Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Book Reading #44 - Why We Make Mistakes

Title:
Chapter 4: We Wear Rose Colored Glasses
Chapter 5: We Can Walk and Chew Gum - but Not Much Else


Reference:
Hallinan, Joseph.  Why We Make Mistakes.  Random House, Inc.c New York.  2009

Summary:
Chapter 4: We Wear Rose Colored Glasses

When we try to remember things, we remember them in a more favorable outcome for us than they actually occurred.  We not only reconstruct ourselves in memories in self-flattering ways, but also even our own appearance.

Hallinan talks about bias not in the way of putting a large prejudice on something, but rather slightly altering the correct view based upon our condition of favoring ourselves.  This is the bias that influences our memories.  This is seen in the asking of how many sex partners a man has had as well as the reasons for which a gambler won or lost.  Our decisions are based much more on our own bias that we like to realize.

Simply disclosing a bias does not cancel its effect.  Often, when this occurs, people feel more inclined to be bias on the same side as the original.  It is almost like it gives more freedom to be bias.

Chapter 5: We Can Walk and Chew Gum - but Not Much Else

This chapter explains the idea of multitasking.  The term derives from computers that don't actually do two things at the same time, only give the appearance of doing so.  In the same way, humans cannot multi-task.  
We can focus our attention only on one specific thing at a time.  The question arises, "well I can drive and talk to someone at the same time".  This is true, however, the author states that this is only possible when one of the activities being done is pushed to the sub-conscious level.  Thus, driving can be done by the sub-conscious mind.  Think of zoning out while driving.  While your active mind may not be paying attention to the road, you somehow manage to avoid crashing.

Discussion:
Our bias is something that is deeply ingrained in us, but it is interesting to think whether we would ever be able to look objectively at something.  What about people who often look at themselves in a light that is lower than the original on a consistent basis?  Are these just differences in our genetic make up or our nurture?

The idea of pushing something into the sub-conscious in order to achieve multitasking is a novel idea!  I really enjoy thinking about it.  It translates into so many areas of life.  I believe we can train ourselves to push various things into the subconscious in order to do this.

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