500+ Psychology Facts | ✍

641-645

641. It takes five positive things to outweigh a single negative thing.
Our brains have something called a "negativity bias" that makes us remember bad news more than good, which is why you quickly forget that your coworker complimented your presentation but keep dwelling on the fact that a kid at the bus stop insulted your shoes. To feel balanced, we need at least a five to one ration of good to bad in our lives.

642. You don’t need to feel sad all day to be depressed.
“It seems obvious that experiencing a depressed mood most of the day, nearly every day, would be required for someone to be diagnosed. But some people who are diagnosed with depression do not report feeling depressed, sad or low, but rather, they report experiencing significantly diminished interest or pleasure in all, or almost all, activities most of the day, nearly every day. Either one, or both together, can be present when considering a diagnosis of depression.” —Simon Rego, PsyD, chief psychologist at Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, New York

643. Depression can have physical symptoms.
“One of the main symptoms that gets people asking for help has nothing to do with mood at all. Many people with depression have physical symptoms like backaches, headaches, stomach aches, and sleep problems that are the reason they eventually go to the doctor. After ruling out physical reasons for their symptoms, they are ultimately diagnosed with depression.”—Susan Fletcher, PhD

644. You can’t maintain over 150 relationships.
Relationships are hard. Now imagine maintaining 150 meaningful connections. Right? Irrespective of how many friends you have on social media, in real life, we can’t maintain more than 150 social connections at a given time. This is known as Dunbar’s Number.

645. You only see what you want to.
Our brain is often unable to process all the information we are exposed to, we tend to overlook things that we consider unimportant. Due to inattentional blindness, we skip over some obvious information as either we are focused on something more important or we don’t prefer to process the deviation.