4 ms·
I generally find that rephrasing "you are" to "you have" is powerful. "You've said something racist" vs. "You're a racist"; "This paper is written badly" vs. "T
by cscheid 14y ago
I generally find that rephrasing "you are" to "you have" is powerful. "You've said something racist" vs. "You're a racist"; "This paper is written badly" vs. "The authors write badly"; "You have an addiction" vs. "You are an addict". etc.
Separating the action from the actor seems to make us a lot more willing to quit/change our questionable actions.
- steveklabnik 14y agoMy experience is that this is true as well. It's hard not to equate the two in practice, given that it feels like shorthand.
- Evbn 14y agoSee also the Fundamental Attribution Error.