Pop Quizzes > Do You Understand Human Nature?
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Do You Understand Human Nature?

10 Questions
2 Minutes

Take this test to determine whether you've got a handle on human behavior.

We all have to be amateur psychologists to survive. Much as we’d like others to be rational, alas, they are not. Nor are they always predictable. Take this test to find out whether your knowledge stacks up against what psychologists have actually discovered.

1. If you think something will be painful, you’ll feel pain even when none is inflicted.
2. People are getting smarter.
3. People who do good things are inclined to do more good things.
4. False confessions to crime are highly unusual.
5. People who live in wealthier countries cry more than people who live in poorer countries.
6. People are much more likely to provide help in a crisis if they know others are watching.
7. Hallucinations are extremely uncommon among normal people.
8. Imagining a future success helps bring it about.
9. Most people who engage in evil acts are sociopaths by nature.
10. If you want to ensure that someone completes a task, pay them for it.
Psychology Today's online self-tests are intended for informational purposes only and are not diagnostic tools. Psychology Today does not capture or store personally identifiable information, and your identity cannot be determined from your responses. Aggregated self-test responses are stored to improve the tests and provide performance comparisons. Psychology Today uses third party cookies such as Google Analytics to collect visitor data on this page without sharing any personal data, ensuring your identity cannot be determined from your visit. There are no advertising partners included on these self-test pages. If you wish to remove cookies from this site or opt out of data sharing, please click 'Do not share or sell my personal information' below. For a reliable medical diagnosis, please consult a professional.

Sources

The Flynn Effect: A Meta-analysis. Psychol Bull. 2014 Jun 30. L. Trahan, et al. doi: 10.1037/a0037173

National Science Foundation

50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology: Shattering Widespread Myths and Misconceptions about Human Behavior. Wiley-Blackwell. January 2009. S.O. Lilienfeld.

10 Myths About The Mind. Psychology Today.September 2019. 

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