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Next time someone tries to sell you a book or device in order to retrain your supposedly flabby right hemisphere, take out your wallet. And then press it firmly against your chest and run away with your strength. As in some other myths, there is a grain of truth in this too. However, this grain will probably be difficult to find under a pile of disinformation, which was falling asleep. Is it true that some people have a better-left hemisphere, while others have a better right hemisphere? There is reliable evidence that the two sides of the brain, called hemispheres, differ in their functions...

Whenever those of us who study the brain leave the ivory tower to give public lectures or interviews with the media, they are always asked the same question. The disappointing look that usually comes after the answer: "I'm afraid it's not" convincingly shows that the myth of 10% is one of those encouraging truisms that refuses to die simply because it would be too good if it were true. This myth is widespread even among psychology students and other educated people. In one study, when students...

Some psychological myths are not completely false. They are exaggerations of statements that contain the grain of truth. For example, it is almost certain that many of us do not realize our true intellectual potential. However, this fact does not mean that most of us use only 10% of our intelligence, as many people mistakenly think. It is most likely true that at least a few differences in interests and personality traits between love partners can "add gloves" to their relationships. Because life...

We often evaluate the similarities between the two things based on their superficial similarity to each other. Psychologists call this phenomenon heuristically representative because we use the extent to which the two things are "representative" of each other to assess how similar they are. "Euristicity, by the way, is a mnemonic method or a rule of thumb. Most often, heuristic representativeness (like other heuristic methods) serves us well. If we walk down the street and see a masked armed man running out of a bank, we will probably try to get out of there as soon as possible...

Word of mouth For many generations, there have been many misguided folk beliefs about oral communication. For example, because the phrase "opposites are attracted" is catchy and easy to remember, people tend to tell others about it. Many legends are spread in similarly, for example, you may have heard the story of alligators living in the New York City sewerage system, or of a well-meaning but stupid woman who has placed her wet poodle in a microwave oven to dry it out, and he's there exploded...