Mistakes Were Made
At some point we all make a bad decision, do something that harms another person, or cling to an outdated belief. When we do, we strive to reduce the cognitive dissonance that results from feeling that we, who are smart, moral, and right, just did something that was dumb, immoral, or wrong. Whether the consequences are trivial or tragic, it is difficult, and for some people impossible, to say, “I made a terrible mistake.” The higher the stakes—emotional, financial, moral—the greater that difficulty. Self-justification, the hardwired mechanism that blinds us to the possibility that we were wrong, has benefits: It lets us sleep at night and keeps us from torturing ourselves with regrets. But it can also block our ability to see our faults and errors. It legitimizes prejudice and corruption, distorts memory, and generates anger and rifts. It can keep prosecutors from admitting they put an innocent person in prison and from correcting that injustice, and it can keep politicians unable to change disastrous policies that cost billions of dollars and thousands of lives. In our private lives, it can be the death of love. Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me) examines: • Why we have so much trouble accepting information that conflicts with a belief we “know for sure” is right. • The brain’s “blind spots” that make us unable to see our own prejudices, biases, corrupting influences, and hypocrisies. • Why our memories tell more about what we believe now than what really happened then.
Stats for nerds
18recommend
28mentions
26people
2008–2025years
71% recommend29% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- Some randoms I remember : )
- Thinking in Systems - by Donella Meadows - Dead Aid - Dambisa Moyo - Day of Empire - Amy Chua - Mistakes Were Made (not by me) - Caroll Tavris - Brotopia - Emily Chang - Mistakes Were Made by Carol Tarvis and Elliot Aronson. It's a long discussion on the mechanics of cognitive dissonance and self-justification.
--
"A man travels many miles to consult the wisest guru in the land. When he arrives, he asks the great man:
'O wise guru, what is the secret of a happy life?'
'Good judgement,' says the guru.
'But, O wise guru' says the man, 'how do I achieve good judgement'
'Bad judgement,' says the guru"
- I'm very interested in cognitive biases, some of the writing in that area has some interesting takeaways on the pitfalls of memory:
- _Mistakes Were Made (but Not by Me)_ - Tavris & Aronson
- _Thinking, Fast and Slow_ - Kahneman
Both of these are more "popular science" writing than "solid scientific" writing, however.
- Well he was into EA when he was a nobody at University… I doubt that it was all for show.
Generally, in public downfalls like this, people over ascribe the causes to moral turpitude. There aren’t enough details here to say either way yet. There is a good book about this sort of thing Mistakes were made (but not by me). [1]
I think the blog post is very good, providing a unique perspective, and wonderfully written.
[1] https://www.amazon.com/Mistakes-Were-Made-But-Not/dp/1491514...
- Great article!
On and individual level people often won't admit to mistakes either. There is a great book called:
Mistakes Were Made (but Not by Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions and Hurtful Acts
- n=1, but a friend had offers from Google and Facebook, and went to Google largely because it wasn't Facebook. In my highly educated circles, McKinsey is held in higher esteem than Facebook. Thinking about that now, a few years of selecting for people who "disagree with the media" and are content with burning down society for a quick buck would really explain a lot.
If you work at Facebook and you feel compelled to tell me why your personal Faustian bargain was actually not such a bad thing, read Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me).
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/522525.Mistakes_Were_Mad...
