What’s So Curious About Human Beings Is

Most Of Us Appear To Believe That We Are More Athletic, Intelligent, Organized, Ethical, Logical, Interesting, Open-minded, And Healthy-not To Mention More Attractive-than The Average Person.

To Learn From Experience, We Must Remember It, And, For A Variety Of Reasons, Memory Is A Faithless Friend.

If I Wanted To Know What A Certain Future Would Feel Like To Me, I Would Find Someone Who Is Already Living That Future. If I Wonder What It's Like To Become A Lawyer Or Marry A Busy Executive Or Eat At A Particular Restaurant, My Best Bet Is To Find People Who Have Actually Done These Things And See How Happy They Are.

In Short, We Derive Support For Our Preferred Conclusions By Listening To The Words That We Put In The Mouths Of People Who Have Already Been Preselected For Their Willingness To Say What We Want To Hear.

Because Your Brain Uses Information From The Areas Around The Blind Spot To Make A Reasonable Guess About What The Blind Spot Would See If Only It Weren't Blind, And Then Your Brain Fills In The Scene With This Information. That's Right, It Invents Things, Creates Things, Makes Stuff Up! It Doesn't Consult You About This, Doesn't Seek Your Approval. It Just Makes Its Best Guess About The Nature Of The Missing Information And Proceeds To Fill In The Scene.