Think you're in control? Surprising ways your mind plays trick on you

             Written by: Ehsan Siddiqui

30 September 2025

 Every day, your mind pulls tricks on you, from how you see reality to how you recall past events. Here are some astonishing psychological phenomena you experience daily without even realizing it.

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Deja Vu is the peculiar sense of having lived a moment in the past. It happens when your brain creates a false sense of familiarity by inadvertently overlapping memories with current situations.

Deja Vu

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Think everyone noticed your embarrassing moment? They didn't. Research shows people vastly overestimate how much others notice their mistakes because we're the center of our own world.

The Spotlight Effect

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First notice something, then all of a sudden it's everywhere? That is the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon. It's no coincidence; your brain is just paying more attention to the new knowledge you've acquired.

The Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon

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When someone excels at one thing, we assume they are good at everything. This notion influences hiring decisions, relationships, and how you assess people's personalities.

The Halo Effect

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We instinctively look for evidence to confirm our beliefs and disregard evidence to the contrary. This is why heated debates often end in deadlock. Our brain is hardwired to defend what it already believes is true.

Confirmation Bias

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