Four cards show E, K, 4 and 7. The rule: “If a card has a vowel on one side, it has an even number on the other.” Which cards must you turn over to test it? E and 7, but in Peter Wason's task fewer than one person in ten gets it. Recast the same logic as a social rule, “to drink beer you must be of legal age,” and about three quarters succeed.
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.