Wide eyes and a gaping mouth are read in the West as the universal signal of fear. In 2016, researchers tested teenagers in Papua New Guinea's Trobriand Islands, who instead linked this face to anger and threat. Asked to pick the most threatening face, they chose this one, while Spanish teenagers picked a scowl. Whether facial expressions are truly universal is still hotly debated.
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.