500+ Psychology Facts | ✍

581-585

581. According to a researcher named Barbara Fredrickson from the University of North Carolina, the romantic concept of “true love” in society is flawed. She claims that the affectionate part of love can be felt for pretty much anyone during small moments of admiration and respect. The major difference is when people enter a relationship. During sex, chemicals called oxytocin and vasopressin are released in the brain, which make people fall in love. However, some people have more receptors to these chemicals than others. So- the people who have more oxytocin receptors are more likely to stay in a long-term relationship.

582. You want more choices and information than you can actually process.

583. Your emotions are influenced by the people around you. If everyone around you is sad, you will feel sadness, too. If everyone is happy and excited, that is infectious, and makes others happy as well. This is why it is important to escape toxic environments, especially if people in your surroundings are aggressive and violent.

584. Jealousy is a different emotion than envy. If you feel a twinge in your stomach when you hear that your friend from High School is more successful than you are- that’s actually envy. On the other hand, if someone is flirting with your significant other, that’s jealousy. The key difference is that “envy” is what you feel when you want something you can’t have, and “jealousy” is when something you already had in the past was taken away. So, if someone says, “I’m so jealous!” about your success, they are actually using the word incorrectly.

585. Have you ever gone to sleep feeling sad or anxious, and woke up feeling in a much better mood the next morning? That is because when your brain goes into Rapid Eye Movement  (REM) sleep, it releases chemicals that ease the mental pain of traumatic experiences.