10 of the Most Surprising Findings from Psychological Studies
Psychology has a reputation for being the science of common
sense, or a field that simply confirms things we already know
about ourselves.  One way of battling this misconception,
explains Jeremy Dean — a PhD candidate in psychology and master
of ceremonies at the always-awesome PsyBlog — is to "think about
all the unexpected, surprising, and just plain weird findings
that have popped out of psychology studies over the years." Here
are ten of his favorite examples.  10. Cognitive dissonance This
is perhaps one of the weirdest and most unsettling findings in
psychology. Cognitive dissonance is the idea that we find it
hard to hold two contradictory beliefs, so we unconsciously
adjust one to make it fit with the other.  In the classic study,
students found a boring task more interesting if they were paid
less to take part. Our unconscious reasons like this: if I
didn't do it for money, then I must have done it because it was
interesting. As if by ma