Picoeconomics

It may be the need to defend at least rough compatibility with one's peers that makes a credit-card rate of 20% the indifference point for consumer interest. ... (p. 233)

Belief is imagination that has been edited by one's rules for testing reality. But these rules operate in the service of maximizing midrange or long-range reward, rather than in the service of achieving accuracy per se. A rule for testing reality sometimes may permit the greatest actual reward if it goes beyond a photographic faithfulness to facts and requires particular interpretations unsupported or even contradicted by the available evidence. For instance, some limited cognitive distortions that improve an individula's reported self-evaluation, sense of control and "optimism" beyond what would be justified by his objective situation have recently been observed to correlated with his happiness, personal effectiveness, and even physical health. (p. 306)