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.
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.
At a police academy, trainees were seated in class and assigned rooms in alphabetical order. Mady Segal later asked them to name their three closest friends: nearly 45% of choices were alphabetical neighbors. Our friendships spring far less from deep affinity than we think, and far more from simple proximity.