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Mistakes Were Made (but Not by Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions and Hurtful Acts (Paperback)

by Carol Tavris (Author), Elliot Aronson (Author)
5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
RRP: £8.99
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Price For All Three: £19.37

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Product details

  • Paperback: 304 pages
  • Publisher: Pinter & Martin Ltd. (27 May 2008)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1905177216
  • ISBN-13: 978-1905177219
  • Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.8 x 2.6 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 3,663 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #50 in  Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Psychology Textbooks

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  • See Complete Table of Contents

Product Description

Review
"By turns entertaining, illuminating and - when you recognise yourself in the stories it tells - mortifying." The Wall Street Journal

The Times
A brilliant new book.

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Mistakes Were Made (but Not by Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions and Hurtful Acts
82% buy the item featured on this page:
Mistakes Were Made (but Not by Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions and Hurtful Acts 5.0 out of 5 stars (5)
£6.99
A Mind of Its Own: How Your Brain Distorts and Deceives
6% buy
A Mind of Its Own: How Your Brain Distorts and Deceives 4.4 out of 5 stars (13)
£5.39
Irrationality
6% buy
Irrationality 4.2 out of 5 stars (26)
£6.99
Quirkology: The Curious Science of Everyday Lives
3% buy
Quirkology: The Curious Science of Everyday Lives 4.4 out of 5 stars (28)
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars This is an excellent book!, 19 Jun 2008

I'm currently halfway through this book, and have to say it's one of the most interesting books I've read for a long time. It is absolutely jampacked full of references to psychology studies and examples from history which are illustrative of human nature.

The core of the book centres around the idea of cognitive dissonance, where the brain has to reconcile two contrasting viewpoints. For example the self belief that " I am rational and intelligent" with the action " I am slowly killing myself by smoking". The dissonance could be resolved by concluding that actually I am neither rational nor especially intelligent, but of course no one wants to conclude that! So instead I look for levers to reduce the gap in the other direction. Smoking helps me to relax, and stress is a big killer, smoking helps me to keep my weight down and obesity is a big health problem. And so on......

that idea in itself is not especially remarkable, but what is remarkable is the wealth of studies that investigate the impact of cognitive dissonance upon our day-to-day lives. Like for example how students who are made to conduct a rigorous initiation event prior to assessing the quality and usefulness of a recorded debate are far more likely to rate the debate as interesting and informative rather than students who are not required to go through such an initiation. The cognitive dissonance here is between the gap "I'm a rational and intelligent person" and "I've put myself through all this hard work to listen to this debate". Rather than conclude that we have wasted our time, which calls into question our intelligence, we instead resolve the dissonance by subconsciously overrating the usefulness or importance of what we have just listened to.

If this sparks your interest, then this book is for you. It is a fascinating insight into human nature and will help you understand both other people and more importantly yourself a lot better.

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A gripping read for anyone interested in human nature, 18 April 2009
By Dr. M. L. Poulter "Bias and Belief" (Bristol, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
For clear, engaging explanations of psychological research, this is one of the best books you can get. Cognitive biases are like optical illusions, distorting our decisions, memories and judgement. This book focuses in particular on self-directed biases: the distortions of memory and explanation that make sure that each of us is the hero, not the villain, or our own life story.

When corrupt police frame innocent people, how do they justify to themselves what they are doing? When a couple divorce, how can two former lovers come to hate each other with such passion? When political or military mistakes lead to thousands of deaths, how do the decision-makers live with themselves? The authors take academic research (on cognitive dissonance, stereotypes, obedience and more) and apply it to a wide spectrum of issues from the White House to Mel Gibson's racism.

It is eye-opening to read how malleable and unreliable memory is, and how easy it is to create feedback loops of increasing certainty from just a glimmer of evidence. An appalling example is the recovered memory craze of the 80s and 90s, which is discussed at length. The book isn't entirely downbeat, even though it explains how prosecutions, marriages or therapy sessions can go terribly wrong. It shows how easy it is for good people to hurt others, but that we can avoid these traps with humility and self-questioning. They call science "a form of arrogance control".

A theme running through the work of these two psychologists is how science can address real problems of human conflict. That warm, humane spirit pervades this book and I think anybody curious about the science or the solutions would benefit from reading it.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Reality Check with a Positive Ending, 19 April 2009
By J. Taylor (Poole, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
I bought this book partly on the strength of the other amazon reviews and was particularly pleased with it. Before reading it I noted this book was a 'straight read' with no illustrations, yet it was a gripping book from start to finish. The writing style was straight to the point and easy to read. The content was from wide ranging examples, yet always kept the thread of the main ideas.
I imagine this is a book that virtually everyone will find personally relevant. Whilst not written as another self help book, it certainly made me re-examine my own actions, as well as seeing faults in others. The last chapter was the unpatronising, uplifting icing on the cake (and I am not about to spoil it.)
People who enjoyed Stuart Sutherlands brilliant book 'Irrationality' will also love this one.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Psychology can be entertaining
This book falls in the category of popular science. A challenge to write well, but the authors manage perfectly well. Read more
Published 12 days ago by Jon Lund Hansen

5.0 out of 5 stars Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me)
Sometimes, I think that the world is full of hypocrites. The news is full of politicians who preach family values and then are caught in an affair. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Tami Brady

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