Insight by Psychology
Surrogacy is the tendency to replace a complex goal with a simpler proxy because humans prefer trackable measures, and over time the proxy is treated as if it were the real objective, so choices optimize the proxy while neglecting what truly matters.
Want more like this?
Every card on Korva is an insight someone saved from a podcast or video they loved.
More from @psychology's Picks
See all →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.
Gossip makes people less likely to listen to you because speaking ill of someone signals you betray confidence, which causes listeners to distrust you and avoid engaging.
Empathy narrows attention to specific victims because it generates intense shared feeling, whereas compassion is a broader, more detached concern that engages different processes and can be scaled to help many without emotional burnout.