Never Saw It Coming: Cultural Challenges to Envisioning the WorstPeople—especially Americans—are by and large optimists. They're much better at imagining best-case scenarios (I could win the lottery!) than worst-case scenarios (A hurricane could destroy my neighborhood!). This is true not just of their approach to imagining the future, but of their memories as well: people are better able to describe the best moments of their lives than they are the worst. “In Never Saw It Coming, Karen Cerulo argues that in American society there is a ‘positive symmetry,’ a tendency to focus on and exaggerate the best, the winner, the most optimistic outcome and outlook. Thus, the conceptions of the worst are underdeveloped and elided. Naturally, as she masterfully outlines, there are dramatic consequences to this characterological inability to imagine and prepare for the worst, as the failure to heed memos leading up to both the 9/11 and NASA Challenger disasters, for instance, so painfully reminded us.”--Robin Wagner-Pacifici, Swarthmore College “Katrina, 9/11, and the War in Iraq—all demonstrate the costliness of failing to anticipate worst-case scenarios. Never Saw It Coming explains why it is so hard to do so: adaptive behavior hard-wired into human cognition is complemented and reinforced by cultural practices, which are in turn institutionalized in the rules and structures of formal organizations. But Karen Cerulo doesn’t just diagnose the problem; she uses case studies of settings in which people effectively anticipate and deal with potential disaster to describe structural solutions to the chronic dilemmas she describes so well. Never Saw It Coming is a powerful contribution to the emerging fields of cognitive and moral sociology.”--Paul DiMaggio, Princeton University |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 80
... best-example premise.22 This means that, at their core, concepts amplify or exaggerate the critical features of a category and focus our brains exclusively on a category's “ideal” or best-case speci- men.23 As one performs graded ...
... best are present yet weak , the character of the worst im- precisely defined . In many ways , the worst case stands as a mere shadow of the category ideal , a best - case example that is missing critical elements . Figure 1.1 presents a ...
... best, while either blocking, blurring, or minimizing the worst. Whether at the brink of intimacy or in love's throes, we seem to stand at the same point horizon, with the best case centered in our porthole on the world and the worst at ...
... case scenarios are blocked by an almost exclusive attention to the good times she believes will follow . Linda is ... best - case future : I'll arrange my financial matters and then I'll discuss it [ with my daugh- ter ] . I'll simply ...
... best , with certain cultural myths — in particular , myths of “ happily ever after ” —most prevalent in their interpretations of romance . Within these subjects ' comments , the best - case scenario is crisp , close , and immediate ...
Contents
1 | |
17 | |
3 Practicing Positive Asymmetry | 72 |
4 Positive Asymmetry and the Subjective Side of Scientific Measurement | 122 |
5 Being Labeled the Worst Real in Its Consequences? | 139 |
6 Exceptions to the Rule | 164 |
7 Emancipating Structures and Cognitive Styles | 193 |
8 Can Symmetrical Vision Be Achieved? | 233 |
Acknowledgments | 344 |
1 Whats the Worst That Could Happen? | 1 |
2 The Breadth and Scope of Positive Asymmetry | 17 |
3 Practicing Positive Asymmetry | 72 |
4 Positive Asymmetry and the Subjective Side of Scientific Measurement | 122 |
5 Being Labeled the Worst Real in Its Consequences? | 139 |
6 Exceptions to the Rule | 164 |
7 Emancipating Structures and Cognitive Styles | 193 |
Notes | 245 |
References | 279 |
Index | 315 |
Contents | 342 |
8 Can Symmetrical Vision Be Achieved? | 233 |
Notes | 245 |
References | 279 |
Index | 315 |
Other editions - View all
Never Saw It Coming: Cultural Challenges to Envisioning the Worst Karen A. Cerulo Limited preview - 2008 |
Never Saw It Coming: Cultural Challenges to Envisioning the Worst Karen A. Cerulo No preview available - 2006 |
Never Saw It Coming: Cultural Challenges to Envisioning the Worst Karen A. Cerulo No preview available - 2006 |