Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Chapter 10: How Wrong?

Haley Scholars Fall 2013 Reading Groups 

"Figuring out where we went wrong can be genuinely puzzling--the conceptual equivalent of trying to retrace your steps in a dark woods" (207). -- Kathryn Schulz

“Our beliefs come in bundles.” (209 )-- Kathryn Schulz

Kathryn Schulz's book Being Wrong is about wrongess and error, but it's also about, we've come to understand, the nature of our beliefs. In multiple chapters, she discusses how our belief systems affect our thinking and actions and contributing to our mistakes. Beliefs are important, as Schulz shows, when we people are trying to discover "how wrong" they were. Their belief can determine how they pursue the answer to that query.

In each chapter, members of our reading group are making distinct discoveries and learning key and different lessons. What about this chapter? What idea did you come across that you found most fascinating or notable? How so?

9 comments:

Brenda W. said...

I found it interesting how our beliefs dictate our perceptions of our wrongs. For example, if I failed a test simply because I did not study hard enough/did not pay enough attention during class, my beliefs that I am a good student may cause me to blame the teacher or the test for the reason I failed. I am unable to see the whole picture and accept where I went wrong because my beliefs won't let me. Our beliefs can make us feel as if we are not responsible for our wrongs; on another token, our beliefs can cause us to blame our wrongs solely on ourselves when there may be other factors that play into it. Overall, I just found the relationship between our beliefs and our wrongs to be fascinating.

Stelisa J. said...

It was fascinating to me as a whole that we are usually in denial about how wrong we truly are. We may admit to being wrong but to a certain degree. An explanation or justification always follows in order to defend against how wrong we are. Our wrongness then becomes only a variation or level. Mistakes that may have been made by us sometimes are larger than we perceive. Although, it seems that the larger the circumstance the more we place blame to defer realization of our own accountability. It then becomes, “I was wrong, but… “. This is only accepting partially our mistakes and can eventually halt self-growth.

Jennifer Johnson said...

I feel the most interesting idea from the chapter was that what we believe determines whether we are wrong or not. I can relate to this so much in situations with friends or family. both parties may have particular beliefs that keep us from resolving conflict because we may believe that neither of us is wrong

Unknown said...

I thought it was really interesting how our beliefs dictate our feeling of being right or wrong. If you have a strong belief in something or someone, you tend to stick to that belief even if proof says otherwise.

Sandra Nnoung said...

It is interesting to me how people never truly want to admit when they are wrong. The blame is always partially put on someone else or on the situation. I find myself doing this too. I don't like to fully admit when I am wrong. I find myself apologizing for things and I usually have a reason or justification for why it happened. I dislike getting called out when I am wrong about a situation.

Ke'Asha jones said...

The interesting thing to me was that on so many levels to ourselves we are never wrong,and it has to do with what we believe. If we truly believe something even if we are wrong we will make some sort of excuse or justification for our being wrong to make ourselves right. For example I believe I am a wonderful math student so if me and a student are comparing answers and they are different i will believe I am right and she is wrong and I will try to justify it by doing the math of the problem and showing her that how she did it was wrong because i truly believe that i am right and because i am a good math student my answer is right and hers is wrong. when i could really be the one wrong. And then if I am wrong I would make an excuse to justify my wrongness by passing the buck and blaming it on someone else. Because of our beliefs we will never 100% be wrong there will always be a justification.

Monique Williams said...

Like many of my peers, the most intriguing part is the idea that our beliefs impact how we view situations and our behaviors. How we believe influences how we judge the world around us. More specifically, our beliefs influence what we think is right or wrong. For instance, my faith highly dictates what i view as right or wrong. In addition, my major is psychology and minor in sociology has also influenced how I perceive the world around me.

Tia S. said...

I found it really interesting that even if we admit we're wrong, we never want to be completely wrong. Schulz talks about a couple different "Wrong But" maneuvers. Sometimes we try to shift the blame; "I messed up, but it was his idea. I was only following him." We try to justify ourselves using time; "I may have been wrong now, but wait 'till next time." We also like to emphasize how right we almost were; "I was only off by a little. It was close enough." Overall, we like to make excuses because we still can't fully accept that we were wrong. These maneuvers may protect us from discomfort, but can inhibit our growth and keep us from learning from our mistakes.

Yasmyn Knight said...

What I found interesting is that our perceptions of wrong and right are established at a young age. This is due to the beliefs of our parents/guardians being pressed upon us as children. Through our beliefs, backgrounds, and experiences we develop a sense of what is wrong in our sight. Therefore, at times we tend to be very narrowed minded in our views of other people or cultures. Just because we have beliefs, it doesn't mean that they are truths.