“We judge ourselves by our intentions and others by their behavior.” — Stephen Covey
基本歸因謬誤 Fundamental Attribution Error (FAE)
- The mistake:
- We cut ourselves a break, but hold others accountable.
- We judge ourselves by what we believe our capabilities to be. We judge others by what we have done. In other words, we judge ourselves by our inner sense of ourselves, and we judge others by their appearance. We compare our inner sense of self to others’ outward appearance.
- Explanations:
- We attribute people’s behavior/action to their character/personality without taking into account external factors outside of their control:
- the limitations and constraints within which they might be operating
- the situation and context they are in
- Humans tend to…
- attribute someone else’s actions to their character—and not to their situation or context.
- attribute our actions to our situation and context—and not to our character.
- 指人們在評估他人的行為時，即使有充分的證據支持，但仍總是傾向於高估內部或個人因素的影響 (一定是他有這樣的人格，才做出這樣的行為)，而非外在情境因素 (也許是情勢所迫，或這個場所有特殊的潛規則)
- We attribute people’s behavior/action to their character/personality without taking into account external factors outside of their control:
- Examples:
- When you cut someone off in traffic, it’s because you were being absentminded or because you’re late to sing lullabies to your newborn, right? But when someone cuts YOU off, it’s because they’re a jerk.
- A slow driver? Maybe they’re protecting a birthday cake in the back.
- Your co-worker was late to an important meeting, you might be inclined to form a judgment of his/her character based on this one action alone (e.g., he/she is late because he’s selfish). It’s possible, however, that his/her behavior is due to several external, rather than internal, factors (e.g., family emergency or traffic jam), which caused him/her to run behind schedule.
- Remember: forming impressions / making judgments of a person’s character based on limited information can have long-lasting effects.
- How to avoid it?
- Become more emotionally & socially intelligent
- This involves practicing self-awareness , empathy, self-regulation
- Be grateful
- This will help balance out your perspective, and can help you view someone as a whole person / see the whole picture, instead of through pieces of limited information.
- When you become resentful at someone for a negative “quality” they demonstrate, try to make a list of five positive qualities the person also exhibits.
- Become more emotionally & socially intelligent
- So, take it easy on your fellow people. You never know their inner thoughts / can’t see inside their thoughts, you can only perceive the result of their actions in the world.
- This mindset makes you less stressed, annoyed, reactive, and more compassionate, forgiving–even in your bad days!
Satir Transformational Systemic Therapy (STST)
- Satir Model = 薩提爾模式 = 薩提爾的對話練習 = 薩提爾冰山理論 (Iceberg Theory)
- 如果要改變一個人的行為，我們必須帶著好奇心，深入到冰山的水面下，也就是進入對方的內心世界，探索和理解影響外在行為的各種內在因素。
See also: