cognitive bias

It is easy to accept that perception, memory and interpretation are imperfect in the abstract. The difficult part comes when a particular piece of evidence unsettles the account we have used for years to explain ourselves, another person or the course of our life.

We tend to think memory is where our account of an event becomes unreliable. But the process begins earlier. Attention is selective, perception is incomplete, and two people can experience the same event while noticing very different things.

Most people believe they are making independent decisions. In reality, they are responding to systems they cannot see. From algorithms to economic structures to social norms, the real driver of behaviour is rarely the individual—it’s the environment shaping what feels possible, reasonable, or true.