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A review by rossbm
Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts by Carol Tavris, Elliot Aronson
4.0
(read as e-book)
What's it about?
It a book about the psychology of making mistakes, written by two phycologists. It emphasises the role of cognitive dissonance in prompting people to downplay and justify mistakes, rather than admit and learn from them.
What did I think?
I really enjoyed it. I think that I learned a lot, or at least it reinforced things that I was already aware of. My big take away is that you should try to separate the action from the person. If you do this for other people, you will judge them less harshly. If you do this for yourself, you will see your actions more clearly. You should also try to default to assuming that someone's positive actions reflect well on them, well their mistakes and errors are the products of understandable circumstances. (This is assuming you want to build and maintain a relationship with the other person. Obviously you don't need to do this with everyone, especially people who are actually toxic).
I appreciate that the book was written by two phycologists who do research. I think that the key ideas here holdup well, even if there isn't data or experiments. I found some of the examples and style to be a bit dated.
What's it about?
It a book about the psychology of making mistakes, written by two phycologists. It emphasises the role of cognitive dissonance in prompting people to downplay and justify mistakes, rather than admit and learn from them.
What did I think?
I really enjoyed it. I think that I learned a lot, or at least it reinforced things that I was already aware of. My big take away is that you should try to separate the action from the person. If you do this for other people, you will judge them less harshly. If you do this for yourself, you will see your actions more clearly. You should also try to default to assuming that someone's positive actions reflect well on them, well their mistakes and errors are the products of understandable circumstances. (This is assuming you want to build and maintain a relationship with the other person. Obviously you don't need to do this with everyone, especially people who are actually toxic).
I appreciate that the book was written by two phycologists who do research. I think that the key ideas here holdup well, even if there isn't data or experiments. I found some of the examples and style to be a bit dated.