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Do You Know Proven Psychology Facts?

10 Questions
2 Minutes

Test your knowledge of the most reliable research findings in psychology.

Over the last two decades, psychology has confronted a replication crisis in the field—much research doesn’t hold up to scrutiny. Psychologists have been working to solve these problems and strengthen the field’s reliability. At the same time, there are some core discoveries, psychological truths, that have strong support. Take this quiz to assess your knowledge of important psychological findings.

1. People tend to seek out information that challenges their beliefs.
2. Core personality traits tend to stay relatively stable over time.
3. Memories can shift each time they are recalled.
4. People aren’t always aware of their mental processes.
5. Opposites attract—people tend to be drawn to those who are different from them.
6. Practice is more effective when it’s spread out than all together.
7. The brain’s capacity for significant change ends after early development.
8. Avoidance exacerbates anxiety.
9. The best parenting style is generally authoritative—a combination of high warmth and high structure.
10. The key ingredient to successful therapy is the amount of time spent in therapy.
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Sources

  • Abbasi, Z., Billsberry, J. & Todres, M. Empirical studies of the “similarity leads to attraction” hypothesis in workplace interactions: a systematic review. Manag Rev Q 74, 661–709 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11301-022-00313-5
  • Bargh, J. Before You Know It: The Unconscious Reasons We Do What We Do. Simon & Schuster. 2017.
  • Benjamin AS, Tullis J. What makes distributed practice effective? Cogn Psychol. 2010 Nov;61(3):228-47. doi: 10.1016/j.cogpsych.2010.05.004. PMID: 20580350; PMCID: PMC2930147.
  • Brown AD, Kouri N, Hirst W. Memory's Malleability: Its Role in Shaping Collective Memory and Social Identity. Front Psychol. 2012 Jul 23;3:257. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00257. PMID: 22837750; PMCID: PMC3402138.
  • Fuchs E, Flügge G. Adult neuroplasticity: more than 40 years of research. Neural Plast. 2014;2014:541870. doi: 10.1155/2014/541870. Epub 2014 May 4. PMID: 24883212; PMCID: PMC4026979.
  • Hart W, Albarracín D, Eagly AH, Brechan I, Lindberg MJ, Merrill L. Feeling validated versus being correct: a meta-analysis of selective exposure to information. Psychol Bull. 2009 Jul;135(4):555-88. doi: 10.1037/a0015701. PMID: 19586162; PMCID: PMC4797953.
  • Kuppens S, Ceulemans E. Parenting Styles: A Closer Look at a Well-Known Concept. J Child Fam Stud. 2019;28(1):168-181. doi: 10.1007/s10826-018-1242-x. Epub 2018 Sep 18. PMID: 30679898; PMCID: PMC6323136.
  • Rauch SA, Eftekhari A, Ruzek JI. Review of exposure therapy: a gold standard for PTSD treatment. J Rehabil Res Dev. 2012;49(5):679-87. doi: 10.1682/jrrd.2011.08.0152. PMID: 23015579.
  • Stubbe DE. The Therapeutic Alliance: The Fundamental Element of Psychotherapy. Focus (Am Psychiatr Publ). 2018 Oct;16(4):402-403. doi: 10.1176/appi.focus.20180022. Epub 2018 Oct 18. PMID: 31975934; PMCID: PMC6493237.

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