There’s a cool psychological trick called “learning by osmosis”. I’ve used it countless times in high school, and it’s definitely saved my butt from actually having to study. I first heard of this idea in my sophomore year Honors Biology class, where after learning about osmosis in cells (where they absorb water and stuff), people joked about learning by osmosis, simply absorbing the material without actually having to study it. Curious, I did some more research into the topic, and found myself an actual working method. Here it is as follows:
- Put a hardback book of the subject you want to study under your pillow at night.
- Go to sleep.
- Learn by osmosis!
Sure, it sounds ridiculous, but the psychology behind it is actually quite interesting. Before you sleep, your mind enters what’s called an “empty space”, where it flits around from zone to zone seemingly without direction but with great focus. It’s here when you can recall embarrassing memories from years ago, word for word arguments that you’ve had, and much more — it’s when your memory is the clearest. What the book does is act as a grounder to reality. When you feel that hard, uncomfortable presence underneath your head, your thought process goes: what is this → why is it here → subject in question. In essence, you’ll start thinking about that subject when your brain is in that “empty space” and it will strengthen the neurological connections, helping you remember it more easily and “learning by osmosis”. Obviously, you can’t learn anything new from this method, but it can definitely eliminate any need for studying!
When I told this to my friend Marissa, she was intrigued beyond words. “Oh my god, I’ve actually done this before! I used to sleep with an Earth Science book under my pillow and that’s the year I went to South Korea for the International Earth Science Olympiad!! I didn’t know this was an actual thing.”
Of course, she was devastated when I revealed moments later that it was all a prank.
In a personal capacity, I enjoy making up stories to entertain myself and my friends — whether it’s chess calculation by geometric shapes, learning by osmosis, or application of the Keneysian economic theory to brawl stars trophy count, these ludicrous ideas are always based on a grain of truth. These stories, however, quickly lose comedic value when applied to more grave issues, and that takes us into the real psychology behind this post: believing fake stories from the internet.
I know what you’re thinking. You literally just tricked us: scroll half a page up! Why would we believe anything you have to say? What if I told you that every day, a man named Christopher Blair made up stories far more ludicrous than mine, and those were taken to be truth? Barack Obama arrested for wiretapping Donald Trump! Clinton Foundation ship caught smuggling refugees! Trey Gowdy’s son found dead in a D.C. dumpster! All the headlines above were passed off as real, and spread virally across the entire Internet. This article details how a 46-year old Little League umpire became one of the greatest sources of fake news on the Internet, but don’t start hating just yet. He wrote each and every single piece with comedic intentions: all his “fake news” is a way to poke fun at the far right for their extremist ideas. His website’s purpose statement? “[It] is a satirical publication that uses the imagination of liberals to expose the extreme bigotry and hate and subsequent blind gullibility that festers in right-wing nutjobs.”
So, why is it so easy to believe, and why do we keep doing it? Psychologists cite countless reasons: ease of access, firmly rooted beliefs, catchy, and much more, but at the heart of it the reason is that we, as a population, are being dumb. That’s it — that’s the secret psychology you need: believe only yourself, or things you’ve checked for yourself. I’m not saying to distrust your friends always, but if it’s information that’s going to alter the way you think or your beliefs, it won’t take that long to check. It’s far easier to have information spoon-fed to us that actually verifying that information, or even going out and finding our own credible resource, but that is what we need to do. Especially in this political climate, learning what’s real and what’s not can be more vital than ever.
To learn more, read this study by Northwestern University, this article by Psychology Today, as well as the aforementioned article by the Washington Post.
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Works Cited
LaBier, Douglas. “New Research Shows Why People Believe False Information.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, 31 Dec. 2016.
Rapp, David. “Why We Fall Prey to Misinformation.” Northwestern University | School of Education & Social Policy, Northwestern University, 12 Sept. 2016.
Saslow, Eli. “’Nothing on This Page Is Real’: How Lies Become Truth in Online America.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 18 Nov. 2018.