Mistakes Were Made (but Not By Me) Third Edition

Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts

Carol Tavris, Elliot Aronson

• Publisher: Mariner Books
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9780544574786
• eBook ISBN: 9780547416038
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Decision Making
• Index: Psychology

A NEW EDITION UPDATED IN 2020 • Why is it so hard to say "I made a mistake" — and really believe it?

When we make mistakes, cling to outdated attitudes, or mistreat other people, we must calm the cognitive dissonance that jars our feelings of self-worth. And so, unconsciously, we create fictions that absolve us of responsibility, restoring our belief that we are smart, moral, and right—a belief that often keeps us on a course that is dumb, immoral, and wrong. Backed by decades of research, Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me) offers a fascinating explanation of self-justification—how it works, the damage it can cause, and how we can overcome it. Extensively updated, this third edition has many recent and revealing examples, including the application of dissonance theory to divisive social issues such as the Black Lives Matter movement and he said/she said claims. It also features a new chapter that illuminates how cognitive dissonance is playing a role in the currently polarized political scene, changing the nation’s values and putting democracy itself at risk. 

“Every page sparkles with sharp insight and keen observation. Mistakes were made—but not in this book!” —Daniel Gilbert, author of Stumbling on Happiness

“A revelatory study of how lovers, lawyers, doctors, politicians—and all of us—pull the wool over our own eyes . . . Reading it, we recognize the behavior of our leaders, our loved ones, and—if we’re honest—ourselves, and some of the more perplexing mysteries of human nature begin to seem a little clearer.” —Francine Prose, O, The Oprah Magazine

Index

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

A

Abramoff, Jack, 61

Abu Ghraib, 267–68, 273, 275, 318–19, 426n25. See also prisoners, abuse of; torture

abuse

Jackson and, 303–4

lack of specific symptoms of, 155–57

See also recovered-memory therapy; repression/repressed-memory cases

abuse, memories of, 127–29

“accelerated approval” for drugs, 65

accuracy, confidence and, 145

Action Française, 328, 332

affluence, 59–60

Affordable Care Act (ACA), 341, 393–94n29

African National Congress (ANC), 282

aggression, 35–38

Ailes, Roger, 346

Albers, James, 56

Alberta, Tim, 352–53, 367

alcohol, memory and, 110

Alger, Wanda, 360–64

alien abduction memories, 115, 121–27

Allen, Nancy, 367

Allport, Gordon, 84

“alternative facts,” 342

Amash, Justin, 371

ambiguity, dance of, 109

America Held Hostage, 252–53

American Carnage (Alberta), 352–53, 367

American Medical Association, 73, 77

American Psychiatric Association (APA), 133–34, 167, 411n48

Amin, Idi, 269

Amnesty International, 273, 276–77

Andrews, Will, 115–16, 123, 125–26

anti-immigrant rhetoric, 334

anti-Semitism, 327–28, 330–31, 352

anti-vaccine movement, 68–72

apartheid, 282–84

apologies

current view of, 291–92

failure of, 292

impact of, 290–91

responsibility-accepting, 290

See also owning up/taking responsibility

Apple, 292, 344

Aronson, Elliot

canoe purchase and, 34–35, 53

Jewish stereotype and, 85–86

research of, 19, 20–22

on second acts, 313–15

arrogance, 311

autism, vaccinations and, 68–72

B

backfire effect, 28–29

Baran, Bernard “Bee,” 134

Bardella, Kurt, 348

Barr, William, 350, 353, 356

Basic Books, 411n48

Bass, Ell...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Contents
• Dedication
• Copyright
• Epigraph
• Preface to the Revised Editions
• Introduction
• 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
• Dissonance, Democracy, and the Demagogue
• Acknowledgments
• Notes
• Index
• About the Authors
• Connect with HMH
• Footnotes