Our brains are extremely interesting. Have you ever wondered if the things you were doing made a difference on a deeper level?

When it comes to figuring out why something is working or isn’t working in your life it helps to have some kind of understanding of psychological facts. Below you will find a list of some of the most important to know ‘psychology facts’ I have ever come across.

7 Psychology Facts We All Need to Know:

1. Most people choose their favorite song because it is something that they associate with an emotional event in their lives.

We all resonate with our favorite songs on a very deep level. What do you think of when you are listening to your favorite sad song or your favorite upbeat song? These songs dig up pieces of yourself and in some cases your past that evoke emotion.

2. Your unconscious always knows first.

Your unconscious mind is much quicker than your conscious mind. There is always so much going on behind the scenes we are not aware of. Our unconscious mind is able to detect danger before we realize it is there consciously. You can learn more about how this works in the video below.

3. Being around happy people can make you happy as well.

Research published in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology shows that being around a positive group of people influences us in a positive way. The more upbeat our social circle is the more upbeat we are likely to be.

4. Even the illusion of progress can be motivating.

This feeds into the goal-gradient effect. The idea of progress pushes us to drive further to our goals. For instance, if you can see the finish line you are more likely to push to win the race.

The shorter distance to the goal the more motivated we are. If you are given a coupon for a free ice cream once you buy three and you already bought one when you got the first ice cream you are more likely to actually get the last two and the reward of the free one. Does that make sense?

5. We can only handle so much, small amounts of information at a time is best.

When we take in information getting everything at once is not the best. The less we take in at a time the more we will remember. As humans, we cannot handle being bombarded with so much information.

6. We ‘know’ how to do things we have never done before.

We create mental models for things in our minds before actually doing them. Have you ever been asked to do something and went over how to do it in your mind beforehand? This is exactly what I am talking about. Sure, when you actually do it things may be a bit different but you essentially knew what you were going to do before doing it.

7. If you make your goals known to others you lose motivation and are less likely to accomplish them.

Tests have shown for years now that announcing our goals makes us less likely to actually achieve them. We obtain a premature sense of completeness once we make these goals known. This drives our motivation down. That being said some people are exceptions to this.