Name the ink color without reading the word: easy with colored squares, much slower when the word RED is printed in green. Described by John Ridley Stroop in 1935, this is one of the sturdiest effects in psychology, reproduced in hundreds of studies. For a practiced reader, reading has become so automatic that it simply can't be switched off, even when it gets in the way.
Remembering is not replaying a recording — it is rebuilding. Each time you recall a memory, it becomes temporarily malleable and can be altered before being stored again. That is why two people can sincerely remember the same event… differently.
In 2003, Johnson and Goldstein compared European countries. Where you must tick a box to become a donor, consent rates ranged from 4% to 28%. Where you're a donor by default unless you opt out, they topped 85%. People aren't more generous on one side; most simply stick with whatever option was chosen for them.