In 2007, Matthew Lieberman showed that labeling the emotion on an angry face (“furious”) dampened activity in the amygdala, the brain's alarm center, more than simply describing the face. Other work found that spider-phobic people who put their fear into words had a weaker physical reaction to the spider. Saying “I'm anxious” is already a way of regulating it.
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.