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"We all tend to overestimate the situational factors in our failures and overestimate the individual factors in our successes." I recall reading somewhere that
by ehmish 13y ago
"We all tend to overestimate the situational factors in our failures and overestimate the individual factors in our successes."
I recall reading somewhere that attribution of the factors differed by culture, with the people in the US generally blaming themselves for what happens in their life, and Europeans tending more toward external factors. Unfortunately I couldn't find the source, so take it with a grain of salt.
- zobront 13y agoThere's a whole bunch of factors that affect it. It's actually Eastern cultures that tend towards external factors (relative to us North Americans). But, in general, everyone focuses more on the individual factors than they should: it's called the Fundamental Attribution Error. I've learned a bit about this recently in a Coursera class on social psychology. I tried to attach the lecture video but you need to be in the class to watch it. I recommend joining though - it's fascinating (and free). https://class.coursera.org/socialpsychology-001/class https://class.coursera.org/socialpsychology-001/class