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Quote by Carol Tavris

“The more costly a decision, in terms of time, money, effort, or inconvenience, and the more irrevocable its consequences, the greater the dissonance and the greater the need to reduce it by overemphasizing the good things about the choice made. Therefore, when you are about to make a big purchase or an important decision—which car or computer to buy, whether to undergo plastic surgery, or whether to sign up for a costly self-help program—don't ask someone who has just done it. That person will be highly motivated to convince you that it is the right thing to do.”

Quote by Carol Tavris

Work

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

Author

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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“We assume that other reasonable people see things the same way we do. If they disagree with us, they obviously aren't seeing clearly. Naïve realism creates a logical labyrinth because it presupposes two things: One, people who are open-minded and fair ought to agree with a reasonable opinion. And two, any opinion I hold must be reasonable; if it weren't, I wouldn't hold it. Therefore, if I can just get my opponents to sit down here and listen to me, so I can tell them how things really are, they will agree with me. And if they don't, it must be because they are biased.”

“Klinik psikologların çoğu hastalarının mevcut durumları ile geçmiş yaşantılarını irdeleyerek, hastanın belli bir şekilde davranmasına veya düşünmesine neden olabilecek geçmişe ait etkileri anlamaya çalışırlar. Klinik psikologlar hastalarının vaka öykülerini alırken onların geçirdikleri evreleri yeniden oluştururlar ve süreç içerisinde şimdiki davranışı açıklayabilirler.”

“It is change that contains vital information, not steady states. Human beings, however, take adaptation to cognitive extremes. We don't just habituate, we recalibrate. We create for ourselves a world of targets, and each time we hit one we replace it with another.”

“Every so often, a heartwarming news story tells of a shipwrecked sailor who was on the verge of drowning in a turbulent sea. Suddenly, a dolphin popped up at his side and, gently but firmly, nudged the swimmer safely to shore. It is tempting to conclude that dolphins must really like human beings, enough to save us from drowning. But wait—are dolphins aware that humans don't swim as well as they do? Are they actually intending to be helpful? To answer that question, we would need to know how many shipwrecked sailors have been gently nudged further out to sea by dolphins, there to drown and never be heard from again. We don't know about those cases, because the swimmers don't live to tell us about their evil-dolphin experiences. If we had that information, we might conclude that dolphins are neither benevolent nor evil; they are just being playful.”