Book Reading #41: Why We Make Mistakes

Summary:

Chapter 2:

This chapter sounds like a continuation of the first chapter, however, now he changes the focus from vision to meanings. He claims that meanings matter while details don't, which is why we forget names since names don't have much of a meaning. Then he talks about slip-of-tongue errors and gives an interesting example of the slip-of-tongue error committed by Joe Theismann on national media. The author also talks about why we forge passwords and hiding places. Finally, he talks about why eye witnesses make errors in identifying the suspects.

Chapter 3:

In this chapter, the author talks about how we connect the dots in our memory to form a complete image. In one of the examples he mentions that during a wine tasting event, people rated the more expensive wine to be the better one even though there was the same wine in one of the bottles marked with a cheaper price tag. He also mentions that smell and color play an important role in forming perceptions, for example, pink is a feminine color while black demonstrates power.

Discussion:

The examples make this book very interesting. The experiment in which people were tested if they remembered the exact details of a penny proves that we don't store details in the memory. Also, he mentions that we must come up with passwords quickly else we ourselves end up forgetting it. I think this was pretty interesting. Also, the wine bottle example that he provides in chapter 3, was really fascinating.