ARCHITECTONICS OF HUMAN ACTION

We like to believe that we read people reasonably well. We notice a tone of voice, a facial expression, a hesitation, a gesture, a silence, and from these fragments we form an impression. Someone seems warm or cold, trustworthy or slippery, intelligent or superficial, insecure or arrogant. In daily life this often feels immediate, as though social meaning were simply there to be perceived. Yet the social world does not present itself in finished form. It is interpreted into e

Human beings like to think of themselves as rational creatures who occasionally get things wrong. It is a flattering picture, but it is not an accurate one. In everyday life, people misjudge risks, cling to weak beliefs, trust vivid examples more than reliable evidence, and make serious decisions while feeling entirely justified. The real puzzle is not that error exists. It is that error appears so regularly, so predictably, and often in people who are intelligent, experience

How Human Perception Constructs Reality: A Psychological and Cognitive Inquiry