Tyler's Blog Death of Destiny

“Mistakes Were Made (but not by me)” by Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson (3/5)

Mistakes Were Made (but not by me)
Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson
ISBN 978-0-15-101098-1

Mistakes Were Made (but not by me)--why we justify foolish beliefs, bad decisions, and hurtful acts--is a book on psychology written by Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson. The book is available for purchase from http://www.amazon.ca/dp/0156033909.

This book is thought-provoking. It discusses self-dissonance and its occurance throughout the human population. With examples with respect to discrimination, memory, law, and love, the theory explains the self justification that occurs in the human thought process.

The theory itself is interesting. Some concepts are really easy to grasp, although there were a few examples that I personally had difficulties understanding. But overall, it is explained in a way that people with no psychology background (*cough*me*cough*) can get the general gist of the theory.

It also targets some specific (interesting) case studies, such as alien abduction, child abuse, and rape cases, and explains how some of these are hypothesized to have come to be what they did.

Overall, I liked this book. The theory is really interesting (it gives one a whole new outlook on memories and beliefs from oneself and others) and is well worth the read. One thing I didn't like about the book was that some of the parts seemed choppy and I didn't think it flowed well entirely as a book. The content makes up for this fact though. If you like psychology and understanding the human mind, this book will probably be interesting to you. I give this book 3 out of 5 stars.