Pointing Fingers
Pointing Fingers
The Fundamental Attribution Error on Teams and in Leadership
"When you judge another, you do not define them, you define yourself."
- Wayne Dyer
Pointing Fingers
Chasing Influence: Transformational Coaching to Build Champions for Life
Have you ever noticed that some people blame their own mistakes on external factors they can’t control, but when someone else makes the mistake they are quick to assign personal blame to that person?
There’s a name for this phenomenon. It’s called the Fundamental Attribution Error. This happens when we attribute someone else's actions to their personality but blame our own behavior on external factors and circumstances. In simpler terms, we cut ourselves some slack while holding others completely accountable.
Imagine you scold a teammate for being late to practice, yet you later excuse your own lateness due to traffic. You think, “It’s not my fault, I can’t control the traffic”! That's the Fundamental Attribution Error at play.
This error makes us focus too much on the personal traits of others and ignores the situation as we judge other people. We think people do bad things because they're naturally bad, remaining blind to what might be happening around them. This makes us confident in our judgments while overlooking how outside factors affect behavior.
For example, if a driver cuts us off, we might call them a "jerk" without considering they might be rushing to the hospital. Yet, when we cut someone off, we justify it by blaming the situation.
Research shows we blame others' personalities for bad things happening to them, but when we face trouble, we blame the situation. This error lets us judge others harshly while excusing ourselves.
Why does this happen? We understand our own motivations and situation better than others'. To reduce this confirmation bias, we need to consider different perspectives and understand that we don't always know everything about someone else's situation. This can help us make fairer and more accurate judgments in sports and in life.
"We see the world not as it is, but as we are."
- Anaïs Nin
Connecting this quote to the story. This quote reflects how our own biases and perspectives shape how we judge others and how we tend to attribute actions to personality traits while excusing our own behavior due to outside circumstances. The quote and lesson both serve as reminders to approach judgment with self-awareness, understanding, and empathy.
This week’s Chasing Influence tip: Meaningful work is about making the most of our time to help others become champions for life.
If you enjoyed this story, a series of three Chasing Influence workbooks is available. Stories are accompanied by discussion questions and answers. Each workbook contains 33 lessons to use with any team.
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©Troy Urdahl, 2024