It would appear that we really do see the world around us the way we want to. In other words, if we want to believe that people like us, we are more likely to see strangers smiling at us instead of smirking at us. If we want to believe we are not that overweight, we will see a better vision of ourselves in the mirror, focusing on the good parts.

A study at Cornell of 412 people showed that these people who were motivated to get yummy fresh-squeezed orange juice saw the 'right' picture instead of the 'wrong' picture which would lead them to lumpy veggie smoothy (yuck).  As Spock would say...fascinating!