Psychology Quote by Will Storr
““By the time you have reached adulthood, your brain has decided how the world works–how a table looks and feels, how liquids and authority figures behave, how scary are rats. It has made countless billions of little insights and decisions. It has made its mind up. From then on in, its treatment of any new information that runs counter to those views can sometimes be brutal. Your brain is surprisingly reluctant to change its mind. Rather than going through the difficulties involved in rearranging itself to reflect the truth, it often prefers to fool you. So it distorts. It forgets. It projects. It lies.””
About This Quote
Source Book: The Science of Why, 2019
The brain forms fixed models early, making it resistant to contradictory information, often distorting reality.
In simple terms: Our minds cling to early beliefs.
Key Takeaway
Question and challenge your assumptions.
Themes
cognition
bias
learning
Mood
reflective
critical
Type
psychological
insightful
When to use this quote
- education
- decision making
- personal development
Key Concepts
neuroscience
confirmation bias
cognitive distortion
Questions to Reflect On
- What belief have you resisted updating?
- How can you test your assumptions?
A Different Perspective
Changing deep‑seated beliefs is difficult and uncomfortable.
