Chapter 0 & 1
The first chapter provided a bit of background for the book as well as some motivation for studying the topic. It was asserted that humans are not necessarily to blame for their errors, rather design choices may be to blame. A number of interesting experiments and studies concerning our ability to recognize our motivation or to miss seeing something were cited.
This book seems like it will be a wealth of interesting information concerning mistakes or more generally human tendencies to miss portions of the world around them. I’ve found the studies cited to be very interesting, and would like more details on some of them, rather than just the shocking facts.
Chapter 2 & 3
Meaningful things are easier to remember. We are great at storing away connections between objects and ideas or events. Examples like remembering faces better than names and using stories to remember something are given. We are also prone to mistakes when things seem to represent something we know, but don't fully. A discussion of how judgements are made on visual attributes is given. These are denoted as "invisible" attributes that affect our choices.
These chapters were enjoyable and pointed out many of the things I have put into practice in my own life without realizing why. For example, I always create stories or relationships even if they are fake when I need to memorize a large amount of terminology for an exam. Overall these chapters remind me that I hate taking exams which aren't essay style.
Chapter 4 & 5
Wearing rose colored glasses refers to the idea that we tend to see ourselves in a very positive light when we recall an event. We always describe our actions as making us look the best. This effect is not intentional. Having knowledge of events, i.e. looking back on the past, has an effect on our memory. We know the outcomes and we will fill in the gaps with our imagination to make things look good. Next, multitasking is examined. The claims is that much like a single processor computer, we can only do time slicing, never truly proces two events at once. The idea of inattentional blindness is explored through examples.
I really enjoy the amount of examples that Hallinan provides. Often times I find myself wanting to look into the particular studies or incidents more. So far this book has really captured many aspects of human nature. The ideas of rose colored glasses and multitasking are not surprising. Though I would debate the idea that we cannot multitask. Many of our body systems run in parallel and though they may not be upper cognitive processes, they are present. For example, you don't need to do any context switching to think about breathing or to dodge a flying object -- it is a natural background process.
Chapter 6 & 7
The first chapter deals with the idea of framing and anchoring. The idea is that if we frame a situation wrong we will make the wrong choices and interpretations. Interestingly if a person expects a loss in a situation they are more likely to take risk. The second chapter discusses the fact that we don't often read and parse the entirety of anything. We hit key points and interpret the rest. The better you are at something, the more likely you will miss details.
The framing and anchoring issues are tremendously interesting. Especially from a computer science standpoint. In developing true AI we need to be able to frame a situation correctly otherwise we will get strange and incorrect results. If humans suffer from framing problems, will machines ever overcome them? The chapter on skimming is another general truth about the way we operate. It is interesting that experts miss more details, though it seems plausible.
Chapter 8 & 9
The first chapter explores the idea that we often smooth out or simplify memories or details in order to make them easier to understand. A number of examples of this are given. The human mind organizes in a hierarchical fashion.The second chapter explores how men and women differ in the ways they arrive at errors. The book asserts that men are more confident and women are less likely to take a risk.
I thought the idea of childhood having an impact on confidence in mapping was very intriguing and true. There is definitely a lot to be said for childhood experiences shaping the decision making processes of individuals. This would be an interesting area to explore by itself. The smoothing of memories and storytelling are not surprising.
Chapter 10 & 11
Only those who are depressed have a view of themselves that is less than average. Many people have taken advantage of humans' overconfidence in order to achieve financial gain. We also have tendency to believe more information will help us, when in fact it can do the opposite. In order to become an expert at something it is estimated that about ten years of refinement and practice is required. The idea of mappings in the mind by experts is explained. Additionally, people become set in their ways.
It was sad to consider that only the depressed have an accurate world view. I feel like a tiny bit of overconfidence is an important motivating factor (proof: how many depressed people are highly motivated?) in our lives. Again I appreciate the examples given in these chapters which seem to back up the claims. I am not sure about the information overflow claims. It seems like a large amount of information acquired over a decent period of time would be beneficial.
Chapter 12 & 13 & Conclusion
People die because of simple errors which could be easily preventable. The argument is that giving meaningful attributes to things can result in increased performance and less human error. Studies of the FAA improvements in comparison to the lack of improvements in the medical community are given. Finally, the idea that the grass is always greener on the other side is explored. This fact is proven to be true, illustrating that people often perceive a increase in happiness will occur in a differing situation. The book concludes with summarizing the major findings of the book and the main ideas. The point that aspiring for different situations constantly will lead to unhappiness is made.
These chapters reminded me of Norman's concepts and ideas. Overall it is interesting to see the simple steps we can take to avoid human error. The FAA studies were particularly encouraging to see. Overall the conclusion provided a good summarization and take away message from the book.
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