Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts

Why this matters here

Tavris and Aronson map self-justification: how people and groups protect identity by reframing mistakes rather than revising the story that produced them. How Serious Systems Learn extends that psychology into failing loops—where warnings become data-quality questions and near misses become exceptions—so that metabolizing contradiction without changing behavior can be mistaken for resilience.