Mistakes Were Made

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Ultimately, I think that Tavris's conclusions about self-justification are probably correct, but her argument was flawed. There were a number of things that put me off from this book. Here's my list of gripes: The woman over there?” She gestured subtly, and the bartender nodded. “Whatever she’s drinking, send her another from me.” Cassie’s eyes raked the woman’s body: sensible peep-toe heels, strong calves, a dress that fell a bit lower on her thighs than Cassie was hoping. It hugged the woman’s curves just right, though—hips Cassie wanted to hold on to and tits she wouldn’t mind getting her hands on either. Then there was shoulder-length brown hair with a hint of blond highlights, like it was summer at the beach and not autumn in the New River Valley, a strong jawline, and bright eyes—staring right at Cassie. The older woman leaned against a wall, a barely there smirk on her face.

The moral of the book is easy to say, and difficult to execute. When you screw up, try saying this: "I made a mistake. I need to understand what went wrong. I don't want to make the same mistake again. Erin Bennett came to Family Weekend to get closer to her daughter, not have a one-night stand with a college senior. In her defense, she hadn’t known Cassie was a student when they'd met. To make things worse, Erin’s daughter brings Cassie to breakfast the next morning. And despite Erin's better judgement―how could sleeping with your daughter’s friend be Andreeva, Nellie (May 18, 2023). "Disney Removes Dozens Of Series From Disney+ & Hulu, Including 'Big Shot', 'Willow', 'Y' & 'Dollface' ". Deadline . Retrieved May 23, 2023. Michael Shermer, in the Scientific American, wrote that Tavris and Aronson brilliantly illuminate the fallacies that underlie irrational behavior. [2]The author presents compelling arguments (supported by the evidence of many studies and experiments) for some puzzling human behaviours, such as why people insist on justifying indefensible positions long after they are proven wrong. She explains, among other things, the power of gifts (even low value) in swaying decision making, the reasoning behind stereotypes and strongly denied biases (and why no one is immune of such behaviour), the fallacy of memory (distorted or confabulated memories leading to the extremes of believing themselves victims of sexual abuse or alien abduction). Sundance Film Festival (December 4, 2019). "Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made". Archived from the original on December 15, 2019 . Retrieved December 23, 2019. I think social sciences are critical, but social science is often methodologically weak and overly speculative in its interpretation of results. I don't want to fault the authors too hard for their cursory presentation of "evidence" and descriptions of studies, but it was frustrating for me. They give just enough details that, if you're well versed in probability or logic, you can see a million ways that the study they just mentioned could easily be flawed into being meaningless or not generalizable. Or that their interpretation of the study must rest on details that they did not share, because what they shared does not support their interpretation. Justification of incorrect beliefs or forbidden actions is easy when it is done incrementally, what we often call a "slippery slope". (The famous Milgram experiment in which college students were willing to electrocute other research subjects was an example of such incremental self-justification, because if the student can justify 50 volts than he can eventually justify 450 volts.) Depending on which way we first lean from the top of the pyramid, we can land at different sides of the pyramid, because once we start on a course of action we tend to continue justifying our actions in the same direction. As we self-justify and confabulate, we may develop false memories of things like having been abducted by aliens, molested as a child, imprisoned in a concentration camp or kept in an orphanage. We may unfairly persecute or wrongfully convict others. MRI scans confirm that when we are confronted with dissonant information, the reasoning areas of our brains all but shut down. And it's not only politicians who indulge in self-justification. For which of us, on buying the more expensive appliance, has not then spent weeks kidding ourselves the cheaper model would have been unreliable or downright dangerous?

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.” [3]Festinger explained this all-too-human need to justify past actions as driven by something he termed "cognitive dissonance" - the state of tension that occurs whenever we hold two "cognitions" (ideas, beliefs, opinions) that contradict each other. Like Fox Moulder from the X-Files, "I want to believe". I'm frustrated that they did not provide me with tight enough evidence that I would feel confident repeating it in conversation with my peers.

This is a circuitous way of saying that you can't help but recognize and feel the pain of the human condition when you read this fantastically well executed, educational and therapeutic book. The overarching principles being examined are those of cognitive dissonance and self-justification. And, before you get all defensive (get it?), these are normal and necessary facets of a human mind-brain (as Krieger might call it).Memories create our stories, but our stories also create our memories. Once we have a narrative, we shape our memories to fit into it and assemble as mosaic form . This book is as fun as you’d expect… The sapphic girlies love its characterization, spice, and forbidden romance.” - Book Riot Bart, Peter (January 24, 2019). "Peter Bart: Streamer Mania Means Greenlights Galore, But Slate Strategies Still Baffle Creatives". Deadline Hollywood . Retrieved January 24, 2019. Fifty years ago, the American psychologist Leon Festinger infiltrated a group who believed the world would end on December 21. How would they feel on December 22? Would they reject the prophet who had fed them such lies? DeFore, John (January 25, 2020). " 'Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made': Film Review | Sundance 2020". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved February 26, 2020.