Mistakes Were Made (But Not By Me)

Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions and Hurtful Acts

By: Carol Tavris, Elliot Aronson

Narrated by: Marsha Mercant, Joe Barrett

Length: 9 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's summary

Why do people dodge responsibility when things fall apart? Why the parade of public figures unable to own up when they screw up? Why the endless marital quarrels over who is right? Why can we see hypocrisy in others but not in ourselves? Are we all liars? Or do we really believe the stories we tell? Backed by years of research and delivered in lively, energetic prose, Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me) offers a fascinating explanation of self-deception - how it works, the harm it can cause, and how we can overcome it.

©2008 Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson (P)2010 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Thanks, in part, to the scientific evidence it provides and the charm of its down-to-earth, commonsensical tone, Mistakes Were Made is convincing. 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)

"By turns entertaining, illuminating and—when you recognize yourself in the stories it tells—mortifying." ( The Wall Street Journal)

Good Start and End with a Meh Middle

In the initial chapters, thought Mistakes Were Made was written just after Mr. Trump's election. In actuality written six years prior to Mr. Trump's election.

Good factual science in the opening chapters and the last chapter. A number of meh chapters in the middle. Thankfully able skip past them using Audible Player's skip chapter function.

Recommend the title though with reservations. Interesting insight into decision making and more importantly, attempts to rationalize a decision after it had been made.

Urgent read

One of the most important books Ive come across brings so much necessary awareness of our biases, self justifications , victimization both from an individual and collective perspective.

please remove this narrator!

the narrator (Marsha Mercant) was what deterred me from completing this book. this is the second book that I have not been able to get through because of this same narrator. Need a better suited voice please!!!

Great listen

Not only did I find the dissadents theory, explained within, a logical and easy to understand theory, but the layout of this text made the gradual complexity of information a smooth and easy ride throughout. The anecdotes were awesome and will easily capture your attention, regardless of your opinions about the dissadents theory overall. Well worth it!

Impressive Accurate Self Improvement

Impressive the way it is presented.
Accurate in accounts from history.
Self Improvement? Only if you reflect.

Fascinating.

Other than the authors clearly dinking the "official story" kool-aid on basically every story used as an example, the concepts are right on. Great listen. Enjoyable & educational. So many people should take a listen to this.

Insightful and Resourceful

Resourceful context and cases used to show how cognitive dissonance and self-justification affects relationships on all levels. Super insightful to better understand ourselves and one another. Would read again/recommend.

Powerful

Content of this book is outstanding and thought provoking. The delivery is well done. The authors use many different approaches and lots of life examples to help support their premise.

I liked this book

I liked this book, read it really fast. Excellent narrative, and enjoyed the real life examples that made it really easy to understand and bring the points accross.

Great content, but repetitive. Find a summary.

The content of this book is something everyone on this planet should be aware of and appreciate. Understanding cognitive bias is a key to success in life and business. But the book drags on with many examples of the same thing over and over, so finding an abridged version, or online summary of the same material is recommended, unless you want to spend the 9 hours here.

Ms Mercant's narration is incredibly perfunctory and unemotional, to the point that you could get something probably 90% as good having a computer voice read the text. There were even a couple of places where it's clear the authors were attempting humor, but she completely failed to change the mechanical drone of her narration, making for rather awkward sounding passages. Even in scholarly non-fiction like this, the narrator needs to understand the author's point and intention better.