Why We Do What We Do
Ever wonder why you can't stop scrolling or why certain smells trigger old memories? Discover the hidden patterns behind your everyday choices and learn to see the world through a psychological lens.
Like Duolingo, but for Why We Do What We Do. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.
A short one: 26 levels across 3 sections, about 52 minutes end to end, roughly 10 days at five minutes a day. It moves through Read the Room and Yourself, Think Like a Mind Scientist, and The Machinery Under the Hood. It starts from scratch.
Free forever · No credit card · iPhone & Android
Key ideas in Why We Do What We Do
- The habit loop consists of a cue, routine, and reward
- Habits shift from the prefrontal cortex to deeper, automatic brain structures
- The cue is the specific trigger that initiates the behavior
- Repetition creates a pre-programmed loop that bypasses conscious choice
- The cue must precede the routine
- The reward is what reinforces the loop for future repetition
- The sequence of events that leads to a habit becoming 'stuck' on repeat
- The brain is an energy-intensive organ that seeks to conserve metabolic resources
- Deep analytical processing is slower and more 'expensive' than using intuitive shortcuts
- Heuristics are the mental process, while biases are the resulting errors in judgment
- Specific shortcuts lead to predictable patterns of miscalculation
- How specific shortcuts manifest as common cognitive biases
- Shortcuts help us make fast decisions in high-stakes or busy environments
- Why the brain prioritizes energy efficiency over accuracy
- The brain often filters out 'contradictory' data to maintain a consistent mental model without extra effort
- How the brain transitions from conscious decision-making to automatic habit execution
You've tried the other tabs
Thirty open tabs. Four facts you actually kept.
You watched. You nodded. By Sunday it was gone.
One answer, then back to scrolling.
Eight weeks. You meant to finish. You didn't.
Tomo gives Why We Do What We Do the Duolingo treatment: levels, streaks, and quick quizzes that test what you just learned. That game loop is what the tabs above never had, so it's the one you actually finish.
Here's what playing it feels like
A real question from this course. Take your best guess.
When a behavior becomes a habit, where does the 'control center' for that action shift in your brain?
Get it right to open this lesson and 25 more in the app.
Where Why We Do What We Do takes you
- 1
Read the Room and Yourself
- The Secret Language of Habits
- Why Your Brain Loves Shortcuts
- Spotting Social Pressure in Real Time
- How Your Mood Colors Your Day
- 2
Think Like a Mind Scientist
- The Art of People Watching
- Testing Your Own Gut Feelings
- Why One Person Isn't a Pattern
- Asking Better Questions About Behavior
- The Ethics of Studying People
- Separating Fact from Pop Culture Myths
- 3
The Machinery Under the Hood
- How Your Senses Build Your Reality
- The Tug-of-War Between Logic and Emotion
- Where Personality Actually Comes From
3 sections · 13 units · 26 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.
You pick the voice
Why We Do What We Do is taught in the The Bestie style: your friend who just gets it. Want a different feel? In the app you can spin up the same topic in any of Tomo's teaching styles. Same facts, totally different vibe.
More Psychology on Tomo
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Hack Your Own Brain
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Think for Yourself
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Why We Do What We Do
Discover the hidden psychological forces driving everyday human choices. Spot your brain's invisible mental shortcuts, decode the power of social pressure, and understand what really guides human behavior.
The Psychology of Everyday Behavior
Discover why you think, react, and decide the way you do. Learn the core principles of cognitive and social psychology to read human behavior with clarity.
Start Why We Do What We Do today.
Download Tomo, search Why We Do What We Do, and play your first lesson in under a minute.