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According to a recent survey, almost two out of three Americans believe in love at first sight (Naumann, 2001).
The survey reported that over half of them have actually experienced it, and over half of those went on to marry the person they had instantly fallen in love with.

Source: http://www.in-mind.org/

Some universal human needs include:
1. The Need to Belong - an innate preparedness to form and maintain at least a minimum quantity of interpersonal relationships
2. The Need for Meaningful Existence.

If these needs are frustrated people start suffering from anxiety, have a higher chance of dying at a younger age, and have a poorer immune system.

Taken from: Van Voorst, A., & IJzerman, H. (2007). Evolution of religion. In-Mind Magazine, 3.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder although there are some stereotypes. Beyond physical attractiveness though there is the theory of 'what-is-beautiful-is-good'.

We implicitly assume that attractiveness comes with good traits. For example, attractive people are rated as more intelligent, successful, warm, happy, and dominant than unattractive people.

There is no evidence that this correlation actually exists though.

Taken from: Eagly, A. H., Ashmore, R. D., Makhijani, M. G., Longo, L. C. (1991). What is beautiful is good, but...: a meta-analytic review of research on the physical attractiveness stereotype. Psychological Bulletin, 110 107-128. oh and...

In order to be seen as more attractive, hang out with attractive people
The so-called radiation effect means that when a person of average attractiveness is simultaneously seen with a very attractive person, observers will rate the average attractive woman as more attractive than when she is evaluated alone.

Taken from: Geiselman, R. E., Haight, N. A. & Kimata, L. G. (1984). Context effect in the perceived attractiveness of faces. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 20, 409-424.

Reminding someone about their own mortality changes their political or social opinions

Iranian college students declared increased support for martyrdom attacks when they were reminded about their own deaths first. American college students reminded about their own mortality declared increased support for extreme military incursions that could kill thousands of civilians.

Watch out for politicians reminding you about your own mortality in an attempt to influence your opinions.

Taken from: Pyszczynski, T., Abdollahi, A., Solomon, S., Greenberg, J., Cohen, F., & Weise, D. (2006). Mortality Salience, Martyrdom, and Military Might: The Great Satan versus the Axis of Evil. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 32: 525-537.

"A good way to get a lazy person in a group to carry their fair share is to ignore them."

Answer: FALSE

Ostracism can work as a way to increase hard work, but only if the person is female. Women feel bad when others ignore them, and consequently work harder. Men tend not to express emotions that appear feminine, such as distress. Although both men and women feel distressed when ostracized, men tend to hide this by being even lazier, just to show they are not distressed.

Taken from: Williams, K.D. & Sommer, K.L. (1997). Social ostracism by coworkers: does rejection lead to loafing or compensation? Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 23, 693-706.

If you are having a hard time controlling your thoughts, feelings, or behaviors, it may be because you just made a lot of decisions.Decision-making affects self-regulation; that is, the ability to control our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. Self-control and decision-making use the same psychological resource. When a person makes many decisions, the resource may get depleted and consequently the ability for self-control fails.

Taken from: Vohs, K., Baumeister, R., Schmeichel, B., Twenge, J., Nelson, N., & Tice, D. (2008). Making Choices Impairs Subsequent Self-Control: A Limited-Resource Account of Decision Making, Self-Regulation, and Active Initiative. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 94(5), 883-898.

An average human social circle is about 150 people.

Jonas, C. (2007). There's something about zero. In-Mind Magazine, 4.

The Washington Post's Mensa Invitational once again asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition. Here are some of the things they came up with:

Caterpallor (n.): The color you turn after finding half a worm in the fruit you're eating.

Hipatitis: Terminal coolness.

Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.

Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.

Karmageddon: It's like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it's, like, a serious bummer.

Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease.

Certain things in life can encourage the positive emotions and feelings that are already in you, strengthening them.

Example: If you listen to a piece of music that means a lot to you, you are moved by it. Something that is in you already is stirred and called out by the music, so that you feel differently from the way you felt before. You are not changed from who you were, but a different side of your personality responds and is strengthened.

Certain people can also help an individual bring out this goodness that is within.

- Stefan Ball

We are all here on earth to learn from who we are. Our time on the planet is an opportunity to discover our strengths and to work on our weaknesses. This means finding out who we really are. It means finding the richness in being ourselves.

- Bach beliefs ~ Stefan Ball