People frequently fail to notice when the option they receive is not the one they chose, and will then explain at length why they chose it.
Johansson and Hall showed subjects pairs of faces, took their choice, and returned the other face by sleight of hand. Most did not notice, and went on to justify the preference they had not expressed. The finding bears less on memory than on introspection: the explanation is constructed after the fact from whatever option is in hand.
In practice
- A committee defends the option it believes it selected, having been handed the minutes of a different decision.
- A customer given the wrong variant explains why that variant suits them.