definition
The fundamental attribution fallacy states that when you evaluate someone else's behavior, you will overestimate the influence of his internal factors, such as the influence of personality, and underestimate the influence of various complex factors such as external situations.
The specific manifestation is for ourselves, we are willing to analyze the complicated reasons; for others, if he does not agree with you in one sentence, then he must be a bad person from the beginning. The more unfamiliar people or groups, the more we tend to think They simplify.
For example, if a team member makes a mistake at work, we are more likely to attribute it to their personality, character, or skill level.
However, if we make the same mistake, we are more likely to blame it on the circumstances (i.e., we were in a hurry, we were tired, or it was someone else's fault).
In short, hostility comes from simplification.
This is a deep-seated error.
life example
In fact, in life, such examples are ubiquitous, and the "fundamental attribution error" is considered to be the "most common and serious error in thinking and reasoning" that people will make.
I don't know if you have had similar thoughts?
1. Seeing that someone's figure management is not ideal, and OS in his heart: "This person has no self-control! Maybe he is greedy and lazy?!" 2.
Driving on the road, the car next to you suddenly stopped, causing you to brake , Flashing for a moment, OS in my heart: "Who is this person! This person's quality is too bad! Too selfish!"
3. Seeing a child rolling in distress in the mall, OS in his heart: "What a brat!"
Why do we do this? think?
It has to do with how we see the world. Everyone knows their own character and preferences very well, always knows their "good intentions" and "good intentions", and understands the "reasonable" or "no choice" of their actions. However, when dealing with the behavior of others, it is actually difficult for us to understand the inner thoughts and real situation of others; and the brain often uses very limited information (for example, others are late, driving in traffic, children rolling all over the floor...the appearance of these behaviors) to make quicker (and often reckless and biased) judgments. At this time, we tend to focus mainly (or even only) on the person who made the behavior (while ignoring other factors behind this behavior, which are likely to be various and complex external factors).
Many misunderstandings and estrangements have arisen from this.
Moreover, once such (negative, inner character) evaluations of others are formed (this person is lazy, this child is a bear, this person has low quality...), it is more difficult to break these negative impressions than we imagined. Because changing perceptions requires a willingness and an opportunity to get to know each other better. Nowadays, people live in a hurry, even if you want to, how much time and energy can you spare for dispelling your misunderstanding of others and understanding their situation? (Thinking about it is also quite sad Ծ‸Ծ).
how to break
First of all, what I want to say is that this kind of thinking ("fallacy", or "fixed formula") is very common because it is deeply rooted in people's hearts. It's also useful to know this: you'll be more understanding and even more tolerant of other people's misconceptions about you (because the other person may be falling into this cognitive fallacy that many people fall into, maybe it's not that he's bad and stupid... ").
Secondly, what else can we do to reduce our fall into this fallacy of thinking?
1. Remind yourself: You never know what someone else is going through.
When you see some "unpleasant" behavior of passers-by, please don't judge others at will. In fact, behind this is related to the cultivation of "empathy". (If you are interested in or have experience in cultivating empathy for yourself or your children, please feel free to message me privately!)
2. Think good about him/her.
For those around you (bosses, subordinates, partners, children...), when his/her behavior makes you feel uncomfortable, please don't rush to "label" (common "hat": "he is very unpleasant) Responsible!"/"She is too selfish!"/"This child is not sensible!"). Combined with the first point, first think about it: he may have his "reason" and "hidden secrets" for doing this (and it is likely to be a situational factor that you have no chance to understand). Then, try to think about what he/she did well. It can help balance and counteract some of your intuitive negative impressions of him/her.
Finally, the fundamental attribution fallacy is almost impossible to completely avoid. However, by realizing that our brain has such a cognitive tendency, I believe it will help you reduce unnecessary "misunderstanding" and "gap" in your life.