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Quote by Carol Tavris

“Once torture is justified in rare cases, it is easier to justify it in others: Let's torture not only this bastard we are sure knows where the bomb is, but this other bastard who might know where the bomb is, and also this bastard who might have some general information that could be useful in five years, and also this other guy who might be a bastard only we aren't sure.”

Quote by Carol Tavris

Book:Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts
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Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts

Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me) delves into the human tendency to rationalize errors and undesirable behaviors. The book examines various psychological phenomena that contribute to this justification, offering insights into why people may cling to foolish beliefs and make poor decisions despite evidence to the contrary. more

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Carol Tavris
Carol Tavris

Carol Tavris is a renowned psychologist, born on September 17, 1944. Her research focuses on psychology, cognitive psychology, and critical thinking. Tavris is known for her profound insights into psychology and her extensive influence on public cognition. more

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“The debate about torture has properly focused on its legality, its morality, and its utility. As social psychologists, we want to add one additional concern: what torture does to the individual perpetrator and to the ordinary citizens who go along with it. Most people want to believe that their government is working in their behalf, that it knows what it's doing, and that it's doing the right thing. Therefore, if our government decides that torture is necessary in the war against terrorism, most citizens, to avoid dissonance, will agree. Yet, over time, that is how the moral conscience of a nation deteriorates. Once people take that first small step off the pyramid in the direction of justifying abuse and torture, they are on their way to hardening their hearts and minds in ways that might never be undone. Uncritical patriotism, the kind that reduces the dissonance caused by information that their government has done something immoral and illegal, greases the slide down the pyramid.”

PsychologyTorture
Book:Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts
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“If the good-of-the-country justification isn't enough, there is always that eternally popular dissonance reducer: "They started it." Even Hitler said they started it, "they" being the victorious nations of World War I who humiliated Germany with the Treaty of Versailles, and Jewish "vermin" who were undermining Germany from within. The problem is, how far back do you want to go to show that the other guy started it? As our opening example of the Iran hostage crisis suggests, victims have long memories, and they can call on real or imagined episodes from the recent or distant past to justify their desire to retaliate now. For example, in the centuries of war between Muslims and Christians, sometimes simmering and sometimes erupting, who are the perpetrators and who the victims?”

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Book:Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts
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“Once people commit themselves to an opinion about "Who started this?," whatever the "this" may be—a family quarrel or an international conflict—they become less able to accept information that is dissonant with their position. Once they have decided who the perpetrator is and who the victim is, their ability to empathize with the other side is weakened, even destroyed. How many arguments have you been in that sputtered out with unanswerable "but what about?"s? As soon as you describe the atrocities that one side has committed, someone will protest: "But what about the other side's atrocities?”

PsychologyConflictWhataboutism
Book:Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts
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“Perhaps the greatest lesson of dissonance theory is that we can't wait around for people to have moral conversions, personality transplants, sudden changes of heart, or new insights that will cause them to sit up straight, admit error, and do the right thing. Most human beings and institutions are going to do everything in their power to reduce dissonance in ways that are favorable to them, that allow them to justify their mistakes and maintain business as usual. They will not be grateful for the evidence that their methods of interrogation have put innocent people in prison for life. They are not going to thank us for pointing out to them why their study of some new drug, into whose development they have poured millions, is fatally flawed. And no matter how deftly or gently we do it, even the people who love us dearly are not doing to be amused when we correct their fondest self-serving memory ... with the facts.”

PsychologyDissonance
Book:Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts
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“Nisam propustio, ipak, da zapazim šta je značila istinska vera, samim tim i snažna motivacija za fizički rad, kod onih medicinara sa kojima sam studirao, a koji su sa četrdesetak kilograma telesne težine postajali udarnici. Ništa im nije bilo teško da urade, nisu se razboleli od preteškog rada, a još su stizali da uče i da spremaju za večernje konferencije markstističke referate! To mi je bila prva vera i iskreno ubeđenje, kao što sam, još tada, naslutio na kojim temeljima počiva psihosomatska medicina, tj. kada se i zbog čega ljudi uopšte razboljevaju.”

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“Sa stanovišta monoteizma, koji je doveden do njegovih logičnih posledica, nema rasprave oko prirode boga; nijedan čovek ne može da pretpostavi da poseduje bilo kakvo znanje o bogu, koje mu dozvoljava da kritikuje ili osuđuje druge ljude, ili da tvrdi da je njegova ideja o bogu jedina ispravna. Religiozna netolerancija, tako karakteristična za zapadnjačke religije, koja izvire iz takvih tvrdnji i, psihološki govoreći, izvire iz nedostatka vere ili ljubavi, imala je poražavajuće efekte na religiozni razvoj.”

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“If I can convince the conscious mind that TMS is not serious and not worthy of its attention, better yet that it is a phony, a charade, and that rather than fear it one should ridicule it, that most of the structural diagnoses are not valid and that the only things worthy of one's attention are the repressed feelings, what has been accomplished? We will have made the TMS useless; it will no longer have the ability to attract the attention of the conscious mind; the defense is a failure (the cover is blown, the camouflage is removed), which means the pain ceases. If that all sounds like something out of science fiction or Grimm's fairy tales, one can only say that it works and has worked in a few thousand people over the last seventeen years. (page 87)”

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“Unfortunately, society is still backward about the need for and the place of psychotherapy, and there is a common feeling that anyone who needs psychotherapy is weak or incompetent. To harbor repressed feelings has nothing to do with strength of character or mental competence. And yet we are so unenlightened about this matter in the United States that one is virtually ruled out of seeking public office if he or she has ever been in psychotherapy. (page 102)”

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