Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me)

Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts
Author(s)	Carol Tavris, Elliot Aronson
Cover artist	Jennifer Jackman
Country	United States
Language	English
Subject(s)	Psychology
Publisher	Harcourt
Publication date	2007
Media type	Hardcover
Pages	298
ISBN	9780151010981
OCLC Number	71005837
Dewey Decimal	153 22
LC Classification	BF337.C63 T38 2007

Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me) 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 biases, 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.

Topics and people mentioned

• The doomsday cult described in When Prophecy Fails
• The MMR vaccine controversy and Andrew Wakefield
• Marriage
• Day care sex abuse hysteria and False memory syndrome
• Confabulation of autobiographical memory
• George W. Bush and the Iraq War
• Criminal interrogations, trials and capital punishment
• Mel Gibson
• Oprah Winfrey and her involvement in the James Frey 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illuminating contribution to the study of human nature" but also criticised the book's informal style and sometimes outdated assumptions.^[1]

Michael Shermer in the Scientific American wrote that Tavris and Aronson brilliantly illuminate the fallacies that underlie irrational behavior.^[2]

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]

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.^[4] 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." ^[5]

Chapters

1. Cognitive dissonance: the engine of self-justification
2. Pride and prejudice—and other blind spots
3. Memory, the self-justifying historian
4. Good intentions, bad science: the closed loop of clinical judgment
5. Law and disorder
6. Love's assassin: self-justification in marriage
7. Wounds, rifts, and wars
8. Letting go and owning up

Editions

• 2007, USA, Harcourt (ISBN 9780151010981, OCLC 71005837), pp. 298, 1st, Hardback
• 2008, USA, Harvest Books (ISBN 9780156033909, OCLC 154746792), pp. 292, Paperback
• 2008, UK, Pinter and Martin (ISBN 9781905177219, OCLC 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

	Psychology portal
	Thinking portal

• List of cognitive biases
• Mistakes were made

References

1. ^ Procida, Daniele (2007). "Review- Mistakes were made (but not by me)" Metapsychology Online Reviews Volume 11, Issue 31
2. ^ Shermer, Michael. (May 2007) "Skeptic: Bush's Mistake and Kennedy's Error". Scientific American
3. ^ Prose, Francine (May 1, 2007). "The liars' club: a revelatory study of how lovers, lawyers, doctors, politicians--and all of us--pull the wool over our own eyes." O, The Oprah Magazine (Hearst Communications)
4. ^ Newnham, David (May 24, 2008). "Review: Right all along: David Newnham on the dangers of relying on one's memory". The Guardian: p. Guardian Review, 8. 
5. ^ Sayle, Alexei (December 3, 2010). "My Six Best Books". The Express: p. 48. 

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 Guardian, May 24, 2008