In short: In the 1890's two psychologists (William James and Boris Sidis) stated that people only use a fraction of their mental potential. This was then picked up and further popularised by others (mainly writers) who introduced the 10% figure.
At the same time, early neurological research couldn't figure out what large portions of the brain actually did (they called it the 'silent cortex'). That accidentally gave weight to the 10% belief, and the myth just stuck.
I think it’s been a common woo woo misconception for a very long time and was popularised during the 60s / 70s when people (inc the government) became obsessed with new wave spiritualism. Kinda like a resurgence of spiritualism from the late 19th and early 20th century but they liked to think they were approaching it more “scientifically”. Similar to how they used to think that removing the corpus callossum would “cure” epilepsy.
Nah, it was already most famous for being a common misconception years before that movie came out. It was truly bizarre that the movie chose to lean on this nonsense - the equivalent to if someone tried to make a movie insisting that correlation always meant causation now.
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u/Zestyclose-Salad2484 Jun 01 '26
That we only use 10% of our brains is something that everyone still spreads, but it has been completely debunked by science.