The mistakes were made (but not by me) is a non -fictional book written by the social psychologist Carrol Tafris and Eleet Aronson, published for the first time in 2007. It deals with cognitive dissonance, confirming bias and other cognitive biases, using these psychological theories to clarify how the perpetrators (And victims) is harmful to justifying and rationalizing their behavior. It describes the loop of positive reactions and self -deception through which the slight differences between people's positions become polarized.