Book Reading #49 - Why We Make Mistakes

Chapter 10: We All Think We’re Above Average

Summary:

In this chapter, Hallinan talks about over confidence. He says that over confidence is the reason why everyone think they are better than the average and believe that they are better at something than they really are. Hallinan says that everyone is overconfident, except for the people suffering from depression. He also states that companies have exploited this characteristic. Companies advertise their products in order to take advantage of this over-confidence.

Discussion:

I believe that this over confidence that we have brings us accomplishments and achievements. This overconfidence is a part of being positive. Negativity leads to depression and depression can have fatal outcomes. Hence, I think we are pre-programed to be overconfident, which is a way we protect our perception of our own image.

Chapter 11: We’d Rather Wing It

Summary:

In this chapter, the author emphasizes on the fact that no one is born perfect. Practice makes man perfect. Even the people who are experts at something can be terribly bad at something else. By repeatedly practicing, one creates a library of all possible outcomes in his/her own mind. This reduces their reaction time since they can anticipate events because they are already accustomed to most possible outcomes. Finally, the author also mentions how people do things in the way they have been doing them in the past. Most people ignore new and more creative ways to solve problems.

Discussion:

I agree with the author when he says practicing creates a library of all possible outcomes of the event in our minds. This is true with any task - sports, playing a music instrument etc. Also I agree with the author when he says that we tend to do things in a way we are used to to them. For example, I was accustomed to drive a manual transmission car and when I started driving an automatic transmission car, even though it was much effortless and simplified as compared to the manual transmission, I preferred and still prefer the manual transmission.