Full blog on "Why We Make Mistakes"

Title: Why We Make Mistakes
Author: Joe Hallinan

Summary:
This book begins with an introduction talking about how we may not be fully to blame when we make certain mistakes. Certain factors such as limitations or bias can alter our perception and cause us to make mistakes. Many more factors can be discussed that cause us to make mistakes.

Visual errors are discussed first and how we are prone to them. This is because it is easy for us to miss things that in our vision. The example used is movie mistakes and how nobody notices them because we aren't looking for them. When we are looking for something we look for certain attributes for the item. If we have to search for something we use things such as color, size, labels, and shape to aid us.

This leads to how we remember things. If we put meaning to the memory it is much easier to hold on to. Remembering somebodies face is a lot easier than remembering a name. This is further shown with an experiment with a penny. There is no real meaning to the penny so it is hard for us to recall what is actually on the penny, detail for detail. This is also why when we make passwords or hiding spots it is easily forgotten because there is no meaning to what we have chosen.

There are many things that impact our judgement we cannot see. The author describes this as 'connecting the dots'. If our mind cannot connect the dots then we are more prone to making mistakes in certain situations. Other things skew our judgement that we can see but do not pay much attention to. Regret is also discussed with its effects on memory. If we regret a decision more we are more likely to remember it than something we did not regret.

There are more invincible factors that alter our decisions. The author describes it as wearing rose colored glasses. We usually see ourselves in favorable light when asked to describe or recall something concerning ourselves. In this part of the book bias is also discussed towards situations and how it may not change decisions. When people do not understand the bias they are likely to ignore it and not change their minds.

The human mind cannot multitask, computers cannot even technically multitask. There are several examples that show that our society is trying to fight the idea that we are not good at multitasking. People will get distracted and try to multitask in most cases so examples are given of how some places are trying to make this idea safer, despite it being dangerous already.

How we view things visually is not always the prime factor in decisions we make. This was proven with music playing in a grocery store. This type of framing caused people to buy more of one type of wine if one type of music was playing and the other type if other music was playing. Other factors affect the way we frame decisions such as time. The less time we have the left the more conservative we usually are.

It is also described how we skim stuff. The better we are at something the less likely we are to fully view what is in front of us. This is described by experts having a large library of information and when they see a familiar situation they pull knowledge from that library and act accordingly. That is why it is said that having somebody unfamiliar, or a novice, proof read or watch what you are doing will help you catch more mistakes.

The human mind likes to keep things tidy. Studies showed that people viewed things that were not straight in reality to be straight in their minds, These things are like state lines, rives, or roads. It was also shown that people have an easier time remembering off of certain cues. An example is people cannot remember the words to a song but when the music starts playing they can sing along.

An interesting discussion of men versus women was discussed. It was shown that usually men acted more aggressively and took more risks. It was shown that the men were not necessarily acting risky but they just valued the reward more so they acted accordingly.

Many people have a secret conceit about them. They believe their results are above average. The only people that truly do not believe in this are depressed people who are often realists. This overconfidence leads to errors.

A special kind of practice is needed to become an expert. Practice must be directly towards remembering actions and situations. All people draw maps that guide them through situations. Expert's maps are more accurate but a novice's map is just as complete. The novice just will just have holes and probably miss out on something. People create their own maps when reading instructions which often times does not follow the exact instructions and leads to errors.

Constraints and accordance are very important in design for things such as safety. We often times do not constrain ourselves enough to be at the optimum level of safety. The author compared the medical field with the Navy. The Navy was much more prepared and the medical field often mixes names of drugs up because they are so confusing.

The last chapter is about how people do not think long term when making decisions. We often pay too much attention to things that should not be a major factor in our decisions. The author uses moving to California as an example. A lot of people say a major factor for moving is the weather and do not think about the commute to work or the cost of living. This leads us to focus on the wrong expectations to be happy in these places.

Discussion: 
This book was very interesting and informative because it talked even more about why we make errors.  This is important because in future designs we can include this information as a factor on the way we create our interface and design. I liked all of the examples because it helped relate the material to me and allowed me to understand the concepts more.

Picture is from www.whywemakemistakes.com