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Fundamental attribution error from social psychology - you tend to attribute errors by others to their intrinsic flaws (stupidity, poor judgment, clumsiness) bu
by Tloewald 14y ago
Fundamental attribution error from social psychology - you tend to attribute errors by others to their intrinsic flaws (stupidity, poor judgment, clumsiness) but your own errors to circumstances (I was tired, they tricked me, it was slippery).
- SatvikBeri 14y agoThank you! I was trying to remember the name but couldn't.
- notJim 14y agoThe world would be a much better place, IMO, if everyone ever knew about this cognitive bias and was reminded of it periodically.
- Alex3917 14y agoDon't forget its counterpart, the just-world hypothesis: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just-world_hypothesis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just-world_hypothesis They are closely related but people always forget the second one.
- ajuc 14y agoI don't think much would change. You can very well use biases to rationalize whatever you want. It's the intention and attitude that matters the most, not how many biases you can recite. I'm still for teaching common biases in secondary school. Won't hurt, and may sometimes help. But I don't think knowing biases changes people. At least that wasn't my experience.
- mike 14y agoJust a quick recommendation for "A Mind Of Its Own" by Cordelia Fine (especially Chapter 3 = The Immoral Brain) for anyone who would like to read more about this, or for anyone already familiar who would like a short, readable book on the subject to recommend to other people.
- bostonvaulter2 14y agoThat reminds me of one of my favorite quotes: judge others by their intentions and yourself by your actions.
- oconnor0 14y agoThis requires knowing others' intentions. And that means you have to ask & trust what they say & not make assumptions about what their intentions are.
- SatvikBeri 14y agoThe problem with this is that humans are actually really bad at reading others' intentions-not to mention the fact that several people who commit atrocious acts see themselves as good, e.g. Al Capone. My aim is to judge others by their repeated actions and track record. This is hard, but I've definitely found it worth doing.
- Travis 14y agoAn even more extreme example than Capone is Pablo Escobar. He fashioned himself as an honored man of the people in Columbia, even as he was ordering the (often brutal) executions hundreds of police officers, judges, public officials, and personal enemies. Yet when he died, the people of Columbia wept in the streets.