“Don't judge a man until you've walked a mile in his shoes.”
We’d all like to know a person’s intent for behaving as they do. In fact, it is a goal of social psychology to explain and draw inferences from observations of people’s behavior. Extensive research now points to the existence of a systematic bias in this process. This bias, first uncovered decades ago by psychologist Lee Ross, is now referred to as the fundamental attribution error. This bias shows a pervasive tendency on the part of observers to overestimate personality or dispositional causes of behavior and to underestimate the influence of situational constraints on the behavior of others.
This bias occurs partly because of how human perception operates. When we look at a situation, we immediately notice individuals acting and making decisions. The context in which this happens is less obvious. Consequently, we often overattribute actions and consequences to individuals rather than to the constraints under which they operate. The bias is not generally extended to ones self, however. In other words, we attribute the actions of others to the kind of person they are, while framing our own behavior against situational variables.
A person’s actions may or may not be deliberate or they may not even be aware of what they are doing. Finally, a person’s actions may have unintended consequences. We ought not to judge others based on behavior while we judge ourselves based on intent.
One way to minimize the fundamental attribution error is to discern whether most people behave the same way when put in the same situation. In this case, the situation is more likely to be the cause of the behavior than the person’s disposition. Another technique is to ask oneself how one would behave in the same situation.
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- Strategy Praxis™
- The Strategy Praxis™ Institute is a research and educational organization dedicated exclusively to the advancement of strategy. The Strategy Praxis™ Institute offers pragmatic, results-oriented, client-centered programs on all aspects of strategy. Strategy Praxis™ refers to the comprehensive system for strategy formulation, implementation and assessment developed by the Institute. The goal is to assist practitioners in doing strategy in real life where the stakes are high, information often inadequate, conditions constantly shifting and the consequences of actions uncertain.
