Insight by Psychology
Successful people often believe the world is meritocratic because survivor bias leads them to observe only those who worked hard and succeeded, causing them to generalize that effort reliably produces success while ignoring failed but hardworking peers.
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See all →Increasing physical or psychological distance—via artillery, remote weapons, or dehumanizing rhetoric—makes mass violence easier because it removes direct confrontation and the moral resistance that face-to-face contact normally triggers.
People are more likely to comply with those they like because demonstrating similarity and giving sincere, specific compliments increases liking, which raises persuasive power.
Social fitness is a practice because relationships weaken without ongoing attention, so regular routines (calls, shared activities, check‑ins) are needed to preserve bonds that regulate stress and well‑being.
Dehumanization plus unchecked power enables extreme cruelty because turning people into 'non‑people' collapses emotional barriers to harm, and concentrated power with social conformity removes accountability for atrocities.
People put on psychological armor—perfectionism, intellectualizing, control—to avoid judgment, but because that armor hides vulnerability it also blocks access to love and belonging and increases suffering.
Framing a small current adoption as part of a fast-growing trend increases compliance because people project recent growth forward and expect future uptake, which makes them more likely to join now.
A practical strategy is to act as if you control your destiny to sustain effort, but also acknowledge luck and use any fortune to help others because belief in control drives persistence while admitting chance prevents overconfidence and promotes redistribution.
Explicitly stating shared membership (e.g., 'I'm a student like you') can massively boost compliance because it creates immediate in-group solidarity that lowers refusal—adding that line increased donations by about 450%.