I was wrong. See, that wasn’t so difficult. Of course, I’m not admitting to anything specific. I’m just assuming it’s happened at some point. Even that, it turns out, is something of a breakthrough. In the NYT, Kristin Wong (who may or may not be right) provides a brief overview of why it’s so hard to admit you’re wrong. “Psychologists call this cognitive dissonance — the stress we experience when we hold two contradictory thoughts, beliefs, opinions or attitudes. For example, you might believe you are a kind and fair person, so when you rudely cut someone off, you experience dissonance. To cope with it, you deny your mistake and insist the other driver should have seen you, or you had the right of way even if you didn’t.” (These days, you’re more likely to insist you weren’t even driving in the first place.)