Book Reading #41: Why We Make Mistakes

Chapter 2
Summary
The second chapter continues the discussion of the first chapter, but doesn’t spend as much of the chapter on vision. The focus is on how the meanings we pick up on in what we see/hear are more important than the actual details of a scene. As in the first chapter, Hallinan gives many examples such as slip-of-the-tongue errors, recalling part of something (like a name) but not all of it and how we forget passwords and hiding places. At the end of the chapter Hallinan relates the discussion to crime and the process of identifying suspects.

Discussion
The penny test provided in this chapter is a common one but a great example of how details aren’t stored well in memory. An interesting piece of advice given in this chapter is that we should come up with our passwords and hiding places quickly. Otherwise, we won’t remember it in the future because we had to figure it out first. I also thought the story of June Siler and Robert Wilson was an interesting one.

Chapter 3
Summary
Chapter 3 focuses on how we consider things. Hallinan begins with an example about people running for election and how voters make quick decisions based off of how competent a candidate looks. He gave another example of how people drinking wine rated the $90 wine as tasting the best when it was the same as the $10 wine – their brains even showed more evidence of being happy with the more expensive wine. Price is not the only thing that plays a part in this. The color of objects and a person’s memory of regret also play a role in people’s choices and consequently their mistakes. The author states that all of these examples are given to help readers better understand sources of mistakes.

Discussion
I like how Hallinan uses so many examples throughout each chapter. One example I especially liked in this chapter was the wine example. It reminded me of peanut butter and how I always used to buy the Peter Pan Peanut butter. When that salmonella problem occurred a few years back, both the Peter Pan Peanut butter and the cheaper off brand were recalled. On the news they said both were processed in the same facility. It made me think about how similar (if not exact) the products are. Now I buy a lot more off-brand products.