Copy Share Image
“deliberate practice—practice designed to develop mastery in the specific areas required by whatever role or position we are targeting.” — David DiSalvo Deliberate Copy Share Image
“What we now know is that our brains happily reconstruct memories, though we are frequently fooled into thinking that the reconstructions are… — David DiSalvo Memory Copy Share Image
“Since the early days of studying propaganda used during World War II, psychology research has demonstrated that the more a message is… — David DiSalvo Propaganda Copy Share Image
“Neurons that fire together wire together.” What this means in terms of memory is that the more intense the activity is between… — David DiSalvo Brain Copy Share Image
“use of concrete language strongly correlates with a sense of social closeness, whereas abstract language correlates with social distance.” — David DiSalvo Language Copy Share Image
“It would be difficult to exaggerate the degree to which we are influenced by those we influence.” —ERIC HOFFER, THE PASSIONATE STATE… — David DiSalvo Influence Copy Share Image
“Not by coincidence is the divorce rate for second marriages higher than it is for first marriages; attempting to recapture the anticipation… — David DiSalvo Marriage Copy Share Image
“When we do a moral act to offset an immoral one, we are engaged in “moral cleansing.” When we do nothing, or… — David DiSalvo Bank account Copy Share Image
“After writing about their favorite TV shows, participants verbally expressed fewer feelings of loneliness and exclusion than when describing the filler TV… — David DiSalvo Academic achievement Copy Share Image
“why we repeatedly convince ourselves that we've overcome impulsiveness and can stop avoiding our worst temptations.1 This particular tendency toward self-deception is… — David DiSalvo Impulsiveness Copy Share Image
“The first is working memory, or what we usually call “short-term memory”—the category of memory that includes anything we are actively thinking… — David DiSalvo Memory Copy Share Image
“yawns are contagious for the same reason that smiles, frowns, and other facial expressions are contagious: They are a measure of empathy,… — David DiSalvo Copy Share Image
