Includes bibliographical references (p. 237-251) and index.

We all make bad decisions. It's part of being human. The resulting mistakes can be valuable, the story goes, because we learn from them. But do we? Historian Zachary Shore says no, not always, and he has a long list of examples to prove his point. From colonialism to globalization, from gender wars to civil wars, or any circumstance for which our best solutions backfire, Shore demonstrates how rigid thinking can subtly lead us to undermine ourselves. In the process, he identifies seven "cognition traps" to avoid. But he also emphasizes how understanding these seven simple cognition traps can help us all make wiser judgments in our daily lives. For anyone whose best-laid plans have been foiled by faulty thinking, Blunder shines the penetrating spotlight of history on decision making and the patterns of thought that can lead us all astray.--From publisher description.

Introduction: Keeping current -- Exposure anxiety : the fear of being seen as weak -- Causefusion : confusing the causes of complex events -- Flatview : seeing the world in one dimension -- Cure-allism : believing that one size really fits all -- Infomania : the obsessive relationship to information -- Mirror imaging : thinking the other side thinks like us -- Static cling : refusal to accept a changing world -- Cognition trapped in Iraq -- Working toward wisdom.