Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me!): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions and Hurtful Acts

Why do people dodge responsibility when things fall apart? Why theparade of public figures unable to own up when they make mistakes?Why the endless marital quarrels over who is right? Why can we seehypocrisy in others but not in ourselves? Are we all liars? Or do we reallybelieve the stories we tell?Renowned social psychologists Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson take acompelling look into how the brain is wired for self-justification. When wemake mistakes, we must calm the cognitive dissonance that jars ourfeelings of self-worth. And so we create fictions that absolve us ofresponsibility, restoring our belief that we are smart, moral, and right - abelief that often keeps us on a course that is dumb, immoral, and wrong.Backed by years of research and delivered in lively, energeticprose, Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me) offers a fascinatingexplanation of self-deception - how it works, the harm it can cause, andhow we can overcome it.