Fun facts about secret choices, dentists named Dennis, hidden biases, and more.
More Astounding Facts About Mental Behavior
Dentists Named Dennis

Dentists are frequently named Dennis. Disproportionately so. A choice of profession based on a person's name resembling the name of the profession sounds ridiculous -- but it's a statistical fact. The unconscious brain has a role in most decision-making. Perhaps the unconscious is superstitious about phonetic similarities or other silly ironies ??
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Booze protects the brain from dementia in later life. This could be due to its anti-inflammatory properties, or to the fact that social drinkers are more...well, sociable. Keep in mind that this benefit applies to moderate drinkers. Alcoholics are another matter.


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Marketing and suggestion affect our human taste buds. According to studies, higher-priced wine tastes better than identical cheaper wines. Consumers are also susceptible to other mind-altering gimmicks: color, bottle shape, etc. Ice cream packaged in circular tubs is preferred over ice cream in box-shaped containers. (It often costs more, too.) Placebo, anyone?




As you step further and further away from these two faces, each expression appears to change places. Calm becomes angry, and vice-versa. (Talk about two-faced....)


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What's in a name? Plenty, if it's part of an email address. A German study confirms that personality traits can be inferred from emails like Hula-Hoop-Queen@yahoo.com and Prof_Jones@hotmail.com. Correctly-guessed characteristics include traits like openness, narcissism, agreeableness, etc.

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Finally, in our latest homage to Darwin, a neuro-scientific truth...



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Astounding Facts About Mental Behavior, Part 1