Book number 50 for 2024; 5/5 stars
This is yet another book that I discovered while shelving at my library. The blurbs on the front cover caught my attention. “Why you have too many friends on Facebook.” “Why your memory is mostly fiction.” This book contains just under 50 short chapters/essays explaining many misconceptions that we have about ourselves and why we aren’t as smart about things as we think we are.
Each chapter is headed by a misconception and it’s corresponding “truth.” For example, the first chapter, “Priming,” features this misconception, “You are a rational, logical being who sees the world as it really is.” Who among us doesn’t think this, right? But the truth is, “You are as deluded as the rest of us, but that’s OK, it keeps you sane.”
And so it begins. Featuring chapters on (besides the above) “Confirmation Bias,” various types of heuristics, procrastination, the straw man fallacy, apophenia, and others, the author provides study after study to back up his claims in the book. In fact, there are almost 25 pages of bibliography material to back up his claims. Impressive.
I vacillated over what star rating I would eventually give this book, but, as you see, wound up at five. I laughed quite a bit, I marveled at some of the chapters, I nodded in agreement at quite a bit of it, as I saw truth in the world around me, as well as in my own self. And, I confess, I might have been insulted a time or two. I mean, no one likes being told they aren’t as smart as they think they are, right?
My favorite chapters were on confirmation bias, the illusion of control (some great words about gambling odds in that one), and selling out, which may be the best chapter of all (in my opinion, but knowing that other chapters would resonate more with other readers).
I did find one or two edit mistakes in the book. One was a statement that was just worded awkwardly. It said, on page 205 of this edition, “When they put a dog in the box that had never been shocked before . . .” The box was not what was being shocked. In the study, the dogs were shocked. But the way that sentence was worded, it made the box the object of the shocking. There was one other instance of that kind of wording in the book, but I didn’t record it, so I can’t remember where it was.
Some favorite quotes:
“Anyone is capable of becoming a monster, if given the power and opportunity.” p. 274, chapter on The Fundamental Attribution Error
In reference to gambling tricks that people try to increase their luck: “None of this, of course, has any real effect on the odds. The odds are fixed, but sometimes you think you can beat them, because you are not so smart.” p. 257, The Illusion of Control
“When a group of people come together to make a decision, every demon in the psychological bestiary will be summoned.” p. 127, Groupthink
“Many studies over the years have shown you tend to have time-inconsistent preferences. When asked if you would rather have fruit or cake one week from now, you will usually say fruit. A week later, when the slice of German chocolate and the apple are offered, you are statistically more likely to go for the cake.” p. 45, Procrastination (For the record, I would just go ahead and say “cake.”)
“You are unaware of how unaware you are.” p. 8, Priming
There are many other great statements in this book. I recommend it to anyone who is interested in psychology and things like group thinking and how we are all manipulated by retailers and media. I would also recommend it to anyone who thinks they have it all figured out, because “you are not so smart.” But, because of confirmation bias, you probably won’t listen.
TTFN, y’all!
The Constant Reader 