Dr. Frank McAndrew

Because...

We have something that's called a confirmation bias.

So if you believe that something is true, we actively look for examples that fit the story and convince us that it's true.

And if we see things that don't apply, we just kind of ignore them or don't notice them.

So yeah, if you believe you can tell when somebody's looking at you and you look around and nobody's looking at you, you just don't remember it.

All it takes is that one time where...

you see it and aha, it really reinforces it.

We believe in a lot of stuff like, okay, the full moon and its effects on behavior.

A lot of people really believe that.

It's not true.

The full moon doesn't do anything.

But what happens is if something weird happens

and there happens to be a full moon, you notice that and you say, aha, but what about all the times there was a full moon and nothing weird happened or all the times something weird happened and there was no full moon?

You know, all it takes is that one incident to reinforce your belief.

Yes.

You can get away with a lot more if you're good-looking than if you're not.

Oh, dear.

There's something called a halo effect.

The opposite of it is called the horns effect, you know, like devils and angels.

If a person is good-looking, we know they have one desirable good quality, right?