ABSTRACT
Imagine driving down a country highway at night. The last time you checked, the speed limit was 65 mph. You’ve set the cruise control and are happily speeding along. Suddenly, red-and-blue police lights appear and circle in the darkness behind you. Shaken and annoyed, you pull over to the side of the road. Unbeknownst to you, you entered a 45-mph zone without slowing down. Perhaps the sign was hard to see, or perhaps you were messing with the radio or deep in thought and just didn’t notice. What went wrong was that there was a mismatch between the situation you thought you were in (a 65-mph zone), and the situation you were actually in (a 45mph zone). Your actions – happily speeding along at 65 mph – were appropriate enough given your starting point. The only problem is that the situation changed and you didn’t know it.
