Story Bias

We prefer coherent stories over dry facts, even when the stories are oversimplified or wrong. Our brains demand narrative — and will invent it if necessary.

• Successful CEOs are credited with single-handedly saving companies — the true causes are always far more complex and accidental.
• History is taught as a sequence of intentional decisions by great individuals, when it is mostly messy accidents, chance, and emergent forces.
• A cancer survivor attributes their recovery to willpower and positive thinking — ignoring the statistical randomness of the outcome.