Mistakes were made (but not by me)
Encyclopedia
Mistakes Were Made is a non-fiction
book by social psychologists Carol Tavris
and Elliot Aronson
, first published in 2007. It deals with cognitive dissonance
, self-serving bias
and other cognitive bias
es, using these psychological theories to illustrate how the perpetrators of hurtful acts justify and rationalize
their behavior. It describes a positive feedback loop
of action and self-deception
by which slight differences between people's attitudes become polarised.
Michael Shermer
in the Scientific American
wrote that Tavris and Aronson brilliantly illuminate the fallacies that underlie irrational behavior.
A review in O, The Oprah Magazine praised the book for "the scientific evidence it provides and the charm of its down-to-earth, commonsensical tone".
A review in The Guardian
described the book as "excellent" and suggests the quotation, "If mistakes were made, memory helps us remember that they were made by someone else," should be printed on autobiographies and political memoirs as a warning to the public. The British comedian and novelist Alexei Sayle
listed the book among his six favorites, recommending it as "endlessly fascinating if you're interested in politics."
Non-fiction
Non-fiction is the form of any narrative, account, or other communicative work whose assertions and descriptions are understood to be fact...
book by social psychologists Carol Tavris
Carol Tavris
Carol Anne Tavris is an American social psychologist and author. She received a Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of Michigan, and has taught psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles and the New School for Social Research...
and Elliot Aronson
Elliot Aronson
Elliot Aronson is an American psychologist. He is listed among the 100 most eminent psychologists of the 20th Century, best known for the invention of the Jigsaw Classroom as a method of reducing interethnic hostility and prejudice; cognitive dissonance research, and influential social psychology...
, first published in 2007. It deals with cognitive dissonance
Cognitive dissonance
Cognitive dissonance is a discomfort caused by holding conflicting ideas simultaneously. The theory of cognitive dissonance proposes that people have a motivational drive to reduce dissonance. They do this by changing their attitudes, beliefs, and actions. Dissonance is also reduced by justifying,...
, self-serving bias
Self-serving bias
A self-serving bias occurs when people attribute their successes to internal or personal factors but attribute their failures to situational factors beyond their control. The self-serving bias can be seen in the common human tendency to take credit for success but to deny responsibility for failure...
and other cognitive bias
Cognitive bias
A cognitive bias is a pattern of deviation in judgment that occurs in particular situations. Implicit in the concept of a "pattern of deviation" is a standard of comparison; this may be the judgment of people outside those particular situations, or may be a set of independently verifiable...
es, using these psychological theories to illustrate how the perpetrators of hurtful acts justify and rationalize
Rationalization (psychology)
In psychology and logic, rationalization is an unconscious defense mechanism in which perceived controversial behaviors or feelings are logically justified and explained in a rational or logical manner in order to avoid any true explanation and made consciously tolerable by plausible means...
their behavior. It describes a positive feedback loop
Positive feedback
Positive feedback is a process in which the effects of a small disturbance on a system include an increase in the magnitude of the perturbation. That is, A produces more of B which in turn produces more of A. In contrast, a system that responds to a perturbation in a way that reduces its effect is...
of action and self-deception
Self-deception
Self-deception is a process of denying or rationalizing away the relevance, significance, or importance of opposing evidence and logical argument...
by which slight differences between people's attitudes become polarised.
Topics and people mentioned
- The doomsday cult described in When Prophecy FailsWhen Prophecy FailsWhen Prophecy Fails is a 1956 classic book in social psychology by Leon Festinger, Henry Riecken, and Stanley Schachter about a UFO religion that believes the end of the world is at hand.- Cognitive dissonance :...
- The MMR vaccine controversyMMR vaccine controversyThe MMR vaccine controversy was a case of scientific misconduct which triggered a health scare. It followed the publication in 1998 of a paper in the medical journal The Lancet which presented apparent evidence that autism spectrum disorders could be caused by the MMR vaccine, an immunization...
and Andrew WakefieldAndrew WakefieldAndrew Wakefield is a British former surgeon and medical researcher, known as an advocate for the discredited claim that there is a link between the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, autism and bowel disease, and for his fraudulent 1998 research paper in support of that claim.Four years after... - MarriageMarriageMarriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
- Day care sex abuse hysteria and False memory syndrome
- ConfabulationConfabulationConfabulation is the process in which a memory is remembered falsely. Confabulations are indicative of a complicated and intricate process that can be led astray at any given point during encoding, storage, or recall of a memory. Two distinct types of confabulation are often distinguished...
of autobiographical memoryAutobiographical memoryAutobiographical memory is a memory system consisting of episodes recollected from an individual's life, based on a combination of episodic and semantic memory.-Formation:Conway and Pleydell-Pearce proposed that autobiographical... - George W. BushGeorge W. BushGeorge Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
and the Iraq War - Criminal interrogationsInterrogationInterrogation is interviewing as commonly employed by officers of the police, military, and Intelligence agencies with the goal of extracting a confession or obtaining information. Subjects of interrogation are often the suspects, victims, or witnesses of a crime...
, trialsTrial (law)In law, a trial is when parties to a dispute come together to present information in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court...
and capital punishmentCapital punishmentCapital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally... - Mel GibsonMel GibsonMel Colm-Cille Gerard Gibson, AO is an American actor, film director, producer and screenwriter. Born in Peekskill, New York, Gibson moved with his parents to Sydney, Australia when he was 12 years old and later studied acting at the Australian National Institute of Dramatic Art.After appearing in...
- Oprah WinfreyOprah WinfreyOprah Winfrey is an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer and philanthropist. Winfrey is best known for her self-titled, multi-award-winning talk show, which has become the highest-rated program of its kind in history and was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2011...
and her involvement in the James FreyJames FreyJames Christopher Frey is an American writer. His books A Million Little Pieces and My Friend Leonard , as well as Bright Shiny Morning , were bestsellers...
controversy
Reception
Philosopher Daniele Procida described the book as an "immensely engaging and intelligent volume" and "a genuinely illuminating contribution to the study of human nature" but also criticised the book's informal style and sometimes outdated assumptions.Michael Shermer
Michael Shermer
Michael Brant Shermer is an American science writer, historian of science, founder of The Skeptics Society, and Editor in Chief of its magazine Skeptic, which is largely devoted to investigating pseudoscientific and supernatural claims. The Skeptics Society currently has over 55,000 members...
in the Scientific American
Scientific American
Scientific American is a popular science magazine. It is notable for its long history of presenting science monthly to an educated but not necessarily scientific public, through its careful attention to the clarity of its text as well as the quality of its specially commissioned color graphics...
wrote that Tavris and Aronson brilliantly illuminate the fallacies that underlie irrational behavior.
A review in O, The Oprah Magazine praised the book for "the scientific evidence it provides and the charm of its down-to-earth, commonsensical tone".
A review in The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
described the book as "excellent" and suggests the quotation, "If mistakes were made, memory helps us remember that they were made by someone else," should be printed on autobiographies and political memoirs as a warning to the public. The British comedian and novelist Alexei Sayle
Alexei Sayle
Alexei David Sayle is a British stand-up comedian, actor and author. He was a central part of the alternative comedy circuit in the early 1980s. He was voted the 18th greatest stand-up comic on Channel 4's 100 Greatest Stand-ups in 2007...
listed the book among his six favorites, recommending it as "endlessly fascinating if you're interested in politics."
Chapters
- Cognitive dissonance: the engine of self-justification
- Pride and prejudice—and other blind spots
- Memory, the self-justifying historian
- Good intentions, bad science: the closed loop of clinical judgment
- Law and disorder
- Love's assassin: self-justification in marriage
- Wounds, rifts, and wars
- Letting go and owning up
Editions
- 2007, USA, Harcourt (ISBN 9780151010981, OCLCOCLCOCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc. is "a nonprofit, membership, computer library service and research organization dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the world’s information and reducing information costs"...
71005837), pp. 298, 1st, Hardback - 2008, USA, Harvest Books (ISBN 9780156033909, OCLCOCLCOCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc. is "a nonprofit, membership, computer library service and research organization dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the world’s information and reducing information costs"...
154746792), pp. 292, Paperback - 2008, UK, Pinter and Martin (ISBN 9781905177219, OCLCOCLCOCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc. is "a nonprofit, membership, computer library service and research organization dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the world’s information and reducing information costs"...
225447719), pp. 304, Paperback - Foreign language editions either published or in press in Hungarian, Chinese, French, German, Serbo-Croatian, Korean, Polish, Japanese, Romanian, and Turkish.
See also
- List of cognitive biases
- Mistakes were made
External links
- Carol Tavris' official site for the book
- Pinter & Martin, publishers of British edition
- "Why It's Hard to Admit to Being Wrong" Interview with Elliot Aronson on National Public Radio, broadcast July 20, 2007
- Point of Inquiry interview with Carol Tavris about the book (podcast) August 3, 2007
- "Right all along" review of Mistakes were made (but not by me) in The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, May 24, 2008