“Prejudices emerge from the disposition of the human mind to perceive and process information in categories. “Categories” is a nicer, more neutral word than “stereotypes,” but it’s the same thing. Cognitive psychologists consider stereotypes to be energy-saving devices that allow… — Carol Tavris Copy Share Image
No one seems to have learned, or can remember, the magic words that calm people when they are frightened or threatened: "I'm sorry; I… — Carol Tavris Copy Share Image
When anger is not trampling roughshod through our nervous system, it is sitting sullenly in some unspecified internal organ. "She's got a lot of anger in her," people will say (it nestles, presumably, somewhere in the gut), or, "He's a deeply angry man" (as opposed, presumably, to a superficially angry one). If anger isn't released, it "turns inward" and metamorphoses… — Carol Tavris Copy Share
During McCarthyism, teachers feared for their jobs if they belonged to a left-wing group. Today teachers fear for their jobs if they hug a… — Carol Tavris Copy Share Image
“Consider the famous syllogism “All men are mortal; Socrates is a man; therefore Socrates is mortal.” So far, so good. But just because all… — Carol Tavris Copy Share Image
The scientific method is designed to help investigators overcome the most entrenched human cognitive habit: the confirmation bias, the tendency to notice and remember evidence that confirms our beliefs or decisions, and to ignore, dismiss, or forget evidence that is discrepant. That's why we are all inclined to stick to a hypothesis we believe in. Science is one way of… — Carol Tavris Copy Share
“What, then, was the new strategy he proposed? More troops and more money. For him, any other option was unthinkable. It would mean he… — Carol Tavris Copy Share Image
“The greatest of faults, I should say, is to be conscious of none. —historian and essayist Thomas Carlyle” — Carol Tavris Copy Share Image
The individualism of American life, to our glory and despair, creates anger and encourages its release; for when everything is possible, limitations are irksome.… — Carol Tavris Copy Share Image
“Most people, when directly confronted by evidence that they are wrong, do not change their point of view or course of action but justify it even more tenaciously. Even irrefutable evidence is rarely enough to pierce the mental armor of self-justification. When we began working on this book, the poster boy for "tenacious clinging to a discredited belief" was George… — Carol Tavris Copy Share
A fan without a team is like a hog without truffles - she has nothing to root for. — Carol Tavris Copy Share Image
