posted March 16, 2011 08:35 AM            

Mar. 13 2011
Posted by Victoria Pynchon

World War Two Poster
Pearl Harbor is unfortunately a trending Twitter topic because millions of little microphones have been given to people unable to think things through.

People who say the Japanese “deserve” it, like those who believe that AIDS is God’s punishment for immorality, are suffering from a cognitive bias called Fundamental Attribution Error. Here at She Negotiates, we’re deeply concerned with cognitive biases because they cause otherwise kind and rational people to believe that their neighbors are mean-spririted, ill-willed or downright evil.

And that prevents us from being compassionate, helping out in times of crisis or negotiating the resolution of disputes.

Instead of becoming mired in the debate between the Japan-deserved-it tweeters and those who call the tweeters stupid jerks, let’s use the trending Pearl Harbor-Japanese earthquake topic as a teaching moment.

Why We Attribute Evil-Doing to Our Friends and Neighbors

Social scientists have discovered something fundamental about the way we explain the behavior of others. When other people’s behavior causes us harm, we tend to assume that they intended to hurt us. And when we see them harmed, our first instinct is to blame the victim.

Let’s move the problem closer to home. If our husband’s late arrival from work prevents us from joining our long-scheduled girls night out, we reflexively blame his delay on envy, selfishness or anger. Our spouse, on the other hand, will assume just the opposite – that his late arrival has nothing whatsoever to do with bad faith or ill intention, but to external factors beyond his control – traffic in Los Angeles, a hurricane warning in Biloxi or a blizzard in New York City.

Though both spouses might be partially right, the perceived wrong-doer will always mistake his behavior as being more influenced by circumstance than intent and the victim will always exaggerate the degree to which the perpetrator’s behavior is motivated by ill-will. If it’s his fault, we have some hope that it will not happen again because we can punish him (sulking works) for being late.

If we see people suffering as the result of a cataclysmic natural disaster, we protect our own peace of mind by ascribing their misfortune to something they did wrong. It won’t happen here in California, we think, even though we too live on the Pacific ring of fire, because they brought it on themselves.

We’re good.

They’re bad.

It can’t happen here.

We Attribute Intent and Diminish Circumstance to Wrest Control from an Uncertain World

These tendencies of thought are errors of attribution – the motives or circumstances we blame for bad outcomes. And the errors we make are fundamental – Trobriand Islanders are as likely to make these errors as Icelanders. If we didn’t tend to err in this manner, we’d have given up on planning our own futures centuries ago. In our primitive minds, attributing the cause of our own harm to the ill will of our fellows gives us a fighting chance to control our future by punishing wrongdoers. Ascribing harm to random circumstance leaves us helpless and hopeless – vulnerable to forces far beyond our control.

Blaming the victim for his own suffering also relieves us of any responsibility to help out. It eases the burden on our conscience that the troubles of other people impose on us. It also keeps us from doing something to correct the problem – being more earthquake prepared ourselves, for instance. Or recognizing the harm to low-lying countries that rising oceans will inevitably cause to all of us.

Researchers have discovered that fundamental attribution error prevents athletes from finding and addressing the causes of their substandard performance. When we chronically attribute substandard performance – a failed jump shot – to the fault of others, we do not take the time to search for and find those causes over which we have actual control – the errors in judgment or imperfections in performance that contribute to our failures.

In my own profession, we chronically blame others for our losses – the Judge denied our motion because she was unprepared, the jury returned an adverse verdict because they were sleeping or stupid or biased, and our own lives are miserable because opposing counsel is, well, he’s an ******* !

What to Do about It

Once we’re aware of our tendency to blame others for causing the natural disasters that have destroyed people’s homes, killed their relatives and injured their children, we can begin to rationally examine what we can do to prevent calamity the next time and what we should do now to aid the victims.

Most people are so certain that the problem to be resolved is the other guy’s fault that they can’t even begin to imagine a solution to the desperate circumstances in which we all sometimes find ourselves. And it may sound unlikely, but learning about fundamental attribution error immediately made all of my relationships - most particularly the one with my husband – far better.

Fewer fights.

More understanding.

Happier people.

You can, by the way, follow my tiny twitter microphone here.

posted March 16, 2011 09:10 AM            

quote:

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We Attribute Intent and Diminish Circumstance to Wrest Control from an Uncertain World

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Yes, the human race is know for that.

Another reason, I believe, is fear. A disaster must have a cause BY the people of a country. That being , because it can never happen to me because I/my country don`t ________ (fill in the blank.)

Blame game keeps the unknown factors / fear at bay.