Thomas Gilovich, How We Know What Isn't So: The Fallibility of Human Reason in Everyday Life

"What we believe is heavily influenced by what we think others believe"

"We humans seem to be extremely good at generating ideas, theories, and explanations that have the ring of plausibility. We may be relatively deficient, however, in evaluating and testing our ideas once they are formed"

"People will always prefer black-and-white over shades of grey, and so there will always be the temptation to hold overly-simplified beliefs and to hold them with excessive confidence"

"When we do cross paths with people whose beliefs and attitudes conflict with our own, we are rarely challenged."

"For desired conclusions, we ask ourselves, "Can I believe this?", but for unpalatable conclusions we ask, "Must I believe this?"