What it means ...

Each of us has a comfort zone. We stick with what is familiar, where we know which way is up. The boy subconsciously chose the pastry, because he knew the pleasure it would provide. The girl was an unknown quantity.

In the context of reading email - or anything else - we tend to favor information that supports what we already believe, because that is more comfortable than confronting the unknown.

That is particularly true when we have limited time. We like reading things that confirm our beliefs.

You might not have intended this to go so far, but Pelosi, as with other liberals, truly does not understand the conservative perspective. It is foreign, unfamiliar, uncomfortable. It is difficult to persuade any liberal - or conservative, for that matter - to view issues from a perspective that differs from her own. First, for reasons already mentioned, it is hard to hold someone's attention long enough for them to understand the other perspective. Second, in the aftermath, people tend to revert to kind. They go back to their normal routines, their thoughts return to their normal patterns, and their fleeting grasp of that different perspective flickers out.