Over spring break, I spent some time reading Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson’s third edition non-fiction book Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me).
According to their research into cognitive dissonance and self-justification, when people are faced with the reality that they were wrong, they enter a “state of tension that occurs when a person holds two cognitions (ideas, attitudes, beliefs, opinions) that are psychologically inconsistent with each other.”
We don’t rest easy until we are able to reduce this feeling, or completely ignore it. I found this book to be especially important considering everything that has happened in the past year, and I believe that the authors were able to clearly explain psychology theories and employ relevant studies to paint a clear picture of an underlying problem that everyone has trouble admitting.
Many students may convince themselves that the heavy workload that college can be at times is something that is necessary to bear, even when we are struggling to keep up with assignments or stay awake during class.
I often find myself completing classwork last minute even though I hold the idea that “My best work is possible when I am not stressed out,” and I self-justify my procrastination by saying that “I just need to turn something in, it doesn’t matter if it’s not the best I could have done.”
This book has helped me realize that I keep setting myself up to fail by not properly acknowledging the mistake I had made, so I just end up in the same anxious situation again.
The book begins by lightly introducing key concepts and themes that are evident from the authors’ many years of research. They then apply these theories to common situations like lovers’ quarrels, civil cases, and political discussions.
Tavris and Aronson detail eye-opening stories where people either mislead themselves or others into believing something that is factually untrue, yet they continue to cling onto their beliefs because they have already convinced themselves that any contrary information is incorrect.
As the authors put it, “The more costly a decision, in terms of time, money, effort, or inconvenience, and the more irrevocable its consequences, the greater the dissonance and the greater the need to reduce it by overemphasizing the good things about the choice made.”
This social psychology book is an essential read for everyone, as its lessons can be applied to everything from understanding the mindset of politicians to recognizing our own biases that cloud our reasonable judgement of situations.