Why We Make Mistakes: How We Look Without Seeing, Forget Things in Seconds, and Are All Pretty Sure We Are Way Above Average
Book DescriptionWe forget our passwords. We pay too much to go to the gym. We think we’d be happier if we lived  in California (we wouldn’t), and we think we should stick with our first answer on tests (we  shouldn’t). Why do we make mistakes? And could we do a little better?We human beings have design flaws. Our eyes play tricks on us, our stories change in the  retelling, and most of us are fairly sure we’re way above average. InWhy We Make  Mistakes, journalist Joseph T. Hallinan sets out to explore the captivating science of human  error--how we think, see, remember, and forget, and how this sets us up for wholly irresistible  mistakes.In his quest to understand our imperfections, Hallinan delves into psychology, neuroscience,  and economics, with forays into aviation, consumer behavior, geography, football, stock picking,  and more. He discovers that some of the same qualities that make us efficient also make us error  prone. We learn to move rapidly through the world, quickly recognizing patterns--but overlooking  details. Which is why thirteen-year-old boys discover errors that NASA scientists miss—and why  you can’t find the beer in your refrigerator.Why We Make Mistakesis enlivened by real-life stories--of weathermen whose  predictions are uncannily accurate and a witness who sent an innocent man to jail--and offers  valuable advice, such as how to remember where you’ve hidden something important. You’ll learn  why multitasking is a bad idea, why men make errors women don’t, and why most people think San  Diego is west of Reno (it’s not).Why We Make Mistakeswill open your eyes to the reasons behind your mistakes--and have  you vowing to do better the next time.A Q&A; with Author Joseph T. Hallinan: Which Penny is  Correct?(Click on Image to Enlarge)Can you pick out the real penny? (Answer Below)Question:We’ve seen pennies so many times--why is it so difficult to recognize which of  these drawings accurately represents a penny?Joseph T. Hallinan:Partly, it has to do with how our memory works.  Our long-term  memory, even for things we’ve seen thousands of times, is limited.  Most of the time, we recall  meaning but not surface details.  It’s the same reason we remember faces, but not the names that  go with them.Q:Are there other real-world examples of this?JTH:Sure. We just watched as Chief Justice John Roberts and President Barack Obama  muffed the words to the Inaugural Oath—even though the oath has only 35 words and even though  both men no doubt rehearsed it many times. It’s actually very hard to remember things verbatim.  Take the National Anthem, for instance. You’ve sung it hundreds of times. But how many of the  Anthem’s 81 words can you remember without singing it?Q:How does this limitation lead to mistakes?JTH:Because we think our memories are much better than they are, and rely on them  more than we should.  Consider how many times an eyewitness has mistakenly identified a criminal  and you begin to see the significance of this type of error.  Basically, we look but don’t  always see.Q:Alright then, we’ve waited long enough: which of the pennies above is the real  McCoy?JTH:That would be penny A.  But when researchers conducted this experiment, fewer  than half of the people in the study picked the right one.(Photo © Andrew Collings)