The ego default makes you defend your current position even when new information should change your mind. Changing your view feels like losing. It feels like weakness. So you rationalize the original position rather than update it. The social default is slightly different: it makes you defer to the crowd — agreeing with the room, going along with the group, avoiding the friction of a dissenting view. Both defaults protect your social position at the cost of your reasoning quality. The cure for both is the same: ask a different question. Instead of 'what do I believe?' ask 'what does the evidence actually suggest?' Instead of 'what does everyone think?' ask 'what would I think if no one was watching?' These questions move you from managing impressions to actually reasoning.