Reference:
Why We Make Mistakes
Joseph T. Hallinan
2009 Broadway Books
Summary:
Ch. 4 - People will usually see things in a way that paint them in a more positive light. They quickly forget what happened in past events and form an altered perception of the facts that either enhance or improve how the behaved in a situation. We can quickly recognize when other people are being influenced by an outsize source, but are painfully blind when it happens to us.
Ch. 5 - Our brains are terrible at multi-tasking. They are able to switch from one task to another rapidly, but it often takes a significant amount of time to focus on the new activity. This is not a huge problem in offices or homes, but it can be disastrous when driving or piloting a vehicle.
Discussion:
Ch. 4 - In some ways, this chapter reminds me of the "lost in the mall" experiment. Our memories, while decent, are very prone to morph in ways we are unable to detect. It would be interesting to be able to film yourself all day (in such a way that you forget it's happening) and be able to review the events later. How accurately would the memories match the footage?
Ch. 5 - Yet another thing that we don't realize how much can affect us. How often do you sit down to do one task only to realize an hour or two later that you haven't even started? Fortunately, safety technology is improving to a point where it can protect us from our own foolishness when it comes to multi-tasking while driving (based on a recently issued report from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that states the number of traffic fatalities has falled to its lowest level in sixty years.).
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