Larry Bank & Jon Nyman, you are both right. It's a combination of nature and nurture. (But do not underestimate the power of conditioning.)

Jim, I loved this post and the way clarified this specific cognitive bias... See, I would have applied it to the singles dating ads and it would have been a complete disaster. This is the specific kind of quality discussion I like to see on the web and in the past have complained that there isn't enough of. Most of the marketing posts I come across do not address how human beings process information and yet, it's critical to advertising and marketing on the web. I'm sharing your post across my primary social channels and I look forward to reading even more of your articles in the future.